Surviving Future Disasters
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
April 6-8, 2008
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
ABOUT THE HOSTS
PARTICIPANT BIOS
CONFERENCE AGENDA
CONFERENCE PAPERS
SUGGESTED READINGS
ACCOMODATIONS
TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS
LOCAL ATTRACTIONS
CONTACT INFORMATION
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
A wide variety of factors makes it hard to effectively prepare for and deal with unfolding threats to a society’s critical infrastructures. Citizens, media and businesses look at government to protect them. Government agencies, however, often find it difficult to coordinate networked responses under conditions of urgency and profound uncertainty.
The response to Hurricane Katrina exemplified both the challenges and pathologies that executive leaders at all levels of government typically face in times of disaster. Other recent disasters, both in the US and abroad, suggest that many of these factors play a role in most if not all disasters.
While we may expect responsible agencies to learn from recent failures and successes, the future is increasingly likely to render such lessons irrelevant. We are likely to see new and potentially catastrophic threats to the critical infrastructures that sustain our society. In the future, we will see more and more transboundary crises, which will not respect conventional geographic or functional borders. Future threats will unfold across policy domains and business sectors. Their effects will rapidly reverberate from town to city, from country to country; the effects will jump from one sector to another, hanging shape and course in unforeseen ways and directions.
New threat agents are to blame for this bleak prospect: think of biomedical advances, religious terrorism, and climate change. These developments will fundamentally alter the disaster landscape. Modern societal characteristics – the continuing reliance on tightly coupled and complex systems – will enable the rapid proliferation of disastrous effects.
It is of critical importance that we explore the dynamics and potential effects of these future disasters. Only by understanding how transboundary crises unfold can we begin to map the challenges that accompany them. Moreover, we need to think through what strategies can be effective in managing these disasters.
To accomplish this feat, SDMI and the Swedish National Defence College are hosting this conference that invites scholars with knowledge of specific future threats and experts on crisis and disaster management. Together they will explore how future threats are likely to impact on modern societies. They will discuss what is needed to prepare for these transboundary crises, identifying conditions for, and barriers to, effective action. They will wield a transnational perspective and consider how the US and the EU can work together to preserve and enhance societal security.
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
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General Landreneau is responsible for the deployment and coordination of programs, policies and plans affecting the more than 11,000 members of the Louisiana Army and Air National Guard. He graduated from Vidrine High School and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army War College. In June of 1969, General Landreneau enlisted as a Private in the Louisiana National Guard. He attended Louisiana State Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in 1971. During Operation Desert Storm, he served on active duty in Southwest Asia as Commander, 527th Engineer Battalion. The General was assigned to his present position as Adjutant General on November 8, 1997.
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General Dennis J. Reimer, USA (Ret.), assumed the position of Vice Chairman on the DeticaDFI Board of Directors after having served as President of DeticaDFI since April 2007 and President of DFI Government Services from September 2005. In this role, General Reimer guides the strategic planning for DeticaDFI.
General Reimer has devoted his entire career to the defense and security of the United States. From 1995 to 1999 he served as the 33rd Chief of Staff of the United States Army (CSA), capping a distinguished thirty-seven-year military career.
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James Lee Witt is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of James Lee Witt Associates, a crisis management and preparedness services consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. Witt Associates, a part of GlobalOptions Group, Inc. provides disaster recovery and mitigation management services to state and local governments, educational institutions, the international community and corporations.
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ABOUT THE HOSTS
SDMI
The Stephenson Disaster Management Institute (SDMI) was initiated with the explicit purpose to become a world class organization in which engaged academic researchers, experienced disaster managers, and experts from the private sector collaborate to study crisis and disaster management problems, develop effective solutions to long-standing problems, and disseminate smart practices through executive education and outreach programs.
SDMI’s mission becomes all the more urgent as future threats will create new, unforeseen and unimaginable challenges. The increased complexity of tightly coupled systems will lead to more cascading crises. The development of new technologies, the continuing threat of modern terrorism, and the changing climate will likely bring disasters of an entire new category. Meanwhile, the governmental capacity to deal with these threats is undermined by the inherent difficulties of crisis and disaster management, misguided ideas about the design of response structures, and the political and media context in which these threats must be managed.
SDMI will produce high-quality research that will help prepare political leaders, public managers and private executives deal with these large-scale crises and disasters.
Swedish National Defence College
The Swedish National Defence College (SNDC), has existed in its present form since 1997. The College’s roots can be traced back as far as the establishment of the Artillery College at Marieberg in Stockholm in the 19th century. Today’s College marks the latest development in a long line of military educational tradition.
The College’s task is to contribute towards national and international security through research and development. Research is carried out in diverse, but inter-related subject areas and subsequently disseminated to other interested sectors of society both nationally and internationally.
The College trains and educates military and civilian personnel in leading positions, both nationally and internationally as part of the contribution to the management of crisis situations and security issues.
CONFERENCE AGENDA
Click to view PDF
CONFERENCE PAPERS
The following conference papers have been prepared by participants of the SDMI “Surviving Future Disasters” conference. Each participant was asked to reflect on either the nature of future crises/disasters, the challenges that they may pose, the best practices available to deal with these emerging threats, or the possible consequences of failing to prepare for them.
Click here for the conference papers.
ACCOMODATIONS
Attire: Casual dress
Meeting site: LSU Faculty Club
Raphael Semmes & Highland Road
LSU Campus
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Google Map of The Faculty Club
A block of hotel rooms on the LSU campus has been set aside for conference attendees at the Cook Hotel and the LSU Faculty Club. Please contact Lisa Smith (lsmith@lsu.edu or 225-578-5297) directly to make a reservation on or before March 14, 2008.
The Cook Hotel
The Faculty Club
TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS
Traveling to Baton Rouge can be accomplished via the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport (airport code BTR) which is served by Delta, Continential, American Eagle, Northwest and USAir. The only jet service is Delta via Atlanta. The airport is approximately 10 miles from the hotels and LSU. Shuttles to and from the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport will be provided by SDMI. You will be personally greeted upon arrival by a representative of SDMI and taken to your hotel.
Please contact Lisa Smith (lssmith@lsu.edu or 225-578-5138) for questions regarding travel.
CONTACT INFORMATION
For further information about the conference, please contact:
Lisa Smith
Stephenson Disaster Management Institute
Louisiana State University
1103 Patrick F. Taylor Hall
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Phone: 225-578-5138
Fax: 225-578-8741
Email: lssmith@lsu.edu
