Mitigation Strategies

Planning ties with one of the National Preparedness Goal’s mission area, that is prevention. The 9/11 events made DHS to aggressively change its focus to an “all hazards” approach. Prevention is a core component to accomplish this objective. However, for an effective prevention requires thorough planning. The private sector provides this type of service and DHS may hire a private sector entity to develop a prevention plan for them. In planning, all levels of government and private sector entities must coordinate with one another in developing and executing courses of action to prevent or reduce the impact of natural disasters or terrorist attack (Homeland Security, 2011). According to the National Preparedness Goal, planning is one of the mission are capabilities and preliminary targets of prevention (Homeland Security, 2011, p. 5). The private sector’s impact in planning with the DHS is essential for an effective prevention in support of the National Preparedness

One of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) most important missions is protecting critical infrastructure. Assessing CI vulnerabilities is critical to strengthening their capabilities and ensuring resiliency. Since most of them are privately owned, the Department partners with the private sector in conducting voluntary, non-regulatory vulnerability assessments (“Critical Infrastructure”, 2015). According to Homeland Security (2015), vulnerability assessments are the foundation National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) which outlines how the government and the private sector work together to manage risks to achieve security and resiliency goals (“Critical Infrastructure”, 2015). Protecting America’s electrical power grid is especially complicated because all of the other CIs depend on the energy sector’s

A critical infrastructure is defined as any facility, system, or function which provides the foundation for national security, governance, economic vitality, reputation, and way of life. (http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/NIPP_InfoSharing.pdf)In short, critical infrastructure is by definition essential for the survival of the nation. The USA PATRIOT Act specifically defines critical infrastructure as "systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, (Jena Baker McNeill and Richard Weitz, 2010) so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating

Therefore, COOP or BCM will play a significant role during the response and recovery efforts and it will also help maintain the NEFs during those difficult times. However, continuity planning is a coordinated effort that must be in sync with all levels of government, from the Federal Government to the Local Government, as well as with the private sector (Homeland Security Council, 2007). In those efforts, the Federal Government plays a key role in coordinating and executing COOPs within the different agencies and departments that exist within the Federal Government ((Homeland Security Council, 2007). Moreover, the Federal Government assist State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) Governments as well as private sector owner and operators of Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR). The Federal Government’s assistance could be financial help in the form of grants or helping them develop their own COOPs or BCMs ( (Homeland Security Council, 2007). SLTT Governments and the private sector share the responsibility of identifying the essential needs of their communities as well as identifying the vulnerabilities that could prevent them from maintaining their PMEFs (Homeland Security Council, 2007). Moreover, they are also responsible for creating strategies and effectively allocating resources to reduce those vulnerabilities (Homeland Security Council,

When it comes to the protection and mitigating of any structure or organization risk analysis and vulnerability assessments must be conducts so as to know what’s to be protected, the threats manmade or natural disaster, ranking the potential of threat as well as the probability. In terms of critical infrastructure the risk analysis and vulnerability assessment has guidelines from Homeland Security Presidential Directive Number 7(HSPD-7).

The involvement of DoD into the implementation of the emergency plan is particularly important in case of terrorist activities. For example, if terrorist hijack an aircraft, the assistance of DoD will be essential (). The involvement of DoD will help to eliminate the terrorist threat faster and more effectively due to the use of the military. DoD has the military force, equipment and technologies essential for addressing such threats as terrorist attacks. Moreover, in such cases the deployment of the military under DoD command may be essential to protect the public and maintain the public safety.

United State of America has the ability to protect themselves from the terrorist attacks and also natural disasters. The government has committed to provide essential protections against any types of hazards. According to my knowledge some types of natural disasters are not possible to prevent for Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Depending on current conditions, first priorities must have to secure people from the terrorists attack. Nowadays, terrorist attacks have power to destroy huge amount of people as well as country. DHS must have accurate plan to fight against terrorist. It is very responsible part to manage terrorist plan because the government cannot able to predict terrorist attack. It is significant for DHS to focus more in

Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21): Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience outlines the 16 most critical infrastructures within the United States of America. The 16 critical infrastructures are the Chemical Sector, Commercial Facilities Sector, Communications Sector, Critical Manufacturing Sector, Dams Sector, Defense Industrial Base Sector, Emergency Services Sector, Energy Sector, Financial Services Sector, Food and Agriculture Sector, Government Facilities Sector, Healthcare Sector, Information Technology Sector, Nuclear Sector, Transportation System Sector, and Water and Wastewater Sector. The research paper will briefly cover the 16 critical infrastructures within PPD-21 and then delve into the Energy Sector. The intent

The private sector plays a major role and has very serious responsibilities within the Homeland Security Enterprise (HSE), since it owns the vast majority of the national critical infrastructures and key resources (CIKR) (Business Executives for National Security, 2007). Moreover, the private sector is able to provide expertise and resources that are necessary to sustain some of the core capabilities, which will help the nation to accomplish the National Preparedness Goal (Department of Homeland Security, 2015). Therefore, the private sector plays a key role in prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery (DHS, 2015).

PPD-21 establishes national policy on critical infrastructure security and resistance. The directive mentions 16 critical infrastructure sectors vital to the integrity of the U.S. system and their associated Federal Sector-Specific Agency (SSA). Nevertheless, PPD-21 demands a shared responsibility among the Federal, SLTT, and public and private owners and operators of critical infrastructure. Resiliency, in the context of CIP, consists of the ability to minimize the impact of a “disruptive event,” whether in “magnitude, impact, or duration” p.12. As 85% of CIKR resides under the control of the private sector, government leaders must ensure private operators and stakeholders participate in protection initiatives, which can be accomplished by

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI will lead the asset response in a role somewhat more analogous to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

Security measures to be input into the firm to boost disaster recovery process include establishing firm registry in bomb proof vaults that will shield the firm’s documents and data from disasters such as terrorist attacks. Such will ensure that the records of the firm are not tampered with and as such the company is able to run business without fundamental data loss (Menken and Blokdjik, 2010).

The private sector plays a vital role in carrying out the objectives within all 16 sector specific plans. The Emergency Services Sector includes but is not limited to first responding services such as; public work, fire, medical or police services. The goals and objectives of ESS specific plans are to provide first responder services as one of their main missions is the prevention to life. This sector is extremely important as they are the first responders to any type of incident that may even be impacted to other sectors. The National Infrastructure Protection Plan for this sector describes the tasks, duties and responsibilities that the private sector has in order to effectively and successfully operate this types of critical infrastructures. Just like any other sector, this sector requires the private sector to have a good relationship with state, local, tribal, territorial governments, Federal Government and outside organizations as well. Threats, risks, and vulnerabilities are acknowledged and analyzed in every respective infrastructure as they are all different. All factors are then prioritized in order to prevent the best security and mitigate the possible consequences. Public and private sectors must have the ability to continue their businesses and operations after an event has occurred. When an incident of event occur, operating plans must be created and established in order to prevent stoppages or deterrence to the operations. This helps reduce the

Nearly every community has some sort of community risk, threat, and assessment plan that takes into account one of the six potential risks that are of concern to homeland security. Though each of these plans will likely differ from one another, many communities will have the same types of information in their plans. This essay will look at the Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Guide (THIRA), the Community Risk Reduction Planning Guide, as well as FEMA’s National Preparedness plan. Any combination of these guides are a good starting point for every community in America. At top of every communities list as well as the nation is the protection of the critical infrastructure. Loss of infrastructure regardless of how big or small the community is could have very crippling effects on that community.

For instance, a State Side or (CONUS) installation would not normally be required to develop an Asset Protection appendix for hostile air or major ground attack. However an over-seas or (OCONOS) base where the threat posed in a Host Nation is greater, that base must evaluate and implement Asset Protection Levels. Determining Asset protection levels provide the basis for programming security manpower and equipment. All military assets are designated with one of the four assigned protection levels. For example, certain systems, such as nuclear weapons and presidential support aircraft is always Protection Level 1(PL1) at the direction of authorities above the Air Force, conversely, the less important the resource the lower designation. Protection levels can change during periods of increased tension. For Example, as systems reach a heightened state of readiness like non-alert aircraft being placed on alert, their relative political and military importance increases and they may assume a higher protection level.