Emergency Preparedness... Have you ever heard of REISAC -- the Real Estate Information Sharing and Analysis Center? If not, I hope that you'll become familiar with this organization in the coming months. The real estate industry ISAC is one of almost two dozen industry groups coordinating their activities with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Last week I spoke with Roger Platt, Executive Director of the REISAC, which is launching a campaign this month to promote business readiness in our industry as part of DHS's READYBusiness program. "How quickly your company can get back to business after a terrorist attack ... depends on emergency planning done today."

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Specifically, REISAC wants you to recognize your responsibility to address terrorism-security issues, build relationships with law enforcement officials at all levels, and report suspicious incidents or activity to local law enforcement and the federal government.

Platt, who also serves as counsel for the Real Estate Roundtable urges the real industry to see emergency preparedness as priority number one. That's because the benefits go well beyond terrorism to natural disasters, like hurricanes, floods and earthquakes.

With 85% of the nation's infrastructure in the private sector, DHS needs your help. So naturally you'll find a link to report suspicious activities. "Fighting terrorism is everyone’s responsibility. Make it yours."

Members of REISAC are professional associations like BOMA, not individual companies. Yet via its members, REISAC can deliver 100,000 e-mails across our industry if an alert demands immediate attention. Otherwise alerts are simply delivered to individuals via the members' web sites.

For example, at BOMA's Security Alerts, you'll see an alert posted titled "Air-Cleaning Systems to Guard Buildings Against Attacks." (You must be a BOMA member to read it.) So check with your organization to get the latest security information.

Postscript... After writing this Dispatch, I read Richard Clarke's riveting article, Ten Years Later: Looking Back from 2011 -- An Imagined History (Atlantic, January/February 2005). Although fictitious, the nightmare scenario imagined in the article vividly demonstrates real estate's vulnerability to future terrorist attacks and reinforces the importance of emergency preparedness. Read it.

Correction... Please note that the correct number for Kate Ritz for an online demonstration of RCM1's DealRoom is (866) 331-7261.

--Peter Pike