A new research center at the USC Price School aims to foster better coordination between civilian and military professionals to improve responses to disasters, from pandemics and wildfires to cyberattacks and missile launches.

 

What’s happening: The Center on National Defense and Public Safety will serve as a home base for education, engagement, and research in national defense, public safety, and civil-military collaboration.

 

One area of focus will be the lack of coordinated emergency management plans among city, law enforcement and military agencies. The center will conduct research on building a prototype for a multijurisdictional emergency plan.

• A case study: During the recent Los Angeles wildfires, utilities sought access to facilities controlled by the military, said Frank Zerunyan, the center’s Executive Director. But military staff noted they do not take orders from utilities, which hindered cooperation and could have undermined efforts to fight the fire.
  
  
• Why it matters: “We can’t afford that,” Zerunyan said. “We need to have the National Guard, the military installations, utilities, school districts, cities, counties, LAPD, Sheriff’s Department all talking.”

Read more about the new research center.

When health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently fired an entire federal vaccine advisory panel, he described the unprecedented move as necessary to rid the committee of industry influence.

However, new research from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics finds that reported conflicts on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s panel had been at historic lows for years before Kennedy’s abrupt dismissal.

What they’re saying: “In the past, there have been high levels of reported conflicts on influential vaccine committees, but there has been substantial progress since the early 2000s,” said lead author Genevieve Kanter, Associate Professor at the USC Price School. “Although it’s important to remain vigilant, conflicts of interest on vaccine advisory committees have been at historically low levels for quite some time.”

Read more about the study.

🎧 Saving Our Democracy: Assistant Professor Mindy Romero joined the PricePod to discuss challenges facing U.S. democracy, such as polarization and low levels of voter turnout, and a nationwide campaign that seeks to rebuild trust in our system. Take a listen

💰 The ROI on DEI: University Professor Shaun Harper told Congress that cutting diversity, equity and inclusion programs will end up costing Americans more money. Read his testimony

🏙️ Leading His City: Downey City Manager Roger Bradley, an MPA alum, shares his journey from tank mechanic to local government leader. Watch the conversation

Higher education faced unprecedented challenges this year, but the USC Price School’s annual report shows how students, faculty and alumni continued to make a difference. 

• The highlights: Our researchers tackled major policy challenges, from advising California on solar infrastructure to revealing privacy issues from doctors using AI chatbots. 
  
  
• Meanwhile, students and alumni worked with community leaders to address homelessness, disparities in healthcare, and the destruction caused by the Los Angeles wildfires. 

Why it matters: “At a time when the value of higher education is under scrutiny, this report highlights the enduring importance of research, education, and community engagement,” said USC Price School Dean Chris Boone. “Knowledge and education remain essential tools for creating meaningful change.”

 

Read our Annual Report

There are no cameras or cell phones allowed in Alex McClain’s office, so he had to talk on a landline to be interviewed.

• McClain, an alum of the USC Price School, works in what’s called a SCIF – a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility – a building designed with rigorous security measures to prevent leaks of classified information.
  

The 17-year veteran of the Department of Homeland Security is not exactly James Bond. But his accomplishments are sensitive enough that he can’t divulge much.

• “I guess the most I can say is there was a piece of threat intelligence and we were able to get that intelligence out to unique people and the government was able to adjust some of its policies to mitigate the threat,” he explained.

The details are, presumably, classified.

Read more about McClain’s career in homeland security.

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