The Pentagon v. Zombies

Previous posts have discussed ... zombies. The Centers for Disease Control has discussed a zombie apocalypse, and now the Defense Department has followed suit.  CNN reports:

Never fear the night of the living dead -- the Pentagon has got you covered. 

From responses to natural disasters to a catastrophic attack on the homeland, the U.S. military has a plan of action ready to go if either incident occurs.

It has also devised an elaborate plan should a zombie apocalypse befall the country, according to a Defense Department document obtained by CNN.

In an unclassified document titled "CONOP 8888," officials from U.S. Strategic Command used the specter of a planet-wide attack by the walking dead as a training template for how to plan for real-life, large-scale operations, emergencies and catastrophes.

And the Pentagon says there's a reasonable explanation.

"The document is identified as a training tool used in an in-house training exercise where students learn about the basic concepts of military plans and order development through a fictional training scenario," Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze, a spokeswoman for U.S. Strategic Command, told CNN. "This document is not a U.S. Strategic Command plan."

Nevertheless, the preparation and thoroughness exhibited by the Pentagon for how to prepare for a scenario in which Americans are about to be overrun by flesh-eating invaders is quite impressive.

Read the Pentagon's Zombie apocalypse plan

More Zombies in the News

We've seen zombies in political protests, campaign ads, and information from the Centers for Disease Control.  Associated Press reports on zombies in emergency preparedness training:

Move over vampires, goblins and haunted houses, this kind of Halloween terror aims to shake up even the toughest warriors: An untold number of so-called zombies are coming to a counterterrorism summit attended by hundreds of Marines, Navy special operations forces, soldiers, police, firefighters and others to prepare them for their worst nightmares.

"This is a very real exercise, this is not some type of big costume party," said Brad Barker, president of Halo Corp, a security firm hosting the Oct. 31 training demonstration during the summit at a 44-acre Paradise Point Resort island on a San Diego bay. "Everything that will be simulated at this event has already happened, it just hasn't happened all at once on the same night. But the training is very real, it just happens to be the bad guys we're having a little fun with."

Hundreds of military, law enforcement and medical personnel will observe the Hollywood-style production of a zombie attack as part of their emergency response training.

In the scenario, a VIP and his personal detail are trapped in a village, surrounded by zombies when a bomb explodes. The VIP is wounded and his team must move through the town while dodging bullets and shooting back at the invading zombies. At one point, some members of the team are bitten by zombies and must be taken to a field medical facility for decontamination and treatment.

Fox 43 reports on a similar exercise in Franklin County, Pennsylvania:

The Franklin County Department of Emergency Services used a zombie apocalypse theme for an emergency preparedness drill Saturday.

"What we're doing is a pod exercise, which is appointing distribution. This would be used for any kind of major catastrophe. If you've been bitten by a zombie, you are going through and getting medication, which is M&M's," said Meghan O'Brien, Assistant Director for the Franklin County Department of Emergency Services.

The zombie bite is a metaphor for any kind of medical emergency. Depending on what it is, volunteers would then tell those affected what kind of medication they would need and how to take it.

Zombie Lobbying

First zombie epidemiology, then zombie advertising, now zombie lobbying.  The Hill reports:

Galvanized by the threat of a “zombie-less Halloween," hundreds of zombies took to the streets of Washington, D.C., Friday in an attempt to scare lawmakers into supporting their cause — returning AMC’s “The Walking Dead” to Dish Network.

Recently, the satellite television company took AMC, and with it, the top-rated series, "The Walking Dead," off the air. It claimed the hit show wasn’t worth the cost of having to carry the less popular related networks of We TV, Sundance Channel and IFC Films.

The decision caused “The Walking Dead” fans to miss the Season Three premiere of the show on Oct. 14.

To protest the decision, portions of the nation's capital turned into a zombie apocalypse of sorts on Friday as a group of protesters clad in silicon rotting flesh and fake blood turned heads as they lumbered by the White House, Lafayette Square and the Washington Monument, carrying picket signs and several downed satellite dishes.

Danielle Webb of AMC, who doubled as the zombies’ spokeswoman, told The Hill that the group was marching to catch the attention of lawmakers and citizens alike “to shine a spotlight on our cause and get as much attention as possible because we are facing a grave zombie crisis.”

Yet Another Zombie Video!

Zombie videos are big this year. This one is for Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson.

Very Strange Ad

An earlier post displayed a very strange political ad in Texas. Here is another odd ad, this one from California.  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's opponent uses zombies to play on his status as a "sacrificial lamb"  in the race:

CDC v. Zombies

There are many kinds of health issues. In our chapter on bureaucracy and the administrative state, we mention the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A couple of days ago, a CDC blog contained a post about zombies by Dr. Ali Khan (h/t Patrick Eagan-Van Meter):

There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a real emergency.

...

If zombies did start roaming the streets, CDC would conduct an investigation much like any other disease outbreak. CDC would provide technical assistance to cities, states, or international partners dealing with a zombie infestation. This assistance might include consultation, lab testing and analysis, patient management and care, tracking of contacts, and infection control (including isolation and quarantine). It’s likely that an investigation of this scenario would seek to accomplish several goals: determine the cause of the illness, the source of the infection/virus/toxin, learn how it is transmitted and how readily it is spread, how to break the cycle of transmission and thus prevent further cases, and how patients can best be treated. Not only would scientists be working to identify the cause and cure of the zombie outbreak, but CDC and other federal agencies would send medical teams and first responders to help those in affected areas (I will be volunteering the young nameless disease detectives for the field work).

To learn more about what CDC does to prepare for and respond to emergencies of all kinds, visit:
http://emergency.cdc.gov/cdc/orgs_progs.asp

To learn more about how you can prepare for and stay safe during an emergency visit:
http://emergency.cdc.gov/

To download a badge like the one above that you can add to your social networking profile, blog, website, or email signature visit:
http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies.asp

NPR provides some context:

The idea evolved from a CDC Twitter session with the public earlier this year about planning for disasters. Activity spiked when dozens of tweets came in from people saying they were concerned about zombies.

Dave Daigle, a veteran communications specialist, proposed the idea of using a zombie hook to spice up the hurricane message. Khan, director of emergency preparedness, approved it immediately and wrote it himself.

"Most directors would have thrown me out of their office," Daigle laughed. "Ali has a good sense of humor."

In the blog, Khan discussed what fiction has said about flesh-eating zombies and the various infectious agents that different movies have fingered as the cause.

His favorite zombie flick is "Resident Evil," but his interest in unpredictable terrors is driven more by his decades of work tracking real-life infections like Ebola hemorrhagic fever, bird flu and SARS.

CDC officials said the feedback they've gotten is almost completely positive, including a nice note from the boss, Dr. Tom Frieden.

Almost as rewarding was a nice comment Daigle said he received from his 14-year-old daughter, who has shown little interest in her dad's work but saw the zombie post and said, "This is cool!"

There have been few comments asking whether this is the best way for the government to spend tax dollars. The agency is under a tight budget review at the moment and facing potentially serious budget cuts. But the zombie post involved no extra time or expenditure, CDC officials said.

"We have a critical message to get out and that is CDC saves lives while saving money. If it takes zombies to help us get that message out, then so be it," said agency spokesman Tom Skinner.