What is the most significant vulnerability facing the emergency management discipline and why?

Required Readings:

NIPP 2013 Partnering for Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience: https://www.cisa.gov/publication/nipp-2013-partner…

Instructions: Fully utilize the materials that have been provided to you in order to support your response. Please respond to at least two other students and provide substantive comments that contribute something new and important to the discussion. You may challenge, support or supplement another student’s answer using the terms, concepts and theories from the required readings. Also, do not be afraid to respectfully disagree where you feel appropriate; as this should be part of your analysis process at this academic level.

200-250 words for discussion 100-150 words for student responses

Student #1 Thomas

Good Afternoon all,
I love this week’s forum discussion because it is a broad question, and I get to read what everyone thinks is the most critical vulnerability in our nation. When I think about Critical Infrastructure Protection, the first vulnerability that comes to mind is a biological attack on our food and Water supply, also known as Agro-terrorism.
The effects of this kind of attack can be characterized as very disruptive because its a threat to the U.S food chain and also to our economy.
Agro-terrorism can be defined as the deliberate introduction of a disease agent against livestock or into the global food chain, to undermine national stability and produce public fear. Depending on the disease agent, it is a tactic that can be used to generate economic, social, and political disruption or as a form of direct aggression against the human population.
Agro-terrorism is divided into three areas. The first is an intentional attack against the U.S. food supply by contaminants that render food poisonous or, in some way, inedible. The second is a pathogenic agent transmitted by one infected host to another, directly or indirectly, between animals and the third is the deliberate introduction of a foreign animal disease (FAD), designed to attack the nation’s livestock population or an infectious disease introduced into the commercial poultry population. (Staff Editor TPS, 2019)
Agriculture terrorism has several characteristics that pose unique problems for emergency management personnel and how they must manage the risk of such an attack on the food chain. If an attack were to occur, it would be hard to detect or stop initially. By its nature, agricultural production is geographically disbursed, generally in open fields, and is located in unsecure pastures throughout the rural countryside. While some livestock are housed in somewhat secure facilities, agriculture requires vast land that is difficult to secure from intruders.
Live animals, grains, and other processed food products, are routinely transported and commingled in the processing and production pipeline. These factors reduce the barriers that would typically slow pathogenic dissemination and increase the food supply risk.
I believe that just the rumor of a disease in a country’s agricultural products could stop all exports and imports of that commodity, restricting its availability for months or years. (Chalk P., 2003) This could cause severe economic and social problems. These are just a few reasons why I think this is largest vulnerability in the CIP realm.

R. Tom M.

References
Staff Editor, “Is your farm ready for a foreign animal disease?” The Pig Site, Biosecurity and Hygiene, 22 July 2019, Retrieved from: https://thepigsite.com/news/2019/07/is-your-farm-ready-for-a-foreign-animal-disease

Chalk Peter, “THE BIO-TERRORIST THREAT TO AGRICULTURAL LIVESTOCK AND PRODUCE”, Testimony presented before the Government Affairs Committee, United States Senate, 19 November 2003, Retrieved from: CT213.pdf, Pg. 1
Monke Jim, “Agro-terrorism: Threats and Preparedness”, CRS Report for Congress, 12 March 2007, Retrieved from: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/terror/RL32521.pdf

DHS. (2014). Executive Order 13636 Privacy and Civil Liberties Assessment Report. Washington, DC: The Privacy Office and the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2014-privacy-and-civil-liberties-assessment-report.pdf

Mack, M. H. (2014). Privacy and Civil Liberties Assessment Report. Washington, D.C.: Department of Homeland Security. Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2014-privacy-and-civil-liberties-assessment-report.pdf

Wortzel, L. (2003). Securing America’s Critical Infrastructures: A Top Priority for the Department of Homeland Security. Washington, D.C.: The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/homeland-security/report/securing-americas-critical-infrastructures-top-priority-the-department

Student #2 Joshua

Good Afternoon Class & Prof.

For this weeks discussion we will be focusing on the most significant vulnerability facing the emergency management discipline. Emergency Management and Disaster Risk Management (EM/DRM) is founded in the value of protecting those must vulnerable to a hazard event. This value is exercised through government involvement in combination with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), community groups and individuals (Etkins, et al. 2016). EM/DRM is also cemented ethical principles to aid in the establishment of a moral basis for their actions. Multiple theories have been engaged to gain a broader range of perspectives on the ethical dialogue such as Utilitarianism and Deontology (Etkins, et al. 2016).

As far as the most significant threat to the EM/DRM discipline, I would have to say it is our nations critical infrastructures. Critical Infrastructure is defined as “systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters” (DHS, 2013). The environment of this field has been constantly evolving alongside technology, bringing with it a sharp increase in cyber risk exposure levels. The vast and ever growing amount of reliabilities and interconnectedness of Americas critical infrastructure sectors allows for growth of vulnerabilities and exploitation events. The National Infrastructure Coordinating Center is the primary information sharing operations center which maintains situational awareness of the nation’s critical infrastructure for the federal government. With sixteen separate CI sectors reporting to various agencies, Sector Coordinating Councils (SCCs) and Government Coordinating Councils (GCCs) it becomes easier to understand the complexities that can lead to significant vulnerabilities. It is essential that we be able to mitigate these exposure events and prevent them from occurring in the future.

V/R,

JM

DHS. (2013). National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) 2013. Retrieved from https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/national-infrastructure-protection-plan-2013-508.pdf

Etkin, D., Feldmann-Jensen, S., Smith, S., & Jensen, S. (2016). Toward a substantive dialogue: The case for an ethical framework in emergency management, part 2. Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies, 20(1), 49-53. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docview/1833936104?accountid=8289