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BeyondtheStorms_StrengtheningHomelandSecurityandDisasterManagementtoAchieveResilience-YouTube.pdf

Beyond the Storms: Strengthening Homeland Security and Disaster Management to Achieve ResilienceBeyond the Storms: Strengthening Homeland Security and Disaster Management to Achieve Resilience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bUL4yhTbqk

DiversityandInclusion_ANationalSecurityImperative-GIWPS.pdf

September 29, 2020

12:00 – 1:30 pm EDT

Diversity and Inclusion: A National Security Imperative

September 29, 2020

https://www.georgetown.edu/

http://sfs.georgetown.edu/

In a moment that has laid bare systemic racism and injustice, leading diplomats and national security

practitioners discussed why a diverse security sector is essential for effective U.S. foreign policy and national

security–and how we achieve it. They shared discuss best practices and strategies for cultivating diverse

personnel and cultures of inclusion, assess persistent shortcomings, and chart new pathways for closing the

gaps.

Featured Speakers Included

Travis Adkins: Adjunct Assistant Professor, Walsh School of Foreign Service and Senior Associate, Center for

Strategic & International Studies Africa Program.

Admiral Michelle Howard: Former Commander of United States Naval Forces Europe, Commander of United

States Naval Forces Africa, and Vice Chief of Naval Operations

Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield: Senior Vice President, Albright Stonebridge Group; Former Assistant

Secretary of State for African Affairs and Director General of the Foreign Service and Director of Human

Resources, Department of State

Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security

CONNECT WITH US

https://giwps.georgetown.edu/

1412 36TH STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D.C. 20057 (202) 525-1980 (tel:1-202-525-1980) [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

tel:1-202-525-1980

mailto:[email protected]

FutureIssuesinHomelandSecurityResilience.pdf

Future Issues in Homeland Security Resilience What does the future hold as the nation towards an embrace of resilience in sectors around the country as part of a national imperative? What are the threats that should concern us most and are we preparing a resilient framework in anticipation? Climate change, cyber attacks, food borne disease and hurricanes are just a few of the threat vectors that need to not only be pondered but to apply rigorous resilience planning.

Think about it…in the last few years Super storm Sandy reinforced the need to be resilient. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Marie re-enforced the need to be resilient. Cyber attacks from the “Wanna Cry” attack to the EQUIFAX breach again re-enforced the need for resilience planning. A constant flow of threats to critical infrastructure such as the national energy grid re-enforce this need. In every one of the threat vectors, both natural and man-made, analysis indicates that the impact could have been less severe if a framework of resilience was in place. The “bounce back” time would also have been less impactful if resilience planning is applied. This means that current resilience planners, or the academics that are conducting resilience research, must use the events of the past to plan for the future. Looking at resilience and its’ impact on risk is a critical part of this effort because it allows the return on the investment to be explored in a very deliberate manner. Why, because one of the greatest challenges for the future is actually quite simple…as threats evolve how do instill a framework of resilience in all the major sectors of the United States from food supplies and banking to energy. The ability to “rebound” is critical…the more resilience that is “baked in” the better the chance for a “rebound”. Consequently, the faster the rebound, the quicker the restoration.

Michigan National Guardsmen with the 210th Military Police Battalion secure an entry control point at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Feb. 15, 2021. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class R.J. Lannom Jr

The importance of future resilience analysis and planning was under-scored in a 2014 presentation by Dr Dane Egli, a retired Coast Guard Captain, formerly of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in a one-hour reflection at Think Tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) based on his book, “Beyond the Storms: Strengthening Homeland Security and Disaster Management to Achieve Resilience”. [Dr Egli’s discussion can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bUL4yhTbqk]

Egli’s premise is the perfect foundation for this final week’s discussion. No one is immune or truly “safe” from the impacts of multiple threat vectors either naturally occurring or man-made. By instilling resilience is a way that enhances different sectors the sector itself can be in a position to bounce back. Egli argued that the key elements to resilience, allowing for this “bounce back” would be public-private partnerships, interagency collaboration and collective action. What are ideals like partnership and collaborations here important? Consider the following… on August 23, 2017, an important step was taken by the U.S. Department of Energy in this area of resilience when it made public its’ study offering finding and recommendations to grid resilience and reliability.

The reason these elements are critical to future resilience support is because assets are scarce and developing a unity of effort is imperative for future resilience. This was re-enforced by Monier, in a thesis presented at the Naval Postgraduate School who offered, “In the homeland security context, resilience is a continual process of adaptation based upon a variety of man-made, natural, and economic adversities. Resilience is a vision of homeland security

rather than a policy of the enterprise. The homeland security practitioner’s understanding of resilience is influenced through the clarification, introduction, and application of the concept”.

