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Why We Keep Making the Same Mistakes After Weather Disasters · The Alerting Authority

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, I'm Jeanette Sutton.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm Eddie Bertola.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we welcome you to another episode of the Alerting Authority.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: And as always, we encourage you to subscribe, follow, listen, and most importantly, participate in these podcasts.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: We want your concerns, questions, ideas, problems, pain points, and success stories so we as alerting authorities can better do our jobs and make our community safer.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_04: And we want to continue to remind you that it's important to be prepared because the quote unquote, we'll figure it out when something happens is not an emergency communication strategy.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_04: At the Alerting Authority, we help organizations strengthen their alerting programs through practical training, governance, and policy reviews.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_04: We look at message design, exercise, and make it all into a real world scenario.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_04: And that will better prepare you to make good decisions under pressure.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_04: Because when every second counts, and we know it does, confidence should come from competence, not just crossed fingers.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_04: So that is from the Alerting Authority.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_04: And I am so excited, Jeanette, for today.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: I am too.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_01: This is the first time that we're going to talk about national policy.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: We talk about local organizational policy frequently when we discuss like going out into communities and working with organizations on how to structure their strategies for alerting from end to end.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: But we're going bigger today.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: And we've brought in some guests that have this viewpoint of having worked at the federal level and recently started a national enterprise association.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: And they're going to bring this new insight to our listeners.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's going to be a really fun conversation.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_04: I want to hear their bios and then let's, I'm excited.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_04: Let's get it going.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_01: We have um two people joining us today.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, first I'm going to introduce Jennifer Sprague Hildebrand.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: She is the co-founder and managing director of the American Weather Enterprise Association, AWEA, advocating for the growth and vitality of the weather, water, climate, and space enterprise.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Prior to joining AWEA, Jen spent 23 years in federal service with NOAA and the National Weather Service.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: Throughout her career at NOAA, she advised senior leaders, shaped policy, built trusted partnerships across federal agencies, Congress, industry, and academia, and delivered results on ambitious objectives.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I know that as soon as we finish this call, she's getting ready to go over to Capitol Hill.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: So she really does walk the talk.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Also joined joining us is Doug Hildebrand.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_01: They are related.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: He is the co-founder, along with Jen and executive director of the American Weather Enterprise Association, the Nonprofit Trade Association that we just mentioned.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: And prior to AWEA, Doug spent 23 years in federal service with NOAA and the National Weather Service.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: For over a decade, he led NOAA's Weather Ready Nation ambassador program.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: And he worked collaboratively with over 14,000 organizations to strengthen community resilience.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I am thrilled to talk with these two about the AWEA and the amazing work that they're already doing since they kicked off just about a year ago.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: And this is going to be a great conversation.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome, Jen and Doug.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: We're really happy to have you here today.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Can you introduce yourselves, tell people who you are a little bit more than what I just read from your bios?
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Doug, do you want to go first?
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: I will only say up front, so we we like to use the um pronunciation of a wea and the the we, the weather enterprise, but I also like it because we are all in this together.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: It takes everybody.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: And uh so we refer to it as a wea.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: But Jen, uh, why don't you kick things off on our backgrounds?
• 4:08
  unknown: Okay.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's a pleasure to be here.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Eddie, I've had the benefit of knowing uh Jeanette for a long time, and I agree with you on your comments earlier.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: She's a joy to work with, and uh it's it's it was a pleasure working with her back in the day on social behavioral economic issues uh at the National Weather Service and NOAA.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a delight to be here and continue that relationship and and friendship.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so Jeanette gave our bios, but yeah, we were at NOAA for a number of years working on different issues across NOAA and the National Weather Service.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you mentioned the Weather Ready Nation.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned, I mentioned the social behavior, economic sciences.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: And as we early retired in 2025, we were trying to think about what we could do in the next 10 to 15 years because uh we weren't ready to stop working.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we realized that we had had a long-standing love of our weather, water, climate.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're also saying space, weather, enterprise.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And when we say the enterprise, we mean the public sector.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: So you think of the NOAAs, the NASAs, the NSFs, the Department of Energy, agriculture, whatnot.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: It includes our private sector folks, which a lot of folks will think of major companies that are out there doing weather-related stuff.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: But it also includes the academic community who are uh building up the next generation of our scientists, whether it's meteorology, hydrology, climatology, whatnot.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And uh the enterprise is a beautiful thing.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: And in many ways, our community has struggled to really bring a galvanizing, unifying voice to that enterprise to say, hey, we're beautiful, we're amazing, we contribute to not just our country and the GDP and to the economy, but also to the world.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And we have a great story to tell.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so Doug and I said, you know, might it be the time for us to create something that brings that unifying voice to Capitol Hill with the administration policy pieces, whatnot.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: And uh so we created as a 501c6 trade association in Virginia, uh, we created the American Weather Enterprise Association, which we do say is a WIA.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's a little bit quicker and easier to say.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it has been an absolute joy.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we hit officially a year on September 9th, and uh it has been an absolute joy to build this brick by brick.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And when we go to Capitol Hill, it is exciting to see the staffers and the members kind of recognize wait a second, you're right.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: The weather enterprise is bigger than I than I considered.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: It encompasses a lot more than I ever realized.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And and we firmly believe that all those sectors must be strong and robust for the whole to succeed.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a kind of a quick preamble, Doug.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: Uh what have I missed that uh could I'll just take a slightly different angle and just talk about this was a lot of risk.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and I know that when I engage on conferences, whether it's AMS, NWA, other engagements, people will always say when they're looking back on their career, taking that risk was the scariest thing I've ever done, and also the best thing I've ever done.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: And Jen and I really taking that plunge to leave the federal family and go out sort of on our own and really create a startup.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_02: We are creating something from the foundation upwards.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: It has been rewarding.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_02: There is imposter syndrome every single day.