Ready.gov wasn't ready for SARS

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Rich Wiggins <wiggins () msu edu>
Date: Sun, 06 Apr 2003 11:07:47 -0500 (EST)
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Ready.gov wasn't ready for SARS


Dave,

A lot of people are worried about SARS now.  Take a look at the
Ready.gov site, launched with such fanfare on February 19.
The word SARS does not appear on the home page.  A site search for
SARS returns nothing.

If you go to its Useful Links page, you find a link to the
the CDC, but they take you to http://www.bt.cdc.gov.  That page, in
turn, is a preparedness site, with info on smallpox, VX, mustard gas,
anthrax, ricin, etc.  There is no mention of SARS.

The Department of Homeland Security might argue that Ready.gov
is about preparedness -- duct tape and all -- and it is not
intended to respond in real time to events. Yet the massive
fanfare about Ready.gov could lead citizens to assume it is
the official place to go when a new threat arises.

DHS might argue that Ready.gov is only about terrorism.  But
the virus doesn't care if it evolved naturally in Guangdong
Province or if it was bred in a lab in Baghdad.  The public
is worried about the biological threat, regardless of whether
it's nature or terrorism.

This incident proves that Ready.gov is a static brochureware site.
That it took one year and millions of dollars to build a static
11 page brochure is one thing.  That there are no plans to update it
as new biological threats arise is more disturbing.

The incident also shows that we've compartmentalized the notion
of civil defense.  Terrorism threats belong to DHS; biological
threats to HHS, unless they are terrorist in origin.

The CDC, by the way, has done an outstanding job of getting
good information up.  See http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/sars .
Clearly labeled, written in plain English, with info for
travelers, the public, clinics, etc.

/rich


------ End of Forwarded Message

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