Filed under: catastrophic event, DISA, DoD, haiti, Marines, Military, military drill, military exercise, navy, NGOs, pre-knowledge, prior knowledge, SOUTHCOM | Tags: Defense Department's European Command, Defense Information Systems Agency, haiti disaster relief, haiti earthquake, haiti fund, haiti relief effort, Port au Prince, TISC, Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation
Military Trained to Provide Haiti Disaster Relief Before Earthquake
The US military was already prepared to respond for a Haiti disaster one day before the earthquake hit on Jan. 12. US Southern Command in Miami was practicing emergency-relief scenarios for responding to a hurricane hitting the impoverished nation.
Global Research
January 21, 2010
A Haiti disaster relief scenario had been envisaged at the headquarters of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) in Miami one day prior to the earthquake.
The holding of pre-disaster simulations pertained to the impacts of a hurricane in Haiti. They were held on January 11. (Bob Brewin, Defense launches online system to coordinate Haiti relief efforts (1/15/10) — GovExec.com, complete text of article is contained in Annex)
The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), which is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense (DoD), was involved in organizing these scenarios on behalf of US Southern Command.(SOUTHCOM).
Defined as a “Combat Support Agency”, DISA has a mandate to provide IT and telecommunications, systems, logistics services in support of the US military. (See DISA website: Defense Information Systems Agency).
On the day prior to the earthquake, “on Monday [January 11, 2010], Jean Demay, DISA’s technical manager for the agency’s Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation project, happened to be at the headquarters of the U.S. Southern Command in Miami preparing for a test of the system in a scenario that involved providing relief to Haiti in the wake of a hurricane.” (Bob Brewin, op cit, emphasis added)
The Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation project (TISC) is a communications-information tool which “links non-government organizations with the United States [government and military] and other nations for tracking, coordinating and organizing relief efforts”.(Government IT Scrambles To Help Haiti, TECHWEB January 15, 2010).
The TISC is an essential component of the militarization of emergency relief. The US military through DISA oversees the information – communications system used by participating aid agencies. Essentially, it is a communications sharing system controlled by the US military, which is made available to approved non-governmental partner organizations. The Defense Information Systems Agency also “provides bandwidth to aid organizations involved in Haiti relief efforts.”
There are no details on the nature of the tests conducted on January 11 at SOUTHCOM headquarters.
DISA’s Jean Demay was in charge of coordinating the tests. There are no reports on the participants involved in the disaster relief scenarios.
One would expect, given DISA’s mandate, that the tests pertained to simulating communications. logistics and information systems in the case of a major emergency relief program in Haiti.
The fundamental concept underlying DISA’s Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation project (TISC) is to “Achieve Interoperability With Warfighters, Coalition Partners And NGOs” (Defense Daily, December 19, 2008)
Upon completing the tests and disaster scenarios on January 11, TISC was considered to be, in relation to Haiti, in “an advanced stage of readiness”. On January 13, the day following the earthquake, SOUTHCOM took the decision to implement the TISC system, which had been rehearsed in Miami two days earlier:
- “After the earthquake hit on Tuesday [January 12, 2010], Demay said SOUTHCOM decided to go live with the system. On [the following day] Wednesday [January 13, 2010], DISA opened up its All Partners Access Network, supported by the Transnational Information Sharing Cooperation project, to any organization supporting Haiti relief efforts.
The information sharing project, developed with backing from both SOUTHCOM and the Defense Department’s European Command, has been in development for three years. It is designed to facilitate multilateral collaboration between federal and nongovernmental agencies.
Demay said that since DISA set up a Haiti Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Community of Interest on APAN on Wednesday [the day following the earthquake], almost 500 organizations and individuals have joined, including a range of Defense units and various nongovernmental organizations and relief groups. (Bob Brewin, Defense launches online system to coordinate Haiti relief efforts (1/15/10) — GovExec.com emphasis added)
DISA has a Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Field Office in Miami. Under the Haiti Disaster Emergency Program initiated on January 12, DISA’s mandate is described as part of a carefully planned military operation:
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“DISA is providing US Southern Command with information capabilities which will support our nation in quickly responding to the critical situation in Haiti,” said Larry K. Huffman, DISA’s Principal Director of Global Information Grid Operations. “Our experience in providing support to contingency operations around the world postures us to be responsive in meeting USSOUTHCOM’s requirements.”
