Crisis Lab

FEMA's workforce is being cut. The primary federal mitigation grant has been canceled. State disaster reimbursements have been frozen. Track these separately and they look like the usual policy disputes and budget fights. Track them together and the si...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King opens with a question most emergency managers haven't been asked: what if someone is actively working to make your disaster worse? Not by intensifying the physical impact, but by flooding the in...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King opens with a scenario every emergency manager recognizes: an evacuation order goes out, every protocol is followed, every system is activated, and people don't move. What it reveals: trust is in...

In the Season 5 premiere, host Kyle King asks one question: what should we have been paying attention to? A blackout in Berlin, a fatal train collision in Spain, and the systematic destruction of Ukraine's power grid all point to the same pattern. The ...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King speaks with Tom Sivak, Chief Emergency Manager at Emergency Management One, about the fundamental shift in the crisis management profession from a knowledge economy to an allocation economy. Wha...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King sits down with Brenden Winder (Christchurch City Council). They dissect the fourteen year recovery journey following the Christchurch earthquakes. What it reveals: the dangerous illusion of shor...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King examines Sweden's transformation from traditional emergency management to integrated security governance. What it reveals: the gray zone reality facing emergency management professionals across ...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King examines how gray zone operations are fundamentally reshaping civilian crisis management across Europe. Kyle walks through Russian drone incursions over Poland, GPS jamming affecting hundreds of...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King takes a hard look at the internal fractures forming within the emergency management community. Kyle reflects on how recent disasters and public criticism have brought long-standing issues to the...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King sits down with emergency preparedness leader Toni Hauser to examine how the future of emergency management is being shaped by shifting influence, community leadership, and professional developme...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King breaks down the professional development paradox in emergency management. As challenges grow more complex and interdependent, senior leaders are often stuck between outdated training models and ...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King sits down with maritime operations expert James Merten to explore how global trade depends on a fragile and often invisible system: ocean shipping. From cargo delays and cyberattacks to major po...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King introduces the “velocity of crisis”—a powerful yet overlooked concept in emergency management. As disasters escalate faster and ripple through interconnected systems, our current response models...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, Kyle King unpacks the “Resilience Paradox”—why we expect people to be self-reliant during emergencies while tolerating fragile infrastructure. Triggered by the mass blackout across Spain and Portugal, Kyle exa...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, Kyle King challenges the core assumptions of American emergency management. He contrasts FEMA’s focus on efficiency with Europe’s emphasis on survival, revealing why traditional measures like response time and...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, Kyle King shows how growing disaster aid has weakened emergency management. He traces FEMA’s move from a coordination role to a relief fund handler, points out the costs of grant-driven processes, and makes th...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King challenges us to rethink everything we thought we knew about emergency management. Rather than layering on new frameworks after each disaster, Kyle argues for the courage to admit we don’t have ...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King dives into insights from a House subcommittee hearing on FEMA’s future. He critiques the reliance on outdated institutional models amid today’s accelerating, interconnected crises—what experts l...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King interviews Quin Lucie, a legal expert and former FEMA official with deep experience in national security and emergency management. Together, they explore the often-overlooked origins of FEMA. Qu...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King examines the devastating aftermath of the Lahaina Fire through the lens of governance and emergency management. Drawing from the investigative article "The Most Expensive Report Ever Written," t...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King sits down with Rick Fernandez, an expert in emergency management, humanitarian aid, and international police assistance. Rick brings extensive experience from his work at the U.S. Department of ...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King sits down with Dr. Jim Wilson and Sharon Parrillo, two leading experts in health security and infection prevention. Dr. Wilson, a health security specialist focused on early warning systems for ...

In this episode of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King sits down with Nathan Gross, a public health and emergency management expert who has led major crisis responses at the CDC—including the Marburg Virus Disease task force and large-scale pandemic...

In this first episode of season 4, the Crisis Lab Podcast looks at crisis management and emergency response. Host Kyle King talks about the need for a new emergency management system as disasters become more frequent and severe. From the case study of ...

In the season finale of the Crisis Lab Podcast, host Kyle King reviews the defining events of 2024, including the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, China's gray zone tactics toward Taiwan, record-breaking climate disasters, and the rise of...