Summary: New Threats and their Relevance for the Public Life in our Society
Ines Kaldas
In the course of the last years grave changes in the general set-up of international and national security have arisen to which civil defence will have to adapt. Thus, a civil defence system which can meet these new threats on a broad basis is absolutely essential. An integrated civil defence plan based on a flexible intervention system to be applied true to scale, which can be applied according to the needs of the local, territorial and federal as well as the international levels, e.g. among EU nations, considers the new security political circumstances.
As a result, the range of threats approaching civil defence stretches from contagious diseases, which can become pandemic, to terrorist attacks with biological, chemical or radiological weapons, and even to cyber-terrorism. In our highly mobile and globalized world national security cannot be viewed in isolation any longer.
The experiences from terrorist attacks and natural disasters in recent years are comparable. The lack of problem awareness and preventive measures impede decision-making, thus severely restricting room for manoeuvre. Frequently weak spots can be detected in obscure responsibilities, in the lack of cooperation concerning intervention strategies, and in the lack of integration of communication mechanisms.
The possibility of finding the necessary decision-making and action mechanisms in the course of a crisis is not very likely, as has been demonstrated by the latest hurricane disaster in the USA. Thus we are in need of a pro-active and generalized approach in integrated relief and intervention structures in order to cope with the challenges described above.
Pro-active measures cover administrative, operational and technical basics for a flexible and integrated intervention system to be applied true to scale, including early warning systems, risk and weak point analyses, and pro-active intervention planning. A comprehensive civil defence system must be able to integrate capacity available in the public, military, and private sectors, and to guarantee continuity of operations and administration, public security, and order.
So clarification and integration of responsibilities before the crisis begins, and compatibility in the fields of communication, intervention planning, training, education, and distribution of resources must be the aims.
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