What is Risk Management? Risk management is defined by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as “the process of identifying, analyzing, assessing, and communicating risk and accepting, avoiding, transferring or controlling it to an acceptable level considering associated costs and benefits of any actions taken” (DHS 2010a, p. 30). Raymond Decker, Director of Defense Capabilities and Management testified on behalf of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) before the Subcommittee on National Security, Veteran’s Affairs, and International Relations; House Committee of Government Reform, and further described risk management as the “systematic and analytical process to consider the likelihood that a threat will endanger an asset, …show more content…
In the formula, R stands for risk level, and provides a way to set priorities for specific critical infrastructure/key resource (CI/KR) sectors/assets (Stork n.d.), while f indicates that R is a function of (C*V*T). Lastly, C represents consequence (of an event) on the government, population, economy, etc., and is expressed in monetary terms; V indicates the assumed vulnerability of a specific target and is conveyed through percentage terms; and T denotes the likelihood of the threat posed by a specific weapon against an identified target (DHS, 2007; Stork, n.d.). The current version of the equation noted above has gone through several evolutions as the federal government and DHS have reevaluated the threat environment in which the United States now exists, and will most likely continue to evolve over time. In addition to the benefits acknowledged earlier, the formula also helps standardize risk assessment while concurrently communicating the DHS’s goal of risk assessment transparency and methodology across the homeland security enterprise. The U.S. government has the inherent responsibility to protect America against threats, both foreign and domestic, and the role of the DHS is to ensure the government upholds its constitutional obligations …show more content…
For instance, the U.S. Border Customs and Border Protection sector has created the Border Patrol Strategic Plan (2012-2016) that addresses, within its mission, both the importance of risk management and its plans to implement it as well, stating “[a]t the core of our approach to securing flows is assessing and managing risk; [i]n the Strategic Plan, the Border Patrol is applying the principles of risk management to its mission set” (2012, p. 4). Likewise, sector-specific plans (SSPs) exist for many of the national CI/KRs, including, but not limited to, the Transportation Systems, Energy, and Emergency Services, while broader documents and policies such as the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative and Strategic Plan also address how risk management will be utilized throughout the homeland security enterprise. Conclusion Risk management provides foundational support and contextual relevancy for the federal government, DHS, and all of the homeland security partners responsible for the safety and security of the nation. From strategic planning, policy creation, and resource allocation, to real-world exercises and responses, risk management provides the pivot point around which national security turns. It is essential to the overall mission success of the homeland security enterprise and therefore to the protection and wellbeing of the United States
Homeland Security Presidential Directive 5 directly relates to the National Incident Management System and the National Response Framework. In fact, it directly correlates with their missions. HSPD-5 was the directive that needed to start things in motion; NIMS and the NRF are the aftermath of the directive. With the formation of NIMS and soon after the NRF, America can operate successfully under one national manage...
Chapter 1-3 showed the beginnings of homeland security and the expansion and growth of Homeland Security. Chapter 4 shows the actions of homeland security, and the steps they take toward a problem to access it. The DHS above all needs to realized and understand how to address an attack quickly and efficiently, and have counter measure put into place beforehand. The DHS must be able to access the risks of any situation, and must decipher the potential hazard the situation could cause. When looking at the many functions of the DHS, nothing could be more important than the ability to understand or hinder or stop an attack man made or not. First Homeland Security studies the nature of the risk; this means that they study what is likely to happen in a certain situation. The texted explains risk as what can go wrong. A cigarette smoker takes a risk every time he lights up, and everyone take a risk when getting into a car. The DHS takes what they know from prior circumstances to determine the reality of the risk; the department must also anticipate any attack even without prior knowledge to the circumstance. The main questions of risk assessment are easy to understand, questions like will people be injured or harmed. But when looking at chapter 1 which asks the reader to look further into why terrorist commit terrorism, that’s when its easier to see the DHS skill at risk assessment. For example if you understand that a terrorist attack could be coming from radical Islamist terrorist; then you would understand a risk by understanding their motive behind the attack like their religious holidays. The DHS uses a three-fold method for risk assessment and they are threat, vulnerability and consequence. The Rand organization uses th...
How does the creation of the Department of Homeland Security affect resources traditionally designated for local criminal justice organizations?
The general topic for this literature review will be an examination of the Department of Defense and the National Guard in terms of Homeland Security. The areas of Homeland Defense and Civil Support will be primary subsections of Homeland Security which will be reviewed. For purposes of defining a time period none of the literature reviewed will be prior to September 11, 2001. The reasoning for this being to examine Homeland Defense using literature pertaining to 9/11 and the Boston Marathon Bombing, and Civil Support using literature pertaining to Hurricane Katrina.
