What is the BIG mistake that every Olympic Games makes? To the best of my knowledge it happens every four years that they hold the games, winter or summer.
Answer: Too many Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs), communications centers, command centers and the like. One knowledgeable person familiar with the Vancouver Games had counted seven command centers dedicated to security. This then is the issue!
Do we need more than just one? Probably so, but tell me what is the system being used to tie the seven together as a coordinated whole? You can't tell me with a straight face that there is seamless coordination going on between them. If it was seamless--there would not be seven!!
I'm a big believer in having the right people in the same room to sort through thorny issues when they pop up. The more diverse the players, the more important it is for everyone to be together.
When You have diverse organizations each establishing their own "joint" command center (want to bet there is more that one "joint" command center?) things get disconnected.
In the midst of an incident it is confusing enough to gain situational awareness without multiple sites "painting the picture" of what did or did not happen. I'm sure there has been a great deal of coordination done. On the USA side of the border there has been a concerted multi-year effort to bring federal, state and local organizations together. But, as the Canadians were fond of saying, "You know the Olympics are being held in Canada!"
Hopefully everything will go smoothly with no incidents and the public will rest easy not knowing that things could have been confusing.
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Answer: Too many Emergency Operations Centers (EOCs), communications centers, command centers and the like. One knowledgeable person familiar with the Vancouver Games had counted seven command centers dedicated to security. This then is the issue!
Do we need more than just one? Probably so, but tell me what is the system being used to tie the seven together as a coordinated whole? You can't tell me with a straight face that there is seamless coordination going on between them. If it was seamless--there would not be seven!!
I'm a big believer in having the right people in the same room to sort through thorny issues when they pop up. The more diverse the players, the more important it is for everyone to be together.
When You have diverse organizations each establishing their own "joint" command center (want to bet there is more that one "joint" command center?) things get disconnected.
In the midst of an incident it is confusing enough to gain situational awareness without multiple sites "painting the picture" of what did or did not happen. I'm sure there has been a great deal of coordination done. On the USA side of the border there has been a concerted multi-year effort to bring federal, state and local organizations together. But, as the Canadians were fond of saying, "You know the Olympics are being held in Canada!"
Hopefully everything will go smoothly with no incidents and the public will rest easy not knowing that things could have been confusing.
