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I have family members who work emergency relief for the fed. govt. Mojo

Foreign news outlets cynically bash America's new emergency communications executive order
Summary: Russian propaganda arm RT.com slams an American emergency communications plan. Many Americans unknowingly retweet Russia's headlines.

David Gewirtz
By David Gewirtz for ZDNet Government | July 10, 2012 -- 06:55 GMT (23:55 PDT)

News is a funny thing, and yet, emergency preparedness is no laughing matter. As residents of the mid-Atlantic states have become all too aware, disasters do strike, communication systems do fail, and people do suffer because of it.

One of the missions of good governance is to provide support during times of emergency. The United States government is particularly good at this on a logistical level. Unfortunately, as we saw during Katrina, politicians can get in the way of a well-designed escalation system, causing systems to break down.

However, the bottom line is that the U.S. has implemented many forms of disaster management over the years, planning for everything from natural disasters to man-made disasters, to terrorist attacks, to the effects of war.

President Obama continued that management process last week with the issuance of the Executive Order Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions.

It's an extension of previous emergency communications policies of the government, but this time it assigns specific responsibilities to the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. It also sets up a new committee called National Security and Emergency Preparedness (NS/EP) consisting of key players from most of the major agencies.

This is a good thing. Emergency preparedness and escalation procedures are important. Assigning specific responsibilities ahead of time prevents turf battles, and helps restore critical services faster.

more http://www.zdnet.com/foreign-news-outlets-cynically-bash-americas-new-emergency-communications-executive-order-7000000554/