In a recent Federal Times editorial by Sen. Daniel Akaka,
D-Hawaii, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Management, the federal workforce and the District of Columbia, Senator Akaka made the following statement:
"With more than 1.8 million federal staff worldwide, the
federal government should be well prepared for an outbreak of a pandemic
influenza strain. More importantly, state and local governments need to be able
to identify, confront, and report the outbreak to federal government."
The key to an effective federal response is the ability to effectively
communicate a potential outbreak in the community to the President of the United States. However, it is unclear how well federal
agencies are coordinating with local governments in developing response plans
for a pandemic.
Perhaps a view of the Department of Defense’s
notification chart (see attachment below: Only at OhMyGov!) will shed light on the
more systemic problems.
Closer examination of this diagram reminds me of an electrical circuit diagram…
Not only is the chart confusing and difficult to read, but it also leads to dead ends. So are we ready to respond to a pandemic flu? I think not.
A historical perspective: The
Spanish flu of 1918 claimed the lives of 40 million people worldwide. So if you are unemployed and survive, it looks
like there will be federal government job openings. Perhaps your first project will be the development of a national health surveillance
system.