USA: Coast guard leader cites Joplin tornado as lesson in disaster preparedness

Addressing security experts attending the second annual Maritime Risk Symposium, Admiral Thad Allen didn’t downplay the need to keep preparing for disasters, reports Carl Blesch for Rutgers. But he focused on the concept of resiliency – the ability to act when things don’t go as planned. "I talk about black swan problems," he explains, "A black swan is an event that can’t be predicted by past data. And frankly, these are increasing in number, not getting smaller." The lesson, Allen said, is that you have to look at relationships in the same way you look at preparations such as supply chain issues.