CIAO DATE: 08/2014
September 2013
Since 2000, the United States has been faced with an unprecedented series of natural and man-made disasters and threats that have generated concerns about the government's ability to respond to future emergencies. As Nate Silver, one of America's most prominent prognosticators, observed in his book The Signal and the Noise, "the first twelve years of the new millenium have been rough, with one unpredicted disaster after another." As bad as the first decade of the twenty-first century was, with the terror attacks of 9/11, the anthrax scare, and deadly hurricanes, there are troubling indications that things are on track to being even worse in the 2010s.
Resource link: The Strategic National Stockpile: Vital to Maintain, Critical to Improve [PDF] - 806K