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: And we've even talked to people who've created several businesses, and and one quote uh really sticks in my mind, and that is if you're not feeling that imposter syndrome at least nine times a day, you're not doing it right.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I feel like we're doing this right in that we are kind of going into uncharted territory.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I think the discussion throughout uh this podcast will kind of give you a sense of where we are leveraging things that have been done across the enterprise with advocacy and policy, and then where we're also sort of in chartered uh or uncharted territory.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, thank you.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: I I feel that imposter syndrome myself.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: And Eddie raised his hand also because we both started our small consulting companies just in the last few years as well.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And the the it's a steep learning curve.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: Going from public service to consulting or going from academia to consulting.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I have one foot in academia still, and one foot in consulting because, well, being in academia gives me a lot of privileges that I wouldn't have if I completely left, like still being able to compete for federal grants and finding graduate students and postdocs to work with me and such.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: But honestly, like you said, Doug, taking that leap and building something that you really believe in, like being part of the Warn Room, helping to start this podcast with Eddie, truly rewarding.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I'm really glad that I did it.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, thank you for bravo to both of you for making the jump and doing something that's really meaningful.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and you made it out of federal service.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_04: Great job.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_04: And again, it's it's not that you ran away from it.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_04: You you completed it.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_04: And it was probably a really good experience.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_04: And I think it just goes to show there are so many people out there that are completing however long they they choose to serve in in either state or other government, you know, like federal services that have a lot to offer still.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_04: And there's a lot left in life, and there's a lot of things that you've learned that maybe you didn't have the same flexibility while you were working within government because of all the different um fun parts of government.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_04: But now you can apply it and you can do what you're doing now with a WIA.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_04: And it's gonna be fun because I would say 90 plus percent, and maybe it may be, you know, 95 probably are gonna hear the term Wii and think of a wireless emergency alert from just a lot of our audience.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_04: But guys, if you're listening today, a WIA is American Weather Enterprise Association.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_04: So that's why we just want to make sure if you're like, hey, that doesn't compute with what I'm thinking about.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_04: Very important difference.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_04: Something else.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_04: Power of one word.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_04: And we always talk about jargon, right?
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_04: And if you're going to if you're gonna use an acronym or anything else, you just have to be very clear about it up front.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: So oh, can I mention NWS, the National Weather Service, NWA is a National Weather Association, AMS is the American Meteorological Society, and those were all acronyms that were used in the last 10 minutes.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're keeping track, there's a lot.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_04: Well, we're gonna have on the podcast on the YouTube side an acronym like counter, and it's gonna be all these.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_04: It is acronym heavy.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you can't start a new project without creating a new acronym, I'm sure.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_04: Um but with a WIA and what we're talking about here, can you can you help break it down?
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_04: And again, we have a lot of practitioners, people who are out there um on the quote unquote streets, right?
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_04: That are that are in the fight every day trying to to learn and everything else.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_04: Can you break down a WIA into uh kind of that simple, like the goals?
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_04: Like, like where and how how do you do what you do?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_02: So we are a trade association.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: So what that means is we are advocating on behalf of the growth, the evolution, the future of the weather enterprise.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_02: And when we say weather enterprise, yes, that is even short for weather, water, climate.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_02: And even over the last six to nine months, space weather is is really emerging as ultra critical in our nation's infrastructure.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: So space weather.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so when we say advocate, yes, everyone thinks advocating on the hill with the Senate and the House of Representatives, also with the administration, and a big part of our advocacy is in the what we like to term inside the beltway engagement politics, all of that.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: But it is also advocacy across the weather enterprise, so that we as a collection of universities, companies engaging with the government agencies that we all think about, NOAA, NASA, I'm not gonna spell those out, uh that we need to be working as a unified, unified voice, a united front, per se, in in the priorities of the enterprise to grow it.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I like to say that with the madness of 2025 and thousands of professionals from NOAA, NASA, and other agencies, National Science Foundation, early retiring or retiring normally, but also before they were expecting to, you and then with with positions uh condensing, you have an influx of professionals out there, PhDs and people who have had decades of experience looking for jobs that say your students or early career professionals are looking at.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_02: And so as an enterprise, if we're not looking to grow and to take on some of these challenges that um are just sort of meandering or inertia is is small, but just kind of incremental progress.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: But we're really tackling the issues of what is needed, what is wanted from society, uh then we're just gonna be really in a bad place because students are gonna get frustrated, and then future scientists are gonna look and say, well, I love the weather, but it doesn't look like I could fit into that career fighting for a job.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: So we want to get bigger, Eddie.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_02: That's priority number one, uh, is to grow and evolve.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: We all know about artificial intelligence, we all know about computing and data centers and and where the trajectory is as an economy and as a society.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: And the other point I'd make, and then I'll I'll pass it on to Jen, sustainability and advocacy is so important.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: And companies have their own lobbyist and and advocacy efforts, and uh and and we encourage them to have those efforts.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: And there have been fits and starts and organizations that have have tried to do what we're we're doing, and they have had uh various levels of success.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_02: There was the weather coalition about 10, 15 years ago, there's the American Weather and Climate Umustry Association.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_02: But at the end of the day, it needs to be sustained.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_02: You need people here in the DC area.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_02: We live right across the river in Fairfax with boots on the ground, walking the halls of the Capitol, engaging with the various departments and agencies in the uh executive branch, and being there over and over and over again.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: There is an incredible moment that the light bulb kind of went off.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_02: We were in one of the congressional office buildings in the basement, and usually the basement is where they have the cafeterias and the food courts and whatnot.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_02: And it was absolutely packed because it was coming up to the sort of appropriations deadline.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: So everybody was trying to get FaceTime with congressional members.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_02: It was a madhouse in this cafeteria.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm looking around and it's like this is our competition.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I think one of the big problems with the weather enterprise is we have such an incredible mission, saving lives and property.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I would, I would bring in the emergency management community to all of this.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_02: We are saving lives and property.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: That a lot of times I think we feel, well, why do we need to advocate for something that is saving lives and property?
