Risk, we need to think nationally and not be confined by the federal system
What can you do as a Homeland Security expert?
Threats and the risks associated with them do not occur federally nor by state lines. Hurricanes, tornados, floods, earthquakes, cyber attacks (name your threat of choice) do not play by the rules we have confined ourselves to when it comes to assessing risk and awarding grant money.
Each year a massive amount of effort is put into the Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) that cities and states complete as a requirement for DHS grant funds. This contributes to a bureaucratic approach to risk whereby individuals and organizations benefit by thinking only of their risk and requirements. The fact that 34 states received the same amount of grant funds last year is an indicator of the entrenched level of bureaucracy.
A myopic risk approach dismisses the ‘system of systems’ that exists and is essential to not only risk reduction but emergency response as well. When we buy down risk in one area we actually migrate the risk to somewhere else in the system. While this works well at the time for the individual or organization, does it really address the hazard at a greater level? Occasionally we may get lucky with this approach; however, I would propose THIRA and the FEMA grant system would benefit from change.
Currently, risk analysis occurs at the local and state level with a role up to DHS. While DHS literature is filled with the “whole of community” concept, the application at the regional and national level is mostly federal participation. This is problematic. One approach is for local and state level Homeland Security experts and private sector partners to document how things work and what can go wrong in the THIRA and other risk assessments. Understanding operations from the owners and operators perspective will help to start addressing interdependency, complexity and coordination that crosses borders and covers hazard and supply lines.
Capturing risk to the system, whether supply or critical infrastructure sector operation will also contribute to improved decision making where risk is reduced at the point in the system most critical versus a series on points based on local/state lines.
Moving our thoughts and actions from risk in our backyard or what the federal system supports to a truly national perspective will be a heroic effort but one that builds resiliency for the nation. This effort starts with hard discussions at the local and state level as well as Homeland Security experts insisting on increased participation when DHS conducts regional THIRAs and the Regional Risk Assessment Program (RRAP).
