Critical Releases in Homeland Security: August 22, 2012

This webpage is focused primarily on human health effects of drought conditions as experienced in the United States. Health effects in the United States have may include: "1) Changes to water quality, especially private wells, with potential for increased waterborne disease 2) Changes to air quality, increased dust, particulates with potential for increased respiratory distress 3) Poorer personal hygiene due to decreased water availability 4) Food crop or food processing contamination from use of recycled water 5) Increased suicide rate (higher than national average) among farm families affected by drought 6) related economic concerns This page is compiled by the Disaster Information Management Research Center of the National Library of Medicine."

"The 'National Strategy for Biosurveillance' sets forth the United States Government approach to strengthen our national biosurveillance enterprise and describes a core set of functions critical to this Strategy's success.The approach builds on existing biosurveillance concepts and capabilities in seeking to enable more rapid detection, knowledge, and characterization of human, animal, or plant disease activity to enhance incident situational awareness.At the same time, this Strategy outlines an approach that is more selective and deliberate in its intent. The Strategy defines biosurveillance as the process of gathering, integrating, interpreting, and communicating essential information related to all-hazards threats or disease activity affecting human, animal, or plant health to achieve early detection and warning, contribute to overall situational awareness of the health aspects of an incident, and to enable better decisionmaking at all levels. […] This Strategy articulates an overarching goal supported by core functions.It also includes guiding principles that provide a foundation for biosurveillance activities and specific enablers to achieve a well-integrated, national biosurveillance enterprise.Through a deliberate emphasis on the identified core functions and enabling focus areas, the aim is to enhance the Nation's ability to detect, track, investigate, and navigate incidents affecting human, animal, and plant health, thereby better protecting the safety, well being, and security of the American people. The Guiding Principles serve as the Strategy foundation and inform biosurveillance efforts. The Core Functions focus and prioritize our biosurveillance efforts. The crosscutting Enablers are aimed at facilitating the successful implementation of our Strategy."

"'Country Reports on Terrorism 2011' is submitted in compliance with Title 22 of the United States Code, Section 2656f (the 'Act'), which requires the Department of State to provide to Congress a full and complete annual report on terrorism for those countries and groups meeting the criteria of the Act."