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_02: But I'm looking around and they there are people there, and you can just close your eyes and imagine all of the advocacy.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_02: I like to use the example of the sugar industry.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: There are lobbyists advocating for sugar and kind of twisting it that sugar brings happiness, happiness brings good health, therefore, sugar equates to good health.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: Those types of arguments, and they're out there and they're getting FaceTime.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_02: Same thing with the telecommunications industry.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes they're bumping up against the weather and the weather enterprise on spectrum issues with uh uh bandwidth and the wireless world.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, they're out there fighting for themselves.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: So we need that sustained effort on our end.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I would the only thing I would add to that, because I know I want to be mindful of your time, is that um growing the aperture and the understanding of the breadth of the weather, water, climate, and space uh weather enterprise.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I I it has been time and again, and we've met with a staffer, and they they they only think of maybe weather as the weather channel, or they only think of weather as weather service.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_00: They don't understand all the moving and pieces and entities that come together to really underpin what we would call the weather, water, climate, space, weather enterprise.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so growing that understanding, growing that uh the we like to use the word aperture, having them understand who to connect with on different issues has been helpful.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and and we've enjoyed helping to create that understanding and grow that understanding.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think that is how it comes into different things with policy and how you'll have a need to understand something better, and you say, Oh, you want to bring in this piece too, because if you forget this particular piece, it's not a real whole story.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Jeanette, to bring it back to social behavioral economic sciences, we were at an event earlier this week, and uh it was relating to kind of uh preparedness, and they were, it was a university, they were creating something, and uh they were talking about the forecasts and being able to articulate as part of the Weather Water Climate Space Weather Enterprise the importance of bringing in the social behavioral sciences and decision making to the physical sciences.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was like the light bulbs are going off across the room or the happy nods.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, really bringing all those pieces to bear in telling a story about something that is that is just as important as the telecoms industry, as the aerospace industry.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you're and and Doug is correct, if we are not on the hill or in the offices of the administration, our enterprise doesn't have if and if it's not a sustained uh uh program to do that, you're really it the message is falling flat.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's competing with all the other things that are going on right now.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_04: So if I'm gonna bring that to like that practitioner viewpoint.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_04: So if I can kind of replay what what I've learned from what you guys are doing and how it impacts us, is a when we're out trying to work within our communities for for different things that are happening, right?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_04: If you go back 20, 30 years for emergency managers, for others, they literally were waiting and watching the news, trying to get reports on weather, water, or anything else that was impacting so they could try to relay information.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_04: What has shifted, and it'd be interesting to actually see a graphic or anything else, the amount of resources, information, um, coordination that goes on now between the weather, the water, and all of the stakeholders in this that work with communities, emergency management executives to make these decisions is just unreal.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_04: And so an effort, or I would say maybe the effort for a WIA is to advocate for all of those different stakeholders to make sure that.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_04: They have the resources and the support to continue that type of collaboration.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_04: So that if I am in the largest city in the United States, great.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_04: But if I'm also in one of the smallest, I'll still have access to all of the same or similar resources to be able to provide that type of service for my community.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_04: And you're the voices of everyone in that space who just needs that type of support.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_04: Is that is that similar?