But there are even more daunting reasons why resilience is an issue that must be fully embraced in the future. For example, think about where our population is moving and where they are concentrating. More and more people are living on the coast and in metro cities. The percentages vary but about 40% of the US population lives in a high- density coastal location. This presents a future resilience issue of significant proportion. This “human migration” is one of the prime movers for a need for resilience planning. A classic scenario occurs when a hurricane makes landfall along the outer banks. What occurs…less resilient homes are destroyed…the rebuilding occurs and then there are even more units populated in the same vulnerable position. People can rebuild quickly because the federal government has not made resilience in this area a priority as the government has with the Building Codes in Miami Dade to make structures resilient to hurricanes.

ClimateChange.pdf

Climate Change The same type of future thinking holds true for climate change and the need for resilience planning. Climate Change is a distinct threat vector which resilience needs to be ready for. As the arctic melts, sea level will rise and present even greater challenges. NOAA reported that Sea level has been rising over the past century, and the rate has increased in recent decades. For example, in 2016, global sea level was 3.2 inches (82 mm) above the 1993 average—the highest annual average in the satellite record (1993- present). Complicating the issue is that climate change does not affect every part of the country in the same fashion or shape. Again, a reason why resilience becomes even more important. Think low lying cities in the southeastern part of the United States. How do cities and states plan for this rise in sea level and more intense hurricanes? Think Norfolk, VA near the downtown. The whole area floods and depending on the rise…can impact businesses, NOAA operations and homes throughout. Sometimes it takes a week for the water to fully recede.

Continuing with this thinking the Climate Institute noted, “Resilience analysts should always consider the human factor, particularly in the context of extreme flood events that would pose a high threat to life and require partial or full evacuation of the city during the emergency. This type of risk is especially acute for cities that are low-lying, prone to storms, or located at the mouths of significant river systems”.

Another area that all Americans should be concerned about is the resilience of our navigation systems such as the Global positioning System (GPS). On December 23, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate published the Resilient Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Conformance Framework today.

(DHS S&T)

What are PNT services? They touch our lives every day such as the Global Positioning System (GPS). DHS S&T noted, PNT “is a national critical function that enables many applications within the critical infrastructure sectors. This framework will inform the design and adoption of resilient PNT systems and help critical infrastructure become more resilient to PNT disruptions”. What kind of disruptions…the two biggest are GPS spoofing and jamming. Think of the impact on EVERYONE if there is a GPS disruption… using Google Maps will become incredibly difficult. More information, including the full report is available.

https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2020_12_resilient_pnt_conformance_framework.pdf

The other area of resilience that needs mentioning is that of law enforcement in the United States today. The vast majority of law enforcement officers want to serve. They want to “protect”. A small percentage do not feel this way and a biased, bigoted and pose a threat. A resilient police force can address this…

(NYPD official photo)

Population migration, a lack of diversity, and climate change are two areas that will present future threats to resilience. We see changes to vulnerabilities and consequences.

In conclusion, the International Federation to the Red Cross in their World Disasters Report: Resilience: saving lives today, investing for tomorrow provides an excellent issue to ponder as we close the course:

Adopt a systematic approach to operationalize resilience. To solve challenges, effective leaders often borrow ideas and practices from around the world and work with different layers of government and actors spanning the private sector and civil society. A starting point for operationalizing resilience would be to share practices, successes and failures. Resilience encompasses multiple efforts that must be taken together and integrated.

https://www.enr.com/articles/47135-resilient-infrastructure-could-save-42-trillion

What do you think? Are ready to meet the challenge and build a more resilient world? What would you do first? The 2020 Maritime Risk Symposium, an international invitation only event focused on some of the issues in the vast issue of homeland security and resilience. Listen to this wrap up session as a way to conclude the course and keep you thinking about this issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tBiDS1w76Q&list=PL1X1XEQfLxsfy9x14E4Jx6StyEsho5EVI&index=12%C2%A0

Finally, in many ways Climate Control is an issue connected to Maritime Resilience since nearly every ship in the world, and the infrastructure within a port is powered by fossil fuel. Dr. Jennie Stephens, GRI’s Director of Strategic Research Collaborations, Director of SPPUA and Dean’s Professor of Sustainability Science & Policy at Northeastern University offers a diverse approach needs to be considered. Dr. Stephens provided her thoughts in “The Progressive” a publication focused on social justice and inclusion. Here is the link.

https://progressive.org/op-eds/climate-crisis-diverse-leadership-stephens-200813/#.XzWVHXqDCtA.twitter