House panel makes May 'Resilience Month'

WASHINGTON, April 16 (UPI) -- The Democratic chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee plans a series of hearings next month around the theme of homeland resilience.

Committee staff told private sector executives that May would be "Resilience Month" for the committee, with a full hearing May 6 and subcommittee hearings echoing the theme all through the month.

A spokeswoman for Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., confirmed the theme, and told United Press International that details of the hearing would be announced shortly.

Resilience -- the ability to pick up and resume activities after an attack or disaster -- is a concept that many experts believe should be at the center of U.S. homeland security planning.

In a white paper this week, "strategic thinkers" from IBM's consultancy arm proposed a global governance structure to ensure resilience in world-wide aviation, cargo transport, immigration, travel and Internet sectors.

"We envision a new international entity to fill the governance gap that presently limits the effectiveness of international efforts," the authors write. The "Global Movement Management Organization" they propose would "bring together key stakeholders with a shared interest in strengthening global movement systems" and "enable cooperation among regional, national and sector-specific stakeholders."

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Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor