Project White Horse Forum

Essential Elements of Information for a Culture of Preparedness Why would our societal orientation in complex, dynamic, fast moving situations be good when our educational system trains people only to think through simplified, linear, sequential problems? Strategic thinkers need to be able to see “the big picture” and handle uncertainty, or they cannot be said to be strategic thinkers. […]

This current series of posts  links a discussion of culture of preparedness to both the resilient community concept and to the environment in which that community must persist.  For a wider perspective, the editors of Global Dashboard, Alex Evans and David Steven offer a perspective of the concept of resilience as the core of a new […]

The goal of emergency and crisis response is to reduce output variability in a context in which inputs are highly variable; to that end, crisis response is, in part, about creating an orderly arena within a chaotic environment. … research on High Reliability Organizations (HROs) has suggested that some complex, hazard-managing organizations, for which failure is […]

Culture:  The sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. Culture is transmitted, through language, material objects, ritual, institutions, and art, from one generation to the next. In our case groups of people who defy being victims, those who realize survival is an ongoing team process, an ongoing learning […]

Forty years ago, 3 March 1969, the first TOPGUN class  began “graduate level” fighter pilot education and training at Naval Air Station Miramar at the Fighter Weapons School. They were there because eagles screamed. They were there because fighter pilots will not accept failure. In 1966 North Vietnamese fighter pilots (flying MiG 17 Frescos and MiG […]

After more than 37 years of uniform service to the U.S. army and our nation, I will spend the second half of my life committed to a new mission: Creating a “Culture of Preparedness’’ in America. Every effort I take, whether it is this new Web site, public speaking/lectures, fund-raisers, or the books I have […]

We now move to Discussion Thread 3. >> Intelligence implications for a resilient community response force team in a low probability/high impact  worst case disaster environment:   critical information – what, where and how education aimed at preventing “victimhood” planning on multiple levels being a responder not a victim building leaders AND followers – who, […]

>>  Thread #2 Intelligence meaning and usage in natural disasters with Katrina as an event example As we move further down the time line from September 11, 2001, multiple issues and events tend to push professional response organizations toward an “all hazards” approach. Those focused by agency or function speciffically on intelligence, anti-terrorism, counter-terrorism, gang […]

Original Post: 22 Feb, 2007, Updated 11 Jan, 2009 After introducing Project White Horse 084640 in October 2006 as an electronic magazine focused on decision making in unconventional-hyper complex-worst case disasters, the next step for this website was the opening of a forum for exchange of ideas. Not intended as a day-day blog, the idea […]