Department of Homeland security working towards the provision of protection
The 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review under the Department of Homeland Security identified six main strategic challenges that every community should put on the ladder and ensures they have good plans to prevent or address them effectively when they occur. The threats include biological concerns, cyber threats, terrorist threats, transnational criminal organizations, natural hazards, and nuclear terrorism. Each community must understand which of the threats poses the most considerable risks and allocate resources, respectively, to mitigate them. This particular paper seeks to identify the criteria used by local communities to prioritize the threats and allocate resources, in addition to the steps they take to prevent the events proactively and effectively.
Local communities use the Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) process to determine the typical set of the risks they face, and prioritize their resources towards mitigation of the risks identified (The 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, 2014, p. 3). It is after identification and prioritization of the risks that the leaders of respective communities can make important decisions to safeguard their people. The cities can then manage the risks through proper planning, strategizing on mitigation of the risks, and developing needed capabilities. THIRA’s risk assessment process helps communities identify the hazards and risks that can affect them; the impacts the risks would cause if they occurred. The capabilities the communities should have based on those impacts (Zaffar, 2019, p. 34). The whole process helps the local communities understand their risks better and know the level of preparedness they need to address those risks if they occurred.
The first step involves the identification of the hazards and threats of concern to the community. Since the risks or strategic challenges are identified under the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, the THIRA approach works on the identified risks. The identification experts use a combination of prior experiences, expertise on the subject matter, forecasting data available, and any other available resources to determine which of the threat defined under the Department of Homeland Security pose more danger to it (Bowman, 2016, P. 67). The communities mostly consider the risks which challenge its capability to deliver to its people than others. The approach aims to avoid prioritizing less challenging threats. The communities then put the hazards or threats into a context where their teams of experts show how each of the risks listed in step one can affect the communities and pose a danger to delivering core capabilities to its people (Wyckoff, 2015, p 136). They then identify the impacts each of the risks identified has on the community. After contextualization of the risks, the local communities establish their capability targets. Different communities have different capabilities to respond to various threats. Their capacity is mainly determined by human resources and the availability of resources to respond to the hazards.
They can as well adopt the DHS strategic priorities because it works properly for the local communities. The prioritization emerges out of various studies that shift and updated emphasis areas. For example, previous activities of a terror attack have made all communities be on high alert towards the threat of terrorism. The evolution of threat of terrorism requires all cities to be highly agile, well-informed, and well-networked groups of individuals who are mainly working to identify the possibility of any impending attacks (Bowman, 2016, P. 73). Communities are required to have a group of experts who are determined to identify the targets and disrupt any threats that pose a challenge to their security. By looking at the degree of risk caused by terrorism, all communities must admit that it causes great danger to different aspects of the economy. All cities must thus coordinate with the national security team and other partners to identify targets and dismantle all the plans of the enemy that challenge national security, public safety, and economic prosperity of the local communities and the entire nation (Wyckoff, 2015, p 132).
The communities thus work with their partners to identify, investigate, and disrupt any threats of terrorism as early as possible. Transnational criminal organizations also pose a security risk to communities and deserve the same treatment as threats of terrorism. Security is not something for compromise in any society. Thus it requires top priority, which goes hand-in-hand with maximizing its budget, especially in communities with the most significant risks of an attack. Local communities are advised to allocate a relatively high budget on security matters to address the threat of terrorism (Brzozowski, 2017, p. 51). They should focus on preventing violent extremism and targeting to avoid severe damages in case of any attacks. It is also an excellent approach for the communities to uncover faint signals and patterns using an enhanced integration and analysis of data. Cities should also prioritize on disruption and deterring of recruitment of extremists of radicalization programs targeting local communities.
Cyberspace and underlying local infrastructures are endangered by various risks coming from cybercriminals. The communities widely depend on their information and money secured on their websites to deliver essential services to their people (Fossum, 2015, p. 2025). Sophisticated cybercriminals, however, try exploiting vulnerabilities to steal money and information and develop capabilities to destroy, disrupt, and prevent the delivery of essential services to local communities. Although the developments in information technology make the threat of cyberspace to secure, strengthening its security and cyberspace resilience is an indispensable mission for all communities. Local communities collaborate with the government and other agencies to ensure mitigation and recovery of incidences of cybercrimes. It also coordinates with the Department of Defense to provide useful information in the prevention and reduction of cybercrimes (Trautman, 2016, p. 230). Local communities should also allocate more resources to information technology, which is one of the sure approaches to prevent cyber attacks.
The data showing an increasing trend in increasing travel and trade, and the ever-growing accessibility to biotechnology, the risk of biological hazards and threats are expected to be on the rise. Biological hazards and dangers, which range from naturally occurring pandemic to bioterrorism, are thus on the top of priorities by the local governments. The potential impact is enormous and much disastrous to the communities and therefore requires much attention and allocation of enough resources (Zaffar, 2019, p. 42). It can affect the health and well-being of people, who are literally the power-house for the communities’ economy. Local communities collaborate with the government and other agencies to prevent the release of priority biological threat agents to the public. Since not all the threats can be prevented, local communities ensure they have response teams to improve risk-informed decisions and to respond and recover from any occurrences swiftly. The communities should also ensure they have adequate resources to maintain vital functions and services during and after biological attacks. The same measures are also useful for nuclear terrorism attacks (Fossum, 2015, p. 2037).
In conclusion, local communities use risk-based approaches to assess and determine which of the listed six strategic challenges poses the highest risk. Their methods should also agree with response and strategies from the Department of Homeland security and work towards the provision of general protection to the citizens. The potential risk of the challenge and the dangers it poses then determines resource allocation for each threat. The communities should also rely on research-based methods to prevent the occurrence of the hazards and risks, and address them effectively in case they occur.