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and and we'll get into some of the details of sort of tangible examples of what we're advocating for and what we're really trying congressional members to not only Yeah, uh there aren't many people on the Hill that are against weather and emergency management functions.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_02: But it is okay, I either have to pay for a bill on aftercare for working parents or a uh sustaining wireless emergency alert.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_02: And and so this gets to the sustainability, and I think that's going to come up time and again, is this sort of out of sight, out of mind is yes, I support something, but that's different from then like, okay, let's get to work and let's pass legislation or let's make sure the budgets are where they need to be, uh, and and even working on uh initiatives with the states.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you guys are you're showing up.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: You're just you're consistently showing up, and you have 23 years each, so combined, you know, talking decades of partnerships and knowledge that you can leverage that makes you the ideal people to show up on the hill.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: And all those connections helps you to build more connections, just makes you an invaluable resource to all of those staffers that are trying to figure out how do I make sense of these questions.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: So this is the perfect segue into talking about what happened this summer in July, because the American Meteorological Society held a joint meeting in July in Washington called the Washington Forum Summer Community Meeting.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: I wanted to go to that for a couple of years.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_01: I should really do it.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: I should just make a plan and go.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: I would learn so much.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um so one of the sessions discussed the National Weather Safety Board, um, which I'm a big fan of this idea.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and preceding this session, Congressman Eric Sorensen, the lone meteorologist in Congress and introducer of the legislation to create the NWSB, the National Weather Safety Board.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_01: He was the keynote speaker.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_01: So then later in the day, OEA sponsored the Weather Enterprise Caucus kickoff event.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's a lot of things happening all in one day.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: Can you tell us about that particular moment?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_01: Tell us about the NWSB, this um the efforts, the legislation from Congressman Sorensen, and how you kicked off this brand new caucus.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's a tremendous effort all in one day.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: So, Doug, do you want me to do the caucus first and then uh have you go into the board?
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because they are two separate things.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: They just happen to coincide on the same time.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: So the Congressional Weather Enterprise Caucus, we're super excited about this.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is something our enterprise has wanted for a very long time.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so one of the things as we were putting together a WIO was to make that a priority, is to get uh two co-chairs, uh a member of the majority and a member of the minority.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: So the majority is Representative uh Flood from Nebraska.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, as you mentioned, Representative Sorensen on the minority side, who is the lone meteorologist, which is amazing.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we are also working to make it bicameral.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: So the Senate side.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, one of my visits today is on the Senate side and uh certainly going to be keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that I can convince him to have his uh boss become the Senate uh majority co-chair.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and to create a caucus.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_00: They have so many caucuses on Capitol Hill.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: They have a bourbon caucus, a sun ski caucus.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we said, why don't we have a weather enterprise caucus?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have uh, I believe it's 18 members now on the Weather Congressional Caucus.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and we continue to lean in.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: And my other visit today is meeting with another House member who uh recently joined the Weather Enterprise Caucus, and having a WIA walk alongside the caucus and doing things like lunch and learns, where we can have a series of topics.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: What are the weather-related, uh, weather water climate-related, or weather or weather, water climate adjacent legislation that's out there that the caucus can one become familiar with, caucus members, and uh work together to pass the pieces of legislation.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: You could do lunch and learns.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, we have one coming up on El Nino.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you could do things on drought, on fire.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the the sky's the limit on kind of what you could do with lunch and learns.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: You can work together to increase, again, the afternoon understanding of the enterprise.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so we are very, very appreciative of Representative Flood and Sorensen for taking on this leadership role.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we worked with our wonderful colleagues at the American Meteorological Society to have the kickoff a portion of the Washington Forum because we didn't want to do a kickoff with the two members of Congress speaking to an empty room.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what was just absolutely a dream come true was to be able to bring in all of our wonderful colleagues that have wanted to be part or have a caucus for years into the same room with the congressional members.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was that caucus kickoff.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: It happened to be on the same day or the same time as the uh NWS uh board um uh event or presentation at the forum, but they were two separate events, but just at the same time to be able to ensure that our enterprise was there and part of that really beautiful kickoff.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: So that is the caucus.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Doug and I continue to walk alongside uh the members.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know right now we're about to go into recess for uh you know for the midterm elections.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have a new Congress coming in January, so we're hoping to bring in additional members as we go and continue to build out so that our caucus, the Congressional Weather Enterprise Caucus, and I say our caucus, the Enterprises Caucus uh is one of those caucuses that everybody wants to join.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: I would be delighted if it's by Camelom.
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: 535 members of Congress decided to join the caucus because our enterprise is so beautiful and so important.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's my little spiel on the kickoff event in July.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: But Doug, why don't you talk about the uh NWS board?
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so talk about bad timing.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: The day before the caucus launch and this National Weather Safety Board session at the Washington Forum, I got sick and was uh bedridden for two days.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_02: So I missed everything, even though I was supposed to be the moderator of the of the session and be the MC.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_02: And Jen did a fabulous job on the caucus event.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and I'm so glad that she was able to experience that.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_02: But I we did walk alongside Representative Eric Sornson on this safety board legislation.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_02: He introduced it back in March.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: If you look at the press release, there's a quote that I was optimistic on this, the value of this legislation.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_02: It was taken with the successes of the NTSB in mind, National Safety Transportation Board.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_02: And the thought was when a disaster, a weather disaster, uh reached a certain threshold of damage, of impacts to lives, et cetera, there was defined by a threshold that it would kick in and that a board of about seven professionals from across the broader enterprise, and I I want to emphasize that this is almost a it's not almost, it's basically a 50-50 with NOAA and the emergency management side of DHS.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: That the emergency management community would would really have a large stake in this NWSB.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: And it would diagnose what were some of the issues.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_02: And and I right off the bat with the safety board, uh, I want to highlight where I see three pros, three benefits of what a NWSB, and then we can we can dive deeper into it.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_02: One is that it would, and and and I'm looking at this from the perspective of what is being done now or or what has traditionally been done at the National Weather Service level of what are called service assessments.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_02: So a lot of hurricanes, a lot of flooding events, but it could be drought and wildfires.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_02: Uh they would perform a National Weather Service service event.
