News & Features

As Hurricane Florence approaches the Carolinas’ coastline, Stephanie Ruhle speaks with a former senior FEMA official about what measures the organization will take to prepare for when Florence makes landfall. Fmr. FEMA Official’s top concern: people who did not evacuate As Hurricane Florence approaches the Carolinas’ coastline, Stephanie Ruhle speaks with a former senior FEMA…

Document shows DHS transferring $29M from Coast Guard to ICE Rachel Maddow reports on a DHS document from Senator Merkley that shows nearly $10 million dollars being transferred from FEMA’s budget to fund ICE detentions, and $29 million being taken from the Coast Guard, ahead of the 2018 hurricane season. Moira Whelan, a former DHS…

Big Question: Is the federal government as ready for the 2018 hurricane season as it could be? President Trump continues to insist that the federal government is ready for Hurricane Florence by using their response to Hurricane Maria as an example, but nearly 3,000 people died as a result of Hurricane Maria. Former Senior FEMA…

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts a 75 percent chance that this year’s hurricane season, which began June 1, will be equal to or worse than average (the season has already produced two hurricanes, a benchmark that isn’t reached until Aug. 28 in an average year). Last year’s destruction from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma...

When the media takes notice of digital diplomacy in action, they call on Moira Whelan, a founding partner at BlueDot Strategies, for expert insights. Answering questions for the Observer, she calls on her experience at the U.S. State Department shed light on the present and future of digital diplomacy.

In 2017, Americans were stunned to learn how social media was utilized by foreign entities to destabilize the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Shockingly, the State Department had completely directed focus on social media, specifically Facebook, prior to said election as a means of expanding digital diplomacy. Efforts to counter fake news were attempted, but as...

With more natural disasters coming more frequently, the “disaster-recovery” model is no longer useful. According to ex-FEMA official Lars Anderson, disaster response is due for a paradigm shift.

The truth is that over the course of the storm, more than 24 trillion gallons of water have fallen on Southeast Texas and southern Louisiana. This recovery will take years and billions of dollars. People continue to be evacuated and tens of thousands of residents will need temporary shelter and transportation to jobs and schools.

Moira Whelan says the Trump administration has few meaningful contacts worldwide. Because of that, only a handful of countries extended aid post-Hurricane Harvey.

Anderson is part of the NGLCC and believes in its certification process. “I do a lot of work for organizations that aren’t LGBT-owned, but I thought it was important to get the certification because it shows that I’m a member of the community. I care about the community and just to be part of the...