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One hundred years after Spanish Flu killed an estimated 50 to 100 million people worldwide, the risks of a pandemic loom large for the increasingly interconnected global community. In this candid conversation, former deputy homeland security advisor Amy Pope describes how lessons learned from the 2014 Ebola outbreak resulted in a much more effective response to Zika a year later, including better public communications strategies, faster approval of federal funding, and greater outreach to state, local, and private sector leaders. Pope calls for increased attention and dedicated funding streams to help position the federal government –alongside its local, state, and national partners worldwide – to fight the next major outbreak.

Vice Admiral Peter Neffenger takes listeners inside the room as he describes how he managed complex challenges like the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and taking over the Transportation Security Administration at a critical juncture in aviation security. In discussing Deepwater Horizon, Neffenger describes how his role as Deputy Incident Manager required managing not only the complexities of stopping the oil spill, but also its cascading effects, including the environmental degradation of vulnerable wildlife habitats, and the economic impact of thousands of oil workers and fishermen losing their livelihoods. Neffenger also discusses aviation security, including how he and TSA leadership sought to improve security, increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the airport screening process, and reduce passenger wait times from hours to minutes.  Looking ahead, Neffenger outlines potential ways of making airport security a more individualized experience for every passenger.

With a majority of people living in urban environments, there is a growing imperative to engineer cities to better withstand an inevitable bevy of potential shocks and stresses. As Washington DC’s first chief resilience officer, Kevin Bush’s task is to develop the District’s first-ever resilience strategy, aiming to tackle challenges ranging from terrorist attacks to homelessness. In this wide-ranging discussion, Bush outlines how chronic stresses like a high cost of living weakens the ability of DC residents to absorb shocks like flooding, and explains how interdisciplinary solutions – such as parks that soak up excess floodwater – help embed resilience into the fabric of the city. A veteran of the Hurricane Sandy response, Bush also advocates for a more systematic approach to disaster recovery and response, such as ensuring critical infrastructure like cell phone towers has adequate backup power supplies. Above all, Bush emphasizes that the city and its residents must deal with everyday challenges in order to be better prepared for potential shocks.

As a former Governor of Mississippi, US Ambassador, and Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus has managed a wide range of challenges during his varied career.  In discussion with his former Department of Defense colleague and Resilient World host Christine Wormuth, Mabus provides his unique perspective on how policies and approaches can build resilience in both individuals and systems.  From leading the US Navy and Marine Corps through the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and opening all combat positions to women, to moving the military away from fossil fuels and toward alternative energy sources, Mabus discusses how diversity strengthens the ability of U.S. military forces to execute their missions. Closer to home, Mabus describes how lessons learned from the military – such as the stockpiling of vital resources close to where they are needed – can be applied for future disaster response in the United States.

Although bestselling novelist Max Brooks is best known for authoring page-turning fiction about zombie attacks, his books have practical implications for considering society’s level of preparedness for crises that are much closer to reality.  In this episode of Resilient World, Brooks argues we are unprepared to deal with the consequences of pandemics, hurricanes, and other disruptions and unpacks why he believes that people struggle to prepare for major challenges. He outlines how, in a society predicated on convenience and ‘just-in-time’ supply chains, another Hurricane Katrina or Ebola could be even more disruptive.  It is time, Brooks says, to rediscover a culture of preparedness and resilience, and for individuals, businesses, and the government to get ready for the unthinkable.

Born to a Coast Guard officer, it was perhaps inevitable that Thad Allen would also become a ‘shallow water sailor’. His thirty-nine-year career saw him rise to the very top, serving as the Coast Guard’s 23rd Commandant from 2006 to 2010, and coming to prominence across America as the public face of the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts in 2005. In a wide-ranging conversation with Resilient World host Christine Wormuth, Admiral Allen draws on lessons from a career at the center of the federal government’s response to some very complex and challenging disasters to take a deep dive into exactly what makes a response resilient. Allen outlines how Hurricane Katrina changed the federal approach to storms, and why the response in Puerto Rico to Maria was much slower than the response to Hurricane Harvey in Houston. He discusses the qualities of good leadership and the core characteristics of resilient systems, how to improve the Department of Homeland Security to make it more effective in preventing and responding to disasters, and what the private sector can teach the government when it comes to innovative problem-solving.

From the court room to the White House Situation Room, Lisa Monaco has been part of framing the legal and policy response to some of the most difficult and thorny issues our society has grappled with in recent years. As a federal lawyer, Monaco co-led the Justice Department’s successful prosecution of five former Enron executives and served as chief of staff to FBI Director Robert Mueller. As President Obama’s Homeland Security Advisor, Monaco advised the President in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings only one month into her new job, before turning her attention to disrupting cyber threats, and coordinating the federal government’s preparation and response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014 to 2016. In conversation with Resilient World host Christine Wormuth, Lisa Monaco discusses how our society can counter religious radicalization on the internet and social media, and what lessons we learned from the successful response to Ebola - and how they prepare us for the next potential pandemic. Monaco discusses why homeland security means thinking about threats worldwide, what we need to do to make ourselves more secure online, and the qualities of grit and faith that make an individual truly resilient.