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_02: Jeanette, you may have been a part of many of these, or certainly our other social scientists, our colleagues have been participating in them.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_02: And they come up with findings and recommendations, and it's sort of a very NWS-focused NWSB type function.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_02: But this would raise the profile and really go across the federal family.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_02: So it it lists the Army Corps, it lists DHS with a uh a shout out to to FEMA and the NOAA's.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: And so you're looking at coordination communications of the agencies.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_02: So it's broader.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_02: That's number one.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_02: Number two, this kind of function, because it is such a high-profile board where members are um nominated, they get nominated by the president, they get um sort of approved by by the Senate, there's a visibility to it that it can help justify public investments.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I see this driving justification for various programs and really getting into the budget process in Congress.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_02: Three, and uh how I would couch this is it fosters going bold, where they're not looking, the the board would not look at it as necessarily incremental to what programs already exist.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_02: They're looking at it from how do you solve these problems, how do you change the result the next the next time a disaster hits.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_02: And it could be a shakeup uh of a program or a way of doing things.
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think this really touches on the warning and alerting aspect of the total forecast process, is they could really look at it and say, you know what, you need to do this, which is very different from where an agency maybe thinks about going.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_02: So it allows for that sort of shakeup and then again feeds back to if it's a big kind of going bold finding and recommendation, well, you need the funds to support something like that.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_02: So I just see this as a giant step forward to really making big changes in the result of some of these disasters.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: I am so excited to see that there is, again, an investment from Congress in considering this idea.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_01: And we've seen proposals come out for a national disaster safety board several times over several years.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_01: And I've heard from my academic colleagues like this is exactly what we need in order to actually get that kind of investment in the local understanding of the all of the phases of disaster and how it contributed to unequal impacts and um you know the most vulnerable populations and you know, the resources that were or not were were not available.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I think what's really important for people who are not familiar with an NTSB or an NWSB kind of an idea is that these would be um fact-finding and not um uh trying to place blame on individual organizations.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: So um and when I step back and I think about it from the role that the NIST has in studying um events, they have a program called the Disaster Failures Studies Program, um, and the national construction safety team does investigations of structural failures in disaster.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that can also include alerts and warnings as part of the communication infrastructure.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_01: They've been in um Puerto Rico for years now investigating the structural failures from the Hurricane Maria and trying to understand that they the World Trade Center tower failures um investigation.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_01: They studied the more tornadoes after they went through and uh hit that community in Oklahoma.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_01: So um, but they're focused on fact-finding, which can then change standards on buildings and standards around policy like sirens and alerting standards and training standards, so that in the future we can see these improvements because there's some sort of enforcement behind it, which is what we've needed in alerts and warnings for some time now, in my opinion, is having more standardization of what needs to be in place so that every community can be safe.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sorry, I just went off on a tangent there, but I'm excited about this idea.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_04: I have to jump in.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, go ahead.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_04: I was gonna say, like the the it the NWSB, right?
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_04: Um, who wants another federal program, another federal thing?
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_04: This one I do.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_04: And and the reason is is because I have had to work through tragedies.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_04: And what's really sad is when you're doing your best to try to learn from that tragedy and you realize that you only have so many resources for you to do an analysis to look through and identify things that maybe went well and things that could have gone a lot better to prevent the same thing from happening in the future.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_04: And if you look at the absolutely tragic floods in Texas, you look at the fires in everywhere.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, whether whether it's Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, um, the hurricanes that we just had in Hawaii, right?
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_04: If you look and you're like, well, what lessons can we take from that?
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_04: There really isn't that standard to say, hey, especially for the alerts and warning side, here are the lessons based on these federal standards that we've identified.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_04: And so what you have is people doing their very best trying to identify those things, and then they go and talk about them with others.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_04: But but we just don't have that yet.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_04: So I am super supportive and hope that it can really help us as we try not to replicate the tragedies that have happened in the past.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: And one point you made, Jeanette, that I do want to underscore this we definitely don't want a blame board.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: We 100% want the fact finding.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is a fear of uh some uh fears with some, this could turn into a blame board.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we certainly wouldn't want that for any of our colleagues.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: And it's really that fact-finding what can be done better, what kind of resources are needed to be able to answer it and address those gaps.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where we see the NWS uh B as something that could be, if constructed properly, really be a valuable asset and tool to be able to help us address those gaps.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we're always very mindful of that blame part because that's certainly not uh what I believe anybody or even the co-sponsors would want either.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, having been part of the advisory committee to the national construction safety team at NIST, there is the the issue of blame is never something that is discussed in those rooms.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's always about the data that's collected and analyzed as objectively as possible in order to help to identify the failure points that can be addressed and improved.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_01: And they take that incredibly seriously at every meeting that I've ever been part of with them.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm certain that that model would be utilized if an NWSB was created.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_01: Can you tell us how the caucus that you that is now underway, how might it influence the work of an NWSB or even the promotion of getting something like that passed?
