[EAS] Rest In Peace, Dennis Mileti

[Suzanne Goucher]

I just learned that a friend of mine, Dennis Mileti, died of covid on Jan. 31, two days before he was scheduled to get a vaccine.

I was privileged to get to know him when we served together on the IPAWS task force. If you don't know his name, you should.
Dennis was a giant -- the path breaker -- in the field of the sociology of disasters and public warning/communication. His work infuses much of the approach we take today to public alerts. Search his name and you'll find numerous studies on how people react to warnings, and what prompts them to take action. His overarching conclusion: One unified message, repeated over and over.
>From the homage in the Washington Post:
"Mileti could see what was coming in a way I could not. 'We have people saying, 'It will be over soon!' and other people saying, 'It could be months,' he said back then. 'That gives the public the ability to pick the answer they like, which is the No. 1 no-no in public messaging.' I'd never heard him be particularly partisan, but he was profoundly disappointed by the politicized federal response. 'The feds are just an embarrassment. ... If you don't know what you're doing, don't do it.'"