An article in The New York Times describes the case of Mohammed Khalifa, a 35-year-old Canadian citizen who traveled to the Middle East to join the Islamic State, which he abbeted by providing narration in English in many of its propaganda videos. Those videos included one of the Islamic State’s best-known. Referred to as “Flames of War,” the video shows Syrian soldiers digging their own graves and then being shot in the head.
Last week, WaterISAC reported on some of the statements reportedly made by the United Nations in an advance copy of its latest report on the threat posed by the Islamic State to international peace and security.
A report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies focuses on several key trends in Islamic extremism and terrorism. It addresses an extraordinarily complex and uncertain mix of variables – ones where there is little agreement among experts on the relative nature and importance of any given factor, much less how they interact, and the relative importance of any given one on the overall mix of forces that are shaping the future of the trends in violent Islamic extremism.
The Ready or Not report from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) examines the country’s level of public health emergency preparedness on a state-by-state basis using 10 priority indicators.
A new report from FEMA presents guiding principles for building a culture of preparedness, which was the first goal in the agency’s 2018-2022 Strategic Plan. The guiding principles are trust, inclusion, cross-cultural communication, and support local practices and successes. For each of these principles, the report presents practical strategies and examples that demonstrate successful outcomes in real-world settings. Additionally, FEMA recommends the “novel methodology” of “Culture Brokers” to operationalize the guiding principles.
FEMA Administrator Brock Long announced his resignation yesterday, noting that Deputy Administrator Peter Gaynor, the former director of Rhode Island’s Emergency Management Agency, would serve as acting administrator. Since he began his tenure in June 2017, Long led FEMA through very active hurricane and wildfire seasons, released the agency’s Strategic Plan, and worked with Congress on the passage of the Disaster Recovery Reform Act.
WaterISAC convened a webcast on the risk assessment and emergency response plan requirements under the America’s Water Infrastructure Act (AWIA) on February 13. David Travers and Dan Schmelling from EPA's Water Security Division and Kevin Morley from AWWA presented.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has published a series of resources discussing the characteristics and challenges of “fourth generation agents” and providing guidance to segments of the emergency response community. Also known as “Novichoks” or “A-series nerve agents,” fourth generation agents are chemical warfare agents that pose several unique challenges in terms of toxicity, detection, persistence, and potential for delayed onset of symptoms. A fourth generation agent was used in an incident in the U.K. in 2018, prompting the U.S.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) latest weekly report, the percentage of people visiting the doctor for flu symptoms jumped last week from 3.8 to 4.3 percent, the highest of the current flu season. This level, however, is much lower than last year’s peak of 7.5 percent. The report also noted that the number of states experiencing high flu-like illness activity increased from 23 to 24 states. And the number of states reported widespread flu activity rose from 45 to 47 states. The CDC expects flu activity to remain elevated for a number of weeks.
A group of hurricane experts have published a research report discussing the recently observed phenomenon of hurricanes rapidly intensifying, growing from a weak tropical storm or Category 1 status to Category 4 or 5 in a brief period. Rapid intensification is generally measured by comparing the strength of a hurricane over a 24-hour period. A change in storm wind speed of greater than 35 mph in 24 hours is generally the cutoff. The researchers found that rapid intensification has been seen repeatedly in the Atlantic in recent years.
1620 I Street, NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20006
1-866-H2O-ISAC (1-866-426-4722)
© 2025 WaterISAC. All Rights Reserved.