After September eleventh, President George W. Bush signed a congressional bill to create a department of Homeland Security. This department examines the levels of security risk at airports, ship ports, railway stations, and other public transportation locations. Both candidates Bush and Kerry agree that homeland security is a priority. Furthermore, the candidates have stated that it is essential to provide the American people with a strong common defense. For example, “both pledge to have the government spend more money to furnish first-responders-the police and firefighters who are the first to arrive on the scene of an accident or an attack-with the materials and equipment they need to do their jobs to the best of their ability” (David Dulio). The recent war in Iraq has divided the candidates on how to carry out the plan on homeland security. Bush believes that we must take a protective approach in Iraq to prevent further terrorist damage to the United States. Kerry on the other hand believes that the United States must seek international support in Iraq to insure safety at home and abroad.
In 2002, DHS, “with the passage of the Homeland Security Act by Congress in November, DHS formally came into being as a stand-alone, Cabinet-level department to further coordinate and unify national homeland security efforts” (DHS, n.d.). Not since President Harry Truman consolidated the armed forces into the Department of Defense had the government undergone such a large reorganization. Twenty-two agencies came together to form DHS with tasks that include border patrol, disaster recovery and transportation safety just to name a few.
The Department of Homeland Security’s “2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review” reviews six strategic challenges that are believed to be at high risk within the United States. Quadrennial Homeland Security Review is required to be updated every four years as it discusses present and futures risks, threats and consequences. The six strategic challenges that were analyzed from 2014 to 2018 are terrorist threats, cyber threats, biological concerns, nuclear terrorism, transnational criminal organizations and natural hazards. Local communities, to include counties and cities, have their own specific process tailored to the threats, hazards and risk they may encounter. These local areas also prioritize the specific threats to determine the resources
The strategies of homeland security seek to combat the risks the nation faces and so by using risk management effective plans and decisions can be formed to address these risks (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2001, p.9). In order to carry out the many missions of homeland security, effective and reliable capabilities must be obtained to have the best results, risk management is used to identify these capabilities and also discover what is lacking in the realm of capability (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2001, p.9). Without resources it would not be possible to keep the nation safe and keep threats at bay, by using risk management to allocate the best resources and fund projects that have substantial returns homeland security professionals ensure that goals and missions can be accomplished (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2001,
In addition, this report will summarize not only the concept of critical infrastructure since the late 1990s, but also its evolution and continuing changes to this day. All life forms are exposed to all sorts of hazards every day, and as humans we face even more risks. Even in our own homes we can still suffer accidents and therefore there should be risk plans implemented in which we can prevent or mitigate any accidents from happening, no matter the size of the risk. Because of such reasons, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies such as the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other important agencies, makes sure to provide all the necessary plans in order to implement the appropriate security management for any kind of event whether the risk is in business, terrorist threats like the 9/11 attack, natural disasters such as Katrina and so much more that we could be unaware or unprepared for.... ... middle of paper ...
DHS is responsible for protecting the homeland of the United States. The department has a vision of securing our nation while safeguarding against terrorism attacks. There are 22 agencies that work under the department; these agencies have a wide variety of duties such as securing transportation, administrating immigration, and protecting our borders.
The primary mission of DHS is to prevent terrorist attacks and beef up U.S. infrastructure security. The overall goal of the mission is prevention of terrorist attacks and
...the nation’s critical infrastructure. With the creation of the DHS the government has shown that they are investing money and resources into protecting our nation’s infrastructure.
The Office of Homeland Security has many functions that it will perform to ensure the safety of the...
Over the course of the history of the United States of America, the country has had struggles with its own borders and the protection of those borders. Illegal immigration is a big problem and the smuggling of drugs, weapons, and cash over our borders into our country has evolved into a bigger problem. The United States has over seven-thousand miles of border to cover each day. That is quite a bit of land, but the only problem with this is there is a lack of manpower to cover every single mile of border. The US shares its borders with Canada and Mexico. All along these borders are small communities and cities that are occupied by US citizens. This means that these cities and communities require the protection of our Homeland Security Agency.
For this week’s forum we were asked to choose 5 research topics relating to homeland security list them, explain why we are interested in them, and tell the class what we would like to learn if we were writing a paper on them. I chose the topics I did because It seems like to me like most people look at the Department of homeland Security (DHS) and mainly focus on the subjects of border and port physical security without knowing exactly how much goes into ensuring the security of the American people. The topics I chose to list after poking around the internet a little are as follows.