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Berkeley and '100 Resilient Cities'


The city of Berkeley is a member of '100 Resilient Cities', a Rockefeller Foundation program to "build resilience to the physical, social and economic threats".  Berkeley has appointed a resiliency officer, Timothy Burroughs, who has been the city's Climate Action Coordinator.  Berkeley's Hazard Mitigation Plan "addresses climate change, hazardous materials release, and terrorism as Berkeley’s
three manmade hazards of concern".  It is noted in the Hazard Mitigation that even-though terrorism is "identified as a hazard of concern", it is "not analyzed in-depth", and mitigation actions for terrorism are not identified in the plan.  Berkeley has been participating in BioWatch, a biohazard detection system prone to false alarms, and criticized for being wasteful program.  Every 24 hours, a government employee gathers and replaces biohazard detection filters placed in Berkeley; the filters are sent to a lab for testing.  BioWatch costs $85million a year; there are 33 cities in the US where detection filters are placed.  Nationwide, there have been 149 BioWatch Actionable Results since the program began in 2003; all 149 results were false positives caused by naturally occurring bacteria in the air.  
http://www.cityofberkeley.info/City_Manager/Press_Releases/2014/2014-07-16_CITY_APPOINTS_ITS_FIRST_CHIEF_RESILIENCE_OFFICER.aspx
http://www.cityofberkeley.info/Mitigation
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/23/news/sc-dc-adv-biowatch-patents-20120823
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-73O0x8pp9A

'100 Resilient Cities' has the legal status of an independent non-profit, but the program is not independent of the Rockefeller Foundation.  '100 Resilient Cities' was pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, is financially supported by the Foundation, and is managed by Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisers.  

The CEO of '100 Resilient Cities' is Michael Burkowitz, who previously worked at Deutsche Bank (DB) before joining the Rockefeller Foundation in August 2013.  At DB, Burkowitz was deputy global head of Operational Risk Management. Prior to 2010, he headed Corporate Security & Business Continuity for DB in the Asia-Pacific.  From 2005-2008, he had various management roles in Mumbai and in New York. Burkowitz represented Deutsche Bank in a 2011 Global Risk Network Forum in London.  Topics of the forum included "The Future Global Shock Report: Social Unrest", 'Insights on Arab Spring', as well as law-enforcement and business insights into recent London Riots.  The 2011 risk forum also discussed the formation of a global risk assessment network that connects multi-national corporations with national government agencies and cross-national agencies (like Interpol, or the UN, etc).   Deutsche Bank was the target of a series of Occupy protests in Los Angeles, November of 2012.
http://www.nyu.edu/intercep/events/20110923-465.html
http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2012/11/02/deutsche-bank-executives-la-caandntildeada-flintridge-home-gets-occupied
http://www.laweekly.com/informer/2012/11/13/occupy-protest-outside-century-city-deutsche-bank-blocks-traffic-6-arrested

The COO of '100 Resilient Cities' is Andrew Salkin, who previously was at the New York City Finance Department.  In 2011, as a member of New York City's Banking Commission, Salkin voted against a proposal to require banks to detail what steps banks were taking to modify mortgages for NYC struggling homeowners.
http://therealdeal.com/blog/2011/07/28/deputy-comptroller-wants-banking-commission-to-act-on-foreclosure-practices-of-banks

The Director of Global Communications and Marketing for '100 Resilient Cities' is Maxwell Young, who has served as Senator Charles E. Schumer’s Director of Communications and also has been the Director of Regional Media for the Democratic Party.  Prior to working with the Democratic Party, Young was NYPD’s office of Management, Analysis and Planning.

Palatir is a corporate partner of '100 Resilient Cities', and will 'provide access to tools, technical support, and resources' to member cities, including assisting in the development of a network for 'chief resiliency officers' to share data.  Palantir, as a member of Team Themis, is noted for having developed a plan to discredit Wikileaks supporters and journalists (such as Glenn Greenwald) who covered Wikileaks disclosures in a positive light.  A leak revealed Palantir's planned campaign before it was realized.  Only one employee of Palantir was let go from the corporation after the espionage and smear campaign was revealed, and that employee returned to work at Palantir shortly after.
http://prnw.cbe.thejakartapost.com/news/2013/clinton-global-initiative-commitment-to-action-to-build-resilience-in-100-cities-announced-today-2.html
http://billmoyers.com/2013/11/25/revealed-how-corporate-spooks-spy-on-nonprofit-activist-groups