Since the systematic case study conducted in the fall of 2002 on the state ofrnlocal preparedness for terrorist events in the Commonwealth of Kentucky (carried out within one year of the 9/11 attacks and the anthrax letters), which was summarized at the 2003 AMOP Seminar (Paulson and Scott, 2003), an increasing number of professional organizations and foundations have surveyed components of the US readiness system. Even more recently, a small number of government agencies, such as the US Government Accountability Office have conducted similar analyses. These have joined the continuing stream of reports from non-governmental organizations, among them the Trust for America's Health, and even some of the country's most important publications (e.g., the New York Times and the National Journal). While the focus of each analysis, poll and report is different (some focus on the uniformed, "first responder" community, others on the health care or public health communities, etc.), the overall picture still demonstrates a gap between the desired and the current actual state of readiness. This paper will very briefly review the results of the lead author's research in 2002 and compare them with subsequent studies in later years, including the results of any studies that appeared in the open literature in early 2005 up to the date of submission of this paper.
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