InfoGram 33-07: August 23, 2007

This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by email at emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.

Three Properties of Community Resilience

Considering the ongoing wildfires and flooding now occurring in several states, in addition to other recent catastrophes within the nation, it seems that American people are experiencing major calamities in ways unlike any other period in history. The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) submits that along with heightened awareness of the frequency of man-made and natural disasters, comes a growing understanding that authorities cannot prevent all disasters or protect many critical infrastructures from their consequences.

When researching best practices, the EMR-ISAC learned there are an increasing number of communities and organizations that are strengthening the resilience of their critical infrastructures. In broad terms, resilience is the capacity of critical infrastructures to "bounce back," recover from, or respond positively to adversity. Review of studies from the Universities of Delaware and Nebraska indicate that resilience has three properties comprising aspects of how communities respond to disasters: resistance, recovery, and creativity. These properties are briefly explained below, particularly for the benefit of local emergency managers and first responders.

• Resistance relates to a community's efforts to withstand a disaster and its consequences. It refers to the degree of disruption that can be accommodated without the community implementing long-term change.
• Recovery pertains to a community's ability to "pull through" the misfortune. It involves the actions of a community to quickly and efficiently restore essential functions to pre-disaster levels.
• Creativity entails learning from the experience and inspiring innovative adaptation to new circumstances and higher levels of functioning. It encourages resourceful and imaginative methods or procedures to attain greater preparation for the next disaster.

The academic studies each offered the same judgment that resilience encompasses all three of these properties. "In an ongoing process, a resilient community predicts and anticipates disasters; absorbs, responds, and recovers from the consequences; and improvises new and better responses to future disasters."

Radicalization: An ESS Challenge

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) recently released its report regarding the homegrown threat of radicalization (PDF, 2.1 Mb, 90 pages). Raymond Kelly, New York City Police Commissioner, announced that the NYPD report made no effort to provide a "cookie-cutter" profile for terrorists. In its preface, he wrote that intention is an important factor in the formation of terrorist cells; therefore, the report is "a look at how that intention forms, hardens, and leads to an attack or attempted attack using real world case studies."

The NYPD report states the global jihadi movement poses a significant challenge to law enforcement and intelligence since the radicalization phenomenon that drives it is "spontaneous, indiscriminate, and its indicators are subtle." The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) espouses that the radicalization of American citizens is a matter of concern for all Emergency Services Sector (ESS) departments and agencies. Basically, the challenge for ESS personnel is how to assist with the identification of homegrown terrorists to prevent their attacks.

As evidenced by the 11 case studies used in the NYPD report, the following generally apply to extremists within the United States:

• Autonomous, radicalize quickly, and usually individuals who on the surface appear to be well-integrated into society.
• Not part of any known terrorist group and have little or no links to known militant actors or crime syndicates.
• Like-minded individuals who spend time together in clusters organized by previously established social networks.

Identifying homegrown terrorists at the earliest possible stage makes intelligence the critical tool in helping to thwart an attack or even prevent the planning of future malicious actions. Therefore, the EMR-ISAC asserts that ESS personnel of the non-law enforcement disciplines can assist by becoming intelligence collectors. While continuously moving around in respective areas of responsibility, there may be opportunities to observe suspicious activities, unexplainable behaviors, strange objects, unusual circumstances, etc. Reporting observations directly to the local police and the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC) will possibly provide the information necessary to apprehend radicalized suspects, potentially preventing an attack on local, state, or national critical infrastructures.

The NICC can be contacted at 202-282-9201, Fax: 703-487-3570, Email: nicc@dhs.gov.

Near-Misses: A Training Opportunity

Governors in at least 11 states have already made emergency declarations this summer as a result of wildfires, while severe floods are now killing people and destroying property in 9 other states. The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) realizes that the brutal ongoing wildfire season and destructive flooding required numerous ESS departments and agencies to execute their emergency plans.

So far, the one break for the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) has been the absence of a major hurricane impacting the mainland U.S. Hurricane Dean, which missed the United States, did compel many first responder organizations to heighten awareness, make preparations, and deploy selected personnel to regional coordinating centers. However, for those ESS organizations not currently affected by wildfires, flooding, and other disasters, these occurrences or near-misses represent a spontaneous training exercise opportunity for all unaffected departments and agencies.

The EMR-ISAC learned that some emergency personnel track developing tropical storms and hurricanes specifically for use as a realistic training tool. As the threat of the "impending disaster" increases, they undertake hypothetical preparedness activities as if the hurricane would directly influence their plans and operations, especially those related to critical infrastructures (i.e., personnel, physical assets, and communication/cyber systems). Afterwards, they address and correct weaknesses discovered in their plans and operations. Another approach is to use the spontaneous exercise to evaluate certain specific components of ESS operations. For example, organizations can use an event happening nearby or elsewhere to test the employee alerting and notification system, adjust assignments and operations to compensate for personnel prevented by the disaster from reporting to work, or to create workarounds for sudden, unforeseen predicaments such as impassable response routes.

Tracking the progress of a tropical storm or hurricane that potentially could make landfall can be viewed as a realistic, real-time opportunity to engage in a low- or no-cost emergency exercise. The remaining three months of the 2007 hurricane season will likely offer a few ready-made training scenarios to rehearse the planning skills of ESS organizations that capitalize on these opportunities.

Charleston Recommendations Bolster CIP

Two months after the 18 June fire in Charleston, South Carolina, that killed nine members of the Emergency Services Sector (ESS), fire department leaders there are quickly implementing recommendations made by a panel of national fire service officials appointed by the city's mayor.

The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) notes that the national panel made preliminary recommendations in the areas of personnel, command, safety, training, response and communications, and water supply. While the proposed changes in their entirety provide a useful review of best practices applicable to all emergency departments, the EMR-ISAC highlights the following that ensure compliance with federal and state requirements, and also bolster the protection of ESS critical infrastructures:

• Apply Incident Command System (ICS) procedures and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) at all incidents.
• Initiate and complete ICS and tactical operations training for all officers.
• Provide incident safety officer training for all command officers, and health and safety officer training to selected personnel.
• Ensure that all new firefighters are trained and certified in accordance with state standards and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Firefighter II before assignment to emergency duty.

The complete list of the panel's initial recommendations can be reviewed at Firehouse.com.