Transcript
BROOKE GLADSTONE: We're joined now by Susan Neely, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. Thanks for joining us.
SUSAN NEELY: My pleasure.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: So briefly can you explain what National Preparedness Month is all about?
SUSAN NEELY: Well, it's really an opportunity for a lot of national organizations, all 50 governors, members of Congress, our department, to say to Americans: Preparedness matters. Please take some time to do an emergency preparedness plan. It could save your life, your family's life and help you if there's a crisis.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: And you feel like the message up till now hasn't been adequately communicated?
SUSAN NEELY: Well, actually, we launched about a year and a half ago what's called the Ready program. I'll point in a plug for our website --Ready.gov. In that program, which we do with the Ad Council, which is the pro bono arm of the advertising industries, what we say is: You need to have a, a family communication plan so you can get in touch with your family members should something happen. You need an emergency supply kit, and you need to have more information. But, you know, like seatbelt campaigns and things like that, that took 20 years to bear fruit, you know, you just keep building on that. So what we're going to be adding is a big push on business -- business emergency preparedness. For anybody who's read the 9/11 Commission report, that is a strong recommendation they make. Those businesses in the World Trade Center on September 11th who had done evacuation drills, who had emergency plans in place got their people out, and they saved lives. We'll, also, like all good public education efforts, have information that's accessible to kids, and we're going to have a mascot who will, you know, help spread the message in the good tradition of Smokey the Bear and McGruff, the Crime Dog.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Who is that going to be?
SUSAN NEELY: Well, we have found that what kids really respond to is a cartoon character of a - an American Shepherd dog, and what we'll be launching in--
BROOKE GLADSTONE: There's, there's no such thing as an American Shepherd, is there?
SUSAN NEELY: Well--
BROOKE GLADSTONE: It's, it's a German Shepherd. We know it, and you know it. The Homeland Security Agency just doesn't want to say that's what it is.
SUSAN NEELY: Oh, well there's Australian Shepherds, there are German Shepherds, there's Belgian Shepherds, I think-- I mean it's a cartoon.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Now this is an election year, and so perhaps it's inevitable that anything the incumbent administration does will be cast by some as politically motivated. So I have to ask you: why declare National Preparedness Month on September 9th, right after the Republican Convention, just a few days before the anniversary of September 11th?
SUSAN NEELY: Well, my goodness, if we stopped everything that was needed to be done in this country because someone worries it's for political purposes, I, I think that would be unfortunate, and not very sensible. We have to do our jobs, and we are pushing preparedness every day of the week. What National Preparedness Month does, in conjunction with the anniversary of September 11th, in conjunction with back to school, in conjunction with people being aware of the heightened threat situation in this country, it just-- puts a punctuation mark on the public education efforts of the Red Cross and us and a lot of other groups that are ongoing.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: But this is a public awareness campaign with a bunch of very planned events to be announced on September 9th! Why?
SUSAN NEELY: We, in coordination with the co-chairs of the launch on Capitol Hill picked this week in particular cause Congress will be back in session, but there will be things happening the week before, put on by other states, other community groups. There will be things happening the week after and the week after that, and there will certainly be plenty of us who continue to worry about public education and preparedness long after September 30th. So it's a continuum of activity and announcements. If you take the time to study any of the effective campaigns that have changed behaviors and encouraged people to take action over the years, whether it's stopping smoking or not taking drugs or buckling up their seat belts, they all work along these lines.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Obviously, Susan, you know where all these questions are coming from -- there were a lot of questions raised after the Orange Alert where Tom Ridge made specific reference to the leadership of George Bush, and critics felt that that was an unseemly display of politics in what should have been a plain and simple message of warning. Do you guys worry about that perception yourselves, that the wording that is used to present these warnings will hurt the credibility of the office and the job you have to do?
SUSAN NEELY: We are very conscious of that. We absolutely take the point that we have to be scrupulous in the way that we present information, because it needs to transcend the political process. With respect to what the secretary said in his statement, I mean the reality is we got this information thanks to a lot of efforts internationally in the offensive war on terrorism which is how we were able to get this kind of specific, detailed, credible intelligence that allowed action to be taken. So, you know, the facts are the facts.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: The facts are facts, but Pakistani intelligence figures have been quoted now widely in the media saying that they were ordered by the White House to issue that information close to the Democratic Convention.
SUSAN NEELY: Well, I guess I'm not aware of those statements, so I can't comment on them. I, I can speak to the fact that I'm privy to the intelligence that was analyzed and formed the basis of the alert, and that was very real.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Everybody is watching to try and figure out what is real and what is being timed and planned in order to have a maximum impact for a reason other than national security.
SUSAN NEELY: Well, I, I guess that's the reality of anything that happens from a policy standpoint in this country during an election process, you know, regardless of what level government you work in, and those are fair questions. It keeps us all honest. But going back to how we started this interview on Preparedness Month, this is a cause, if you will, that we and many others have been working on a long time, and-- it's a opportunity that we have in September and beyond to encourage people to prepare and, and that's what that's all about.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Susan Neely, thank you very much.
SUSAN NEELY: Thank you.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: Susan Neely is an assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. [MUSIC]
BOB GARFIELD: Up next, the emergency broadcast system enters the digital age, and what a mess you can make when you don't check the facts.
BROOKE GLADSTONE: This is On the Media, from NPR.