Strategic Planning, Resource Allocation And Grant Funding

When one thinks of security, they tend to think of being protected, free from harm or danger. There are various security threats that the world faces today. Threats could range from a series of cyber threats to terrorist attacks. We are incessantly encountered with catastrophic man-made and natural diseases. The Department of Homeland Security measures the nation 's vulnerabilities, meaning it takes initiative in leading and evaluating vulnerabilities and coordinating with other federal, state, local, and private entities to safeguard the most effective response. The creation of the country’s 15th Cabinet Department marked the largest reorganization of government since the Truman administration.

There are three key concepts which form the foundation of Homeland Security which are: security, resilience, customs and exchange. In turn, these key concepts drive broad areas of activity that the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) process defines as homeland security missions. These missions are enterprise-wide, and not limited to the Department of Homeland Security (Department of Homeland Security, 2016). DHS will prepare its efforts to prevent any terrorist attacks and reduce the America’s liability to terrorism, when damages and recovery are at a minimum. The difference between the two is that DoD has missile defenses and provides support to civil

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has stated that it will apply risk management principles to homeland security operations and has stated “Ultimately, homeland security is about effectively managing risks to the Nation’s security” (DHS 2010, pg. 2). This is much easier said than done. There are many difficulties that must be sorted out. As with anything and everything, money comes into play, conflicts between national and local priorities, and societies opinion.

The defense, security, and safety American citizens enjoy each and every day is a result of dedicated professionals committed to Homeland Security and Homeland Defense. These broad initiatives require well-defined missions, organized and focused tasking, and finally, clearly understood duties, responsibilities, and operations. Organizations charged with these responsibilities must be better resourced than those of the enemy. Success in each of these objectives requires a well-organized infrastructure with clear mission sets. The afore mentioned areas of responsibility, related planning, and resource/personnel management are fluid (rightfully so) and are constantly reevaluated, restructured, and/or reinforced to best counterattack our Nation’s vulnerabilities before they become casualties.

Most significantly, Secretary Chertoff set forth how he would prioritize the Department 's focus, electing to concentrate first on threats "that pose catastrophic consequences" even if these targets are somewhat less vulnerable than other, but less consequential infrastructure. This analysis leads, for example, to the conclusion that we should focus preventive resources on areas of greater concern, like chemical, biological, or nuclear attack. And it leads as well to the conclusion that the Department of Homeland Security cannot and should not be expected to protect Americans from all possible risks.

The Homeland Security enterprise is tasked with protecting our country from all threats to include threats that have not yet revealed themselves. There’s a few methods used to identify these threats, but I’m going to cover just one of those methods in particularly. To better explain the role of risk management, first I’ll break down the steps of risk management and explain each one individually. After I have fully addressed the basics of risk management, I’ll go more in depth on why the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) utilizes this technique to prevent attacks in our homeland.

In homeland security they have many strategies to help protect the United States. Whether it is preventing a terrorist attack, or preventing a natural disaster. Homeland security has a strategy to make sure that everything works out. Now to give a brief background, President George Bush came up with the national homeland security strategy in July, 2002 after the attack of September, 11th. “The strategy set forth overall objectives to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America’s vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and assist in the recovery from attacks that occur (Rabkin).” Now in November of that same year, the Homeland Security Act, was passed into a law furthermost creating the department

The ability of the Department of Homeland Security to effectively manage risk is vital to national security. Risk in general, is something that is permanent but because this is known, strategies can be used to mitigate situations as they present themselves. Government managers must manage risk in a complex environment taking into consideration the diverse missions and multiple objectives of public agencies (Hardy, 2014). The role of risk management within the homeland security enterprise was managed by best and worst case scenario planning. This is something that is inevitable as we are faced within a definite variety of threats. One way to grade or rank threats is through worst-case analysis. As this analysis can be used for worst-case scenarios the federal government cannot leave out lower ranking situations (Roberts, 2007). Since the Department of Homeland Security is charged with managing risk within the enterprise, a basic equation is used to help figure out different variables and how they would be affected.

Homeland security in United States comprises of complex and competing requirements, incentives, and interests that need to be managed and balanced effectively to achieve the desired national objectives. Security, resilience and safety of the country are endangered by different hazards such as cyberspace attacks, terrorism, manmade accidents, pandemics, natural disasters and transnational crimes which are part of external risks affecting homeland security. Internal risks such as projects costs, workforce management and acquisition operations also affect the security. Internal and external risks impact the country in diverse ways such as human death, environmental degradation, injuries, economic loss, among other negative impacts. Department of Homeland Security and other involved partners should be in a position to manage and understand the different risks to security. The security state current is dynamic and relying on past cannot completely inform decision making (CRS, 2007). Risk management therefore is a process of analyzing, communicating and identifying risk and avoiding, accepting, controlling or transferring the risk to acceptable limits considering benefits and costs of measures taken with the aim of ensuring improving security decisions.

Throughout many readings we have seen the Department of Homeland Security has many different aspects and also has multiple ways of assessing different risk that come out in your everyday lives. Many people in their lives will never look at these risk because you don’t normally see these risk; it is something you notice if you have a keen eye or else a high level of attention to detail. The basic equation for risk is defined as R = ƒ(C*V*T) where R is the level of risk, C is the consequences (public health, our economy, government action, public confidence in our institutions) of an attack, V is an assessment of the vulnerability of a potential target (how hard or easy it would be for it to be hit by terrorists) and T is the threat or the likelihood

The risk management plays an important role within the Homeland Security enterprise, because can help to organize the tasks and prepare better each organization to respond effectively in the event of terrorist attack or natural disaster (CRS 2007). Since the 9/11 terror attacks, preparation and response to terrorist attacks has changed thanks to the federal government’s attitude to distributing funds to states and local governments (CRS 2007). To better comprehend the current approach to each phase of the grant program development, it’s important to understand its origin (CRS 2007). While the nation was begin to understand the importance of homeland security, the development of the grant program and the risk management methodologies was happening at the same time (CRS

Strategic planning is done with the 3 to 5-year roadmap, identifying the opportunities to improve the top line (business /premium growth) or bottom line (expense savings) Operational efficiency. The projects are identified through Strategic Planning and are then funded through the annual budgeting cycle. These annual budgets are based on the business performance for the prior years. Large strategic projects, also known as Level 1 initiatives, which span multiple years, are funded separately through a Corporate Budget.

A change-agent acknowledged for sound recommendations and counsel, and capacity to steer consensus among core business disciplines. Rapid progression throughout leadership career spanning across sales, marketing, strategy and finance functions within large and small corporations. Driver for operational and financial efficiency who establishes core metrics that optimize team performance and maximize ROI across organizational functions.

It should be recognized that all or most strategies have their own value and limitations. One of the foremost scholars and proponents of strategic planning is, again, scholar Michael Porter. As discussed above, his ‘five forces’ analysis is widely adopted in organizations and in academics. In academics his work usually appears in chapters on external analysis. While his work on the concept of the ‘value chain’ certainly focuses internally, I will be considering the overall contribution of Porter’s work as an example of the ‘outside-in’ approach to strategy.

Wong Gillmore was a very good branch manager in a bank. Everything was fine until one of her assistant manager Yvone Frechette has been promoted to a better job and larger branch. The problems are the employee in the bank was not sufficient to accommodate all of the customers and because of that the employees are overworked including Wong Gillmore. For me their biggest problem is their having difficulty in managing their time.