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_01: Like I can imagine now, this is my interpretation of a caucus.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: A caucus is like groups of people that come together, they have regular meetings, and they're actually organized around an idea, which suggests that they have some power in helping to make an NWSB actually happen.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_01: Is that a correct interpretation?
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_02: So the caucus will be able to bring together this group of people with a common interest.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of them have a passion for weather, or they really see the impacts that weather, water, climate, space, weather has on their district or their state.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: And so we'll be able to have sort of a drumbeat of engagements, whether it's a virtual webinar to lunch and learns, to a more formal event.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_02: But one of the big priorities just up front is to get our arms around the various legislation that's out there, including the National Weather Safety Board Act.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: But we have the Weather Act reauthorization that it has been introduced back in 2025.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: Our hope, our hope is that it gets passed after the midterms, but before the new Congress.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_02: That would be, I think, the best case scenario.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_02: And that opens up a lot of the other um authorizations for going down the budget for 27-28.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but then there's also NOAA weather radio, there's the safety board, there's recapitalization of hurricane hunters.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_02: One of the issues that we want to make sure Congress is well aware of is the next generation radar system.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_02: We like to say, we we literally tell staffers on the hill the the formal name of our radar system is the WSR88D.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_02: What does that 88 stand for?
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: 1988, and many of these staffers weren't even weren't born in 1988.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_02: They understand, okay, that's old.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_02: And the parts to the radar systems are getting old.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: And just like a vintage automobile, if something breaks, it takes a lot of money and effort to find someone who can get the part and replace it.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_02: That's what's happening to our radar systems right now.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_02: And so you can imagine in the next five or 10 years, that's just gonna increase even more as it ages.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: And so uh just communicating that it's national critical infrastructure, the FAA uses it, every American uses it every day in some capacity.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it can't be done on the cheap, it can't be done where Congress oftentimes uh if they're not fully behind something, they'll extend it so they'll it'll take longer.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_02: The other danger is okay, we're gonna fund, and the program is called Radar Next, we're gonna fund Radar Next, but we're gonna steal from Peter to PayPal, and now other critical.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Infrastructure, observations, modeling, social science efforts, they may be on the chopping block to help pay for radar next.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_02: That's not a good outcome.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_02: So what we're advocating for is almost an independent line item of let's let's spend the money for critical infrastructure for this radar system without cannibalizing other parts of NOAA to pay for it.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: And uh and so we're rallying momentum.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: The expenditures for RadarNecks are going to be increasing by orders of magnitude in FY28.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_02: And we want to be able to teach the benefits and justify this expenditure.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it's the caucus has just the incredible opportunities to provide this kind of education that is so necessary for helping everyone to understand where we've been and where where we could go and where we actually need to go.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_01: And having all of the different entities that are part of the WIA, including private enterprise, that utilizes the radar, that's a lot of power behind that.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, where it's not just about having industry pay for all of these things.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's a collaborative activity together.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so yeah, thank you for explaining uh the role of the caucus.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_04: And then can I I'm gonna jump into policy here because my birthday was a while ago, and this is a fun topic.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_04: And for I I'm telling you, policy is so misunderstood.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_04: It really is.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_04: Um, because people hear policy, and uh honestly, some of our listeners probably do too, and they're just like, oh no, like it's something I don't like to talk about.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_04: I hardly even read mine.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_04: My opinion is policy is a liberating document.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_04: The more you know it, the the just you're going to be in a better position because you know what you can do, you should do, what your authorities are and what they're not.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_04: And it doesn't matter if who's asking you to do something, you can literally hold it out and say, this is the policy.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_04: This is why I did it, this is why I didn't do it.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_04: It's amazing.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_04: If you guys haven't read your own policy for a while, do it.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and then we'll talk about updating later.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_04: But on the federal side, I want to tap into both of your minds and your experience because you've been in the policy game for a long time with your different careers, also with your new project here.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_04: How do you, and maybe this is like a whole book, but if you can kind of help us understand, how do you get effective policy through the federal government process?
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_04: And I know that's kind of a loaded question because it seems like there's a lot of really good ideas out there that just seem to die.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_04: And like one of my biggest complaints with the alert and warning side is that we don't have federal standards or requirements really for training for the effective use or anything else.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_04: And so, as someone who's not in that space, can you kind of explain to me why it's so hard and why do good ideas just yeah, just stop?
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one of one of the things there's uh one of the things I was thinking about when you were talking, you have to have a willing party, uh, willing person, willing coalition, willing uh entity to push something and not take a no as a stop and oh, I guess it's never gonna go.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have to be creative.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you have to make coalitions with entities you never thought you would.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and you have to be a doer.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and you have to have the Doug likes to use the word intestinal fortitude for continue that, continuing that push.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: And um we having been in in federal government for for 22, 23 years, uh, and and a majority of those were at NOAA.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was also at Treasury before then, but a majority of those at NOAA, some of the same issues would come up year in, five years, decade here, decade there.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it would get frustrating because you're like, didn't we talk about this?
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but if you continue to say, you know what, it's still worthy of the push, let me think about different ways to go about that.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: I would say Jeanette social behavioral economic sciences is a great example.
