Governments around the world are spearheading new campaigns to encourage the general public to be prepared for a host of emergencies that could disrupt essential services, including cyber-attacks and natural disasters.
uncertain
that → spearhead → attacks
The United States, however, is taking a different approach: focusing on military preparation, as opposed to the general population.
asserted
States → take → preparation
With an influx of global messaging regarding emergency preparedness, the Guardian spoke with emergency experts about the Pentagon’s latest initiative and the state of US disaster preparedness at large.
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Guardian → regard → preparedness
The United Kingdom’s latest “Be Ready” campaign urges the public to stock up with supplies to last 72 hours, a warning that comes amid growing concern about the impact of the climate crisis, technological dependency and hostile state threats.
asserted
that → urge → crisis
Sweden also recently published updated guidance for its population in the case of “crisis or war”, as did Japan; Goshi Hosono, the disaster management minister, said the country would issue an emergency appeal to citizens on 2 November, when the country’s new disaster management agency begins operations.
asserted
agency → publish → operations
The plan will reportedly echo the UK’s advice that households should have supplies to remain self-sufficient for at least three days during a disaster.
uncertain
households → echo → disaster
“The state of the world has worsened drastically in recent years.
asserted
state → worsen → years
War is being waged in our vicinity,” writes the Swedish Civil Defense and Resilience Agency.
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Agency → wag → vicinity
“Extreme weather events are becoming increasingly common.
asserted
events → become → ?
Terror threats, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns are being used to undermine and influence us.”
asserted
threats → use → us
On 30 September, Pete Hegseth released a memorandum to senior Pentagon leadership establishing “FORTRESS America”, an initiative to prepare US military bases to keep operating for at least 90 days without outside support.
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bases → release → support
The initiative is structured around five pillars, according to the memo: “energy independence; supply-chain and defense-industrial base resilience; a strategic defense reserve; installation hardening and cyber resilience; and resilience in space and spectrum.”
uncertain
initiative → structure → space
The creation of the initiative caused quite a bit of chatter on social media, from X to TikTok, with many wondering why this roll-out was happening right now.
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out → cause → TikTok
Lynn Budd, former president of the National Emergency Management Association (Nema), a nonpartisan, non-profit organization dedicated to US emergency preparedness and current director of the Wyoming office of homeland security, believes that there is a growing understanding among leaders that cyber-attacks pose an increasingly powerful threat.
“Our world has gotten very small, and threats are imminent,” she said.
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she → dedicate → threat
Budd also flagged the compounding threats of natural and human-made disasters, such as a cyber-attack taking place in the midst of a tornado.
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Budd → flag → tornado
“Everybody’s paying attention to the tornado, so our adversaries take advantage of that time and decide: ‘Oh, they’re busy with something else.
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they → pay → something
Now’s the time to do a cyber-attack or other types of attacks that may affect the critical infrastructure of a community,’” she said.
uncertain
she → ’ → community
While the Fortress initiative is not aimed towards the civilian sector, Budd argues that its existence should encourage everyday Americans to consider their own preparedness strategies: “People can think about [Fortress] and think, if our military is doing that, shouldn’t I be thinking about that too?”
asserted
I → aim → that
In contrast, Dr Tom Chandler, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, argued that the Pentagon’s plan illustrates the vast differences in needs for individual preparedness versus institutional preparedness.
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plan → argue → preparedness
“This highlights the importance of planning for prolonged disruptions rather than just for short-term emergencies,” he said.
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he → highlight → emergencies
“Military installations in the United States have very specific and unique operational responsibilities, and these requirements are oftentimes very different than what is required for ordinary households.
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what → have → households
There has been no specific threat named in any of the recent campaigns from the US or UK governments, though both acknowledge the possibility of cyber-attacks.
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both → name → attacks
On 21 October, websites around the world went dark after a serious vulnerability was discovered in a common computer-programming language.
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vulnerability → go → language
James Trainor, former assistant director of the FBI’s cyber division and senior vice-president at LevelBlue, a global security services provider, said that continued outreach around cybersecurity reflects its growing role in disaster-preparedness initiatives.
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outreach → say → initiatives
“The cyber problem never gets smaller.
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problem → get → ?
There’s more data, there’s more connectivity, there’s more innovation by the bad actor,” he said.
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he → ’ → actor
“Now with AI, the speed at which these tools can find vulnerabilities, exploit them, draft better spear-phishing emails, the risk is only going to continue to grow.”
asserted
risk → find → emails
While the US focuses on strengthening its military response to emergencies, experts say that individual emergency preparedness is lacking.
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preparedness → focus → emergencies
“Preparedness levels are not where we would hope they would be for some of our more common hazards,” Dr DeeDee Bennett Gayle, professor of emergency management at University of Albany, said.
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Gayle → hope → Albany
Fema’s 2024 National Preparedness Report indicated that 51% of adults believed they were prepared for a disaster.
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they → indicate → disaster
“There’s still a lot of work to be done to get people to understand just how our emergency management system is run,” Bennett Gayle said.
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Gayle → ’ → work
The US does run a similar program to the UK’s campaign, known as Ready.gov, which was launched in 2003 and operated by the Department of Homeland Security.
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which → run → Security
The government website acknowledges 25 types of disasters, including flooding, wildfires, cybersecurity, earthquakes and explosions.
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website → acknowledge → flooding
Chandler acknowledged that while other countries may take on a more centralized approach to emergency preparedness, the United States has always relied on a multilevel method.
uncertain
States → acknowledge → method
“The US system is fairly unique in a lot of ways, and it has been structured since the beginning to be locally executed, state-managed and federally supported,” he said.
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he → structure → beginning
But experts say that the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to the federal workforce have placed new pressures on state and local governments.
asserted
cuts → say → governments
More than 4,300 employees left Fema in fiscal year 2025, about 17% of the workforce, according to a recent US government accountability office (GAO) report.
uncertain
employees → leave → report
“We’re still trying to evaluate the effect of reduction in forces directly on communities,” Budd said.
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Budd → try → communities
“When you say you want local and state jurisdictions to take on more responsibility, both in capability and and financially, it’s going to take some time for us to figure out how that’s going to work out.
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that → say → time
We can’t gain that capability tomorrow.”
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We → gain → capability
…and 6 more, not listed.
The Aporia
