Recent empirical studies have clearly demonstrated the importance of offline social capital for disaster resilience and response. I’ve blogged about some of this analysis here and here. Social capital is typically described as those “features of social organizations, such as networks, norms, and trust, that facilitate action and cooperation for mutual benefit.” In other words, social capital increases a group’s capacity for collective action and thus self-organization, which is a key driver of disaster resilience. What if those social organizations were virtual and the networks digital? Would these online communities “generate digital social capital”? And would this digital social capital have any impact on offline social capital, collective action and resilience?
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I think your thought piece on NATO is excellent, but somewhat incomplete. NATO is the diplomatic and administrative headquarters, but the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the actual C2 for NATO military operations
In my opinion, the U.S. needs to back out of NATO and its operational counter part SHAPE and leave both to the EU (as you suggest). The U.S. could join Russia in an observer status at NATO, but would no longer be a voting member. Both NATO and SHAPE would be under the EU, but would include non-EU members (e.g. Turkey).
This would do two beneficial things: it would provide Europe with a dedicated all European military force; and it would facilitate the move towards greater integration of EU member countries.
The benefits to the U.S. would also be significant by forcing the U.S. to recognize that the Cold War is over and there is no longer any reason to have a major U.S. Military presence in Germany (Italy is another matter given its proximity to the still volatile Maghreb)
I think that your proposal for a dedicated EU-NATO Intelligence Organization is absolutely brilliant, but again I would add a second intelligence entity to SHAPE for support to military operations (SMO). Both of these organizations would be all European.
I too am a non-player in the power games inside the DC Beltway. If I had any influence you would not be unemployed. Frankly I believe that the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. Government have lost interest in governing this country and are just going through the motions. So expecting the U.S. to take the initiative with NATO is fruitless.
Susan Rice is a brilliant and effective woman who I suspect will be ignored by President Obama, just as he ignored the super competent General Jones (who I became acquainted with when he headed the U.S. DOD Delegation at NATO).
Keep fighting the good fight!
Richard (AKA Retired Reader)
My colleagues Rumi Chunara and John Brownstein recently published a short co-authored study entitled “Twitter as a Sentinel in Emergency Situations: Lessons from the Boston Marathon Explosions.” At 2.49pm EDT on April 15, two improvised bombs exploded near the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon. Ambulances left the scene approximately 9 minutes later just as public health authorities alerted regional emergency departments of the incident.
The temperature in Phoenix, Arizona hit 119 degrees (F) on the 29th of June, a new record for the date. The heat was so intense, it led to the cancellation of 18 regional flights at the airport (the aircraft used for those routes were restricted to temperatures no higher than 118 degrees).
The extreme heat is also playing havoc with the electrical grid in the US southwest, much earlier than the late August squeeze that is routine. With everyone in the region running their air conditioners at full clip to avoid cooking (more tex-mex sous-vide in airtight homes than outdoor barbecue), there’s barely enough power available to meet demand. And at peak loads, the electrical grid is much more likely to fail.
These are killer temperatures. And if the grid fails right now, it’s not just an inconvenience.
It quickly becomes a matter of life or death.
If you and your community are relatively unprepared, the only way to meet the challenge of a blackout during extreme heat is to band together as a community. Community action during times like this can dramatically reduce the death toll.
However, community action after a crisis hits isn’t the best approach.
The real resilient solution is to produce more locally.
In this case, the ability to produce energy locally and to use it effectively is the key to long term resilience. It can transform a killer blackout into a relatively minor event.
But, resilience like this requires investments at the household and community level, by people like you and me.
For example, if most of the homes in a community produced solar energy, electricity would be not only be available when needed, the production would be peaking at the very same moment the need for it was the most intense. Further, homes with battery backups and natural gas generators would be able to continue to provide energy around the clock and, if the community was connected by a microgrid, a blackout could be completely avoided.
The only way this type of resilience gets built is if you and I build it, before disaster strikes.
So, let’s get going, before we are all cooked together.
Two articles follow: one posits a seemingly global anti-US opposition, an Anti-American Network (AAN), and the other posits that political warfare is the answer to the Middle East portion of the problem. IMHO, both are worth considering. Further believe that, with respect to Boot & Doran's approach, (a) coverage needs expansion to cover all the opponents Hirsch posits and (b) political warfare is a necessary but not sufficient component of our response and an NCTC-centric structure is probably not the way to go. We already have policy in place to deal with these kinds of things but it probably needs revision in light of international and domestic politics. In my view, what we need is national leadership (read: POTUS and Congress) with the guts and principles of Britain's WWII leader Winston Churchill supported by an Executive Branch organizational structure combining the best features of their Special Operations Executive (SOE) and Political Warfare Executive (PWE), one authorized, directed, and capable of covertly, surgically and virtually “setting our adversaries ablaze.” Neither the currently tasked organization nor U.S Special Operations Command, or even the two together, is presently that structure.)