• 48:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we we hit a lot of roadblocks on that and NOAA and and pushing something forward and and thinking of new ways and new audiences and new people to say, hey, you want to solve this issue, but you really are gonna solve it when you add in the social behavior economic sciences to that.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: And and and not exclude that and and try different avenues.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: So uh from my experience on different things over the the 22, 23 years, um that is where I would say that that the most success would come.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_00: But but again, it's it's very lonely at times.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you're the lone person screaming at the top of your lungs, begging people or speaking truth to power.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that's a that's a tough spot to be in.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and and continuing to not give up.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_02: So I'll so I'll say this.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um a lot of the themes that we've talked about apply to sustainability, Jen's correct.
• 49:33
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to make change in government, you need that bulldog that keeps pushing.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_02: Again, out of sight, out of mind.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't mean something isn't worthwhile making a change.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_02: And we see all too often in our weather world, tragedy is one way to make change.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it shouldn't have to be uh that reality.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's where the the NTSB is unfortunately similar, where it takes a air disaster or a weather disaster to drive to build up that momentum for change.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_02: The piece that I would like to say also is that to make a policy um really meaningful, I hope government, and and and and you can kind of see it a little bit, is a little bit more risk-taking and not almost paralyzed with getting it right, making not not having any kind of policy failure.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_02: I think we should be, just like our technology, uh pushing the edge of policy, being okay if the policy uh has a failure in it and to make the change.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I I just see it it it it moves so slowly to to get to your point about why do policy proposals die on the vine, or by the time they see the light of day, it's it's almost unrecognizable from what the original proposal was.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that if if as a country, especially now, I AI policy is on the news every single day now.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_02: You know, should the government get involved, in what aspect, and and should AI be open source versus close, like that's a huge policy issue that uh you know and I think the the the wrong path forward is just to not address it because it's hard.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_04: And and it's one of those things, again, if if you're listening and you're like, well, what's my impact?
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_04: What can I do?
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you may not be on the hill, you may not be talking to your your representatives in DC, but you can talk to them locally, you can talk to their offices, and you may be able to try and impact policy things in your jurisdiction.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_04: And I I have seen that too, where I mean, if you look at the Amber Alert program, the Amber Alert program, because of the abduction and murder of Amber Hagerman, happened in Texas.
• 52:41
  SPEAKER_04: And the national legislation didn't actually come to fruition until it started at the local level, then the state level, and then it grew across states and then ultimately nationally.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_04: And so there are efforts that can be made by everyone to try to make your individual areas better to influence that national space.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_04: But but essentially don't give up.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_04: If you see a need, you can push for that need.
• 53:07
  SPEAKER_04: And and they need a lot of voices, right?
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_04: Because there is a lot of other noise out there.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_04: Jeanette gives the example when we talk about alerts and warnings, that alerts and warnings aren't just competing with the disaster.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, they're competing with the hundreds of other notifications that you get on your phone.
• 53:25
  SPEAKER_04: And so your the quality of your message, the way you do it, needs to be spot on to compete against just the noise.
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so no, I think that's a good analysis.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_00: And Eddie, I think your analysis of uh or example of uh the Amber Alert is perfect.
• 53:44
  SPEAKER_00: It took people that were willing to say, no, her death mattered.
• 53:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it matters, and so we're gonna keep pushing and pushing.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure they were exhausted.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure that there were days that they felt like they should just throw in the towel.
• 53:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the thing with the enterprise.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's so important.
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: And pushing forward on these sort of things matter.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: Saving lives matter, and all the different pieces, whether it's the Warn Room, whether it's the AMS, whether it's the federal agency, whether it's the private sector company or a student that's just loves meteorology at the age of five, like I did.
• 54:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, not giving up and keeping going.
• 54:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's there's just so much potential.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, a lot of it ends up following on the heels of really tragic events.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_01: But those events raise public awareness locally and also nationally.
• 54:40
  SPEAKER_01: And we've seen it so many times with big devastating events where people's lives are lost.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but having a caucus that's already tuned in and people already thinking about how they can implement um the practice of investigating post-event so that we can improve for the future.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_01: And that that pushes us forward in ways that um you know it's it's taken you a year to get where you are right now.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, starting something up, it takes the time and the energy.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, thank goodness the work that you've done and helped to lay the foundation for pushing these efforts forward, like it's it has a great potential for for where things can go in the future.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: So what else is on the horizon for a wea?
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_02: Let me just also make one point and then we'll we'll get to sort of where we're going.
• 55:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um we knew this going in on the advocacy side, but we get reminded almost daily you can have the greatest policy, you can have the greatest idea for legislation, and it's just plain old politics or the the current environment that keeps you from success.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_02: And it goes back to the sustainability, and it goes back to just not giving up that situations will change.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_02: An example now is legislation that gets held up.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_02: There's no reason for the Weather Act reauthorization to not be passed, but it gets caught up in all of the political dynamics that that exist today.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_02: But that doesn't mean it's not worthy to keep.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_02: We sent a letter of of support to leadership in both House and Senate, and we'll just keep pushing as as we get closer to the new Congress.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_02: But but there's a recognition that you can't get discouraged and want to give up knowing that what you're doing is worth fighting for.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_02: So with that, Jen, you want to talk about it.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so I know we're getting to the end here.
• 57:03
  SPEAKER_00: So the next steps, um, we want to bring in those weather-sensitive businesses.
