June Updates from the CEMIR
The end of the EMR-ISAC, new posts on Medium, and more. All intelligence, no click-bait.
RIP EMR-ISAC
On Wednesday, May 28, 2025, the Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing & Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) announced it was shutting down, effective June 1, 2025.
The EMR-ISAC was only one of the ISACs out there, but was vital for timely, reliable and robust emergency management intelligence (EMINT). Here’s their announcement:
Dear Emergency Services Sector partners:
As federal agencies evaluate programs to ensure compliance with administration directives and cost effectiveness of programs, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) can no longer support the Emergency Management and Response Information Sharing & Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at this time. This change will become effective June 1, 2025.
USFA recognizes the EMR-ISAC has been an important asset in supporting situational awareness and risk communication for emergency responders across the nation. Our analysis has identified that the information we have shared is now available through various open sources that focus on the fire and emergency services fields.
We want to express our gratitude to all who have participated in and supported the EMR-ISAC program over the years. Your contributions have been invaluable in enhancing the safety and preparedness of emergency responders nationwide.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Sincerely,
EMR-ISAC Staff
Their statement that the EMINT they passed along “is now available through various open sources that focus on the fire and emergency services fields” is beyond demeaning and incongruent (note the implication that emergency management is synonymous with emergency services), it is dangerous to the public. It is also untrue. Some of their EMINT is available on HSIN (limited audience), some from CISA (here you have to separate out what is EMINT from other OSINT which is more broadly applicable - same for stuff from the FBI, IC3, NTAC and so forth - not everything which is a threat is a threat to EM or ES), and some was actually created by the USFA itself (guess that’s not happening anymore, either).
If you have life-saving intelligence and you do not share it with those who are able to take the actions to help prevent the adverse impacts and protect people, property, and places - you need to stop "driving that bus". That would be the wise thing to do. So chances are this means the folks at the USFA are no longer in the intelligence business.
Who is taking their place?
The bus route still remains, and the passengers still need rides.
And if they don't have access to that life-saving intelligence anymore - and they know someone else does instead – don’t you think they should take over driving the bus?
Or you tell the passengers where exactly they can get a different bus?
That would also show wisdom.
Leaving us waiting to find our own rides to where we need to go – where we need to be safer in the United States – is wrong on so many counts.
Find more of Mike’s more politically unapologetic but still professionally correct articles over at Medium, mostly written for paid subscribers:
30 Days to a Less Powerful Nation - Our twist on the classic “30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary,” with what we think are some of the best words to describe the Trump Administration’s actions
When Policy Is the Emergency Management Threat - Emergency Managers across the U.S. are doing their jobs: Planning for Consequence Management
Learning from Our Own History - What started as a vacation ended with a lesson in current events about taxes and tariffs
Disaster Response Without Federal Support: We Dance Alone - How FEMA disaster assistance works now in the U.S. — and what the not-too-distant future might look like without it
¡El libro Rusty, el Gato de Gestión de Emergencias, ya está disponible en español! Descúbrelo en Amazon / Amazon Kindle en https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F2JCGT8B/
For EMN Paid Subscribers, please check out a new post in “The Policy Group” section by guest writer Russell Rains:
The Quiet Collapse: How America's Lifelines Are Being Cut
America’s infrastructure is in crisis—not because of one catastrophic event, but because of a steady accumulation of vulnerabilities across every major system. From collapsing bridges¹ to failing power grids, toxic train derailments, understaffed control towers, and overwhelmed hospitals, the threats are no longer theoretical—they are unfolding in real time.
Over at the CEMIR, we also produce a free blog post once a month (coincidentally at the same time as this one – every 15th or so day of each month). You can subscribe to those here.
And look for a new book coming later this year (July, 2025), which will be free to read online via Pressbooks:
And the Amazon Kindle version of this book (no royalties) is available now for pre-orders. It will be available in print from Amazon as well.
You can find me virtually - and in person! - during 2025 at a number of conferences and trainings, including the IAEM-USA Region 2 conference in Paul Smiths, New York. Click on the badge above for more details. And learn more about my 2025 speaking “tour”, at https://michaelprasad.com/events.