DISA, a Combat Support Agency, engineers and [sic] provides command and control capabilities and enterprise infrastructure to continuously operate and assure a global net-centric enterprise in direct support to joint warfighters, National level leaders, and other mission and coalition partners across the full spectrum of operations. As DoD’s satellite communications leader, DISA is using the Defense Satellite Communications System to provide frequency and bandwidth support to all organizations in the Haitian relief effort. This includes Super High Frequency missions that are providing bandwidth for US Navy ships and one Marine Expeditionary Unit that will arrive shortly on station to provide medical help, security, and helicopters among other support. This also includes all satellite communications for the US Air Force handling round-the-clock air traffic control and air freight operations at the extremely busy Port-Au-Prince Airport. DISA is also providing military Ultra High Frequency channels and contracting for additional commercial SATCOM missions that greatly increase this capability for relief efforts. (DISA -Press Release, January 2010, undated, emphasis added)
In the immediate wake of the earthquake, DISA played a key supportive role to SOUTHCOM, which was designated by the Obama administration as the de facto “lead agency” in the US Haitian relief program. The underlying system consists in integrating civilian aid agencies into the orbit of an advanced communications information system controlled by the US military.
- “DISA is also leveraging a new technology in Haiti that is already linking NGOs, other nations and US forces together to track, coordinate and better organize relief efforts” (Ibid)
Filed under: Bill Clinton, bush, fraud, George Bush, haiti, scam | Tags: Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, haiti charity, haiti earthquake, haiti fund, relief effort, wyclef, yele
BBB: Most Haiti Charities are Scams, Do Your Research
BBB
January 13, 2010
In the wake of the major earthquake in Haiti, many Americans want to help with donations to relief agencies and charities working in the region. However, as with every natural disaster, there are some unscrupulous people who will attempt to take advantage of the public’s eagerness to help victims. BBB serving Central, Coastal and Southwest Texas offers advice for donors to ensure their donations go to trustworthy relief efforts.
“In the face of any disaster, Americans are quick to step forward with donations to aid the victims and their families,” said Carrie A. Hurt, President and CEO of BBB serving Central, Coastal and Southwest Texas. “Unfortunately, scammers will try to take advantage of the generosity of the public; that’s why it’s important to take the time to research a charity before donating to relief efforts.”
The BBB Wise Giving Alliance offers the following advice to make sure donations go to worthy charities and relief efforts:
* Before making a contribution, visit www.bbb.org/charity to view detailed reports on many of the relief organizations providing assistance. (go here to find the list of charities that meet BBB standards)
* Think twice about donating to any charity that is inexperienced in carrying out relief efforts, but is suddenly soliciting for aid to Haiti. Although well intentioned, such organizations may not have the ability to quickly deliver aid to those in need.
* Be wary of charities that are reluctant to answer reasonable questions about their operations, finances and programs.
* Do not hesitate to ask for written information that describes the charity’s program(s) and finances such as the charity’s latest annual report and financial statements.
* Find out what the charity intends to do with any excess contributions remaining after they have fully funded the disaster relief activities mentioned in solicitations.
* Do not give cash. Checks or money orders should be made out to the name of the charitable organization, not to the individual collecting the donation.
* Keep an eye out for fake charities that imitate the name and style of well-known organizations in order to confuse people and potentially steal personal information such as credit card numbers.
* Don’t give in to excessive pressure for on-the-spot donations. Be wary of any request to send a “runner” to pick up your contribution.
* Be wary of appeals that are long on emotion, but short on describing what the charity will do to address the needs of victims and their families.
* Do not give your credit card number or other personal information to a telephone solicitor or in response to an e-mail solicitation.
* To help ensure your contribution is tax deductible, donations should be made to charitable organizations that are tax exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Go to IRS Publication 78 on http://www.irs.gov for a current list of all organizations eligible to receive contributions deductible as charitable gifts.
For more information on the BBB Wise Giving Alliance and to view BBB Wise Giving ReportsTM on charities across the nation go to www.bbb.org/charity.
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