• 57:08
  SPEAKER_00: So think about the Home Depots, the Walmarts, the Monsanto's, the land or seafoods of the world whose bottom line is weather dependent.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: And when you bring in weather-sensitive entities to march in unison with the American Weather Enterprise Association, you're really telling Capital Home Administration, it's not just about the smaller end enterprise, it's the entirety of really a lot of our GDP and our economy who depend on solid data, uh foundational observational systems, um, good forecast conveyed in a manner that incites action.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: And those entities rely on that and they have a stake and they have a voice in that as well.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, really bringing along those weather-sensitive entities and trade associations and chamber of commerces and city leagues to say, hey, wait a second, this enterprise is important for me, company ABC, to be stronger.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we really want them in.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, the universities are a big part of the enterprise.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, but it's tougher for them to join a 501c6 entity.
• 58:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we, the AWIA is a 501c6, which allows us to do the advocacy, but they joined 501c3s easier.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so we have established the AWIA Foundation, uh, uh submitting for the 501c3 status and looking to bring on the universities.
• 58:36
  SPEAKER_00: We have a university that's ready to join.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'll keep it quiet until the ink is dry.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we are about to publicly launch that it will be a separate but related to a WIA entity for tax purposes.
• 58:49
  SPEAKER_00: They will be separate, they need to be separate, but really making sure that we have those universities, but also philanthropic foundations can join and partner up on a 501.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_00: So uh it goes to, yeah, it's it's been a year to get to here.
• 59:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and and there are days that you're like, it's still a long way to climb.
• 59:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but to really, and again, it goes to that sustained uh effort and that push and continue to like, no, this is important.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is for the greater good, and this is something that is so needed.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so trying to bring in those different pieces, uh, and then of course make sure that the caucus is the number one caucus to join on Capitol Hill.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_00: So lots of things to come in the year and years ahead.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_00: And just it's been a delight to do this with my best friend, my husband, Doug, and to really uh kind of pull these pieces together uh because we truly love the the enterprise uh and our fellow colleagues at NOAA uh weather service that we left uh about a year ago.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_02: So and my my sort of final words would be one of the most encouraging parts of starting up a WEA when we are engaged on the Hill is that staffers and members are reaching out to us.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not just a push, push, push, but we've developed the relationships and the trust and the becoming a resource for Congress.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_02: And and that was uh the result of many of our efforts was the caucus.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_02: And to that end, for for those watching this podcast and getting curious or getting inspired to to maybe resurrect an idea that they have, please reach out um to us.
• 1:00:41
  SPEAKER_02: We are here.
• 1:00:43
  SPEAKER_02: We would love to get new ideas.
• 1:00:46
  SPEAKER_02: We we certainly do not have, although we we have our eye on the future, it will be the path not expected, uh certainly, and and it may be because a a viewer jumped into the fray and and had an idea.
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_02: So we encourage that.
• 1:01:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:01:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm really appreciative that you spent your time with us this morning and also all of the work that you're doing on behalf of the enterprise and academics and practitioners and just helping to bring people together.
• 1:01:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if we at the Alerting Authority can be helpful to you and the Weather Caucus, you know, I can imagine us coming to a lunch and learn and spending some time talking about alerts and warnings with staffers.
• 1:01:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, please reach out to us too.
• 1:01:35
  SPEAKER_01: We would be really happy to provide our expert opinion.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_01: And um, I got to speak on uh to one of the committees last December, and it was an experience of a lifetime um going and doing testimony.
• 1:01:51
  SPEAKER_01: I never thought I'd be invited, but it was just really pretty amazing opportunity.
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_01: But we'd be happy to come and join you sometime.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_02: So make it happen.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_01: So thank you for spending your time with us today and helping to bring these important insights to the alerting authority audience.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 1:02:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for having us.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 1:02:11
  SPEAKER_04: And I mean, this is just an open invitation for Congressman Sorensen as the lone meteorologist, get on the show.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_04: I'm sure you have election stuff.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_04: I think it'd be fun.
• 1:02:23
  SPEAKER_04: Also, for the congressional members who were excited enough, brave enough, smart enough to be a part of that caucus that you have.
• 1:02:33
  SPEAKER_04: Um, love to get their take on these things because, and again, we focus a lot on alerts and warnings.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_04: All these things impact their community.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_04: And ultimately, every representative isn't a DC IT, right?
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_04: They are members of their local community who represent their local community.
• 1:02:52
  SPEAKER_04: And so it'd be fun to put it out there.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_04: So just open invitations.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_04: So if you have people that are like, hey, they love to chat about it.
• 1:03:00
  SPEAKER_04: Um, we really want to continue to push these ideas that what what we do, and for everybody who's listening, what you do matters.
• 1:03:09
  SPEAKER_04: And it matters every day, and it matters to your community.
• 1:03:12
  SPEAKER_04: And that is literally the most important part of our jobs.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_04: So thank you for listening.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_04: Well said.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_04: And um, I just want to say this is the alerting authority.
• 1:03:22
  SPEAKER_04: Um, every second has a story, and we got to hear about the efforts um that are going on to represent and advocate for all of us out here.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_04: And so I just want to thank you again for listening, and we'll see you next time.