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12 Homeland Security Best Practices

Thomas J. Kenney III

June 23, 2013

MSA 575 - Best Practices & Special Issues in Homeland Security

Professor Fred Newell

Southwestern College Professional Studies

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Abstract

The horrific events of 9/11, and the terrorist attacks that happen on a daily basis around the globe,

dramatically and continuously change our daily lives. As we learned from the 9/11 commission,

and from every natural and man-made disaster since then, there are lessons to be learned after

every response to a terrorist attack or emergency response. In addition to a host of natural and

manmade hazards, such as accidents, earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes, the United States still

faces creative, asymmetrical threats and attacks by terrorists who are evolving as we speak. The

broad range of threats and hazards require new technologies, new ways of using current

equipment, developing best practices, and perhaps more importantly, sharing information. In

response to previous disasters, the United States has prepared numerous response plans that, if

followed, should increase the preparation, response, recovery, and mitigation to future disasters.

Keywords: lessons learned, emergency response, plans, hazards, best practices, information

sharing.

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Homeland Security Best Practices

The United States and its first responders are constantly preparing for the next terrorist

attack or the next emergency. The best defense against known risk is preparation and

information sharing. This paper will share some of the best information resources and best

practices that are available. The information is provided so that security professionals have some

of the necessary tools and resources to prepare for the next emergency.

1 - The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is an excellent and authoritative

source of information for topics and issues related to Homeland Security and Terrorism.

The CRS provides a tremendous amount of information concerning the nations’ strategy, policies

and responses to Homeland Security and Terrorism issues. The extreme ease of use, with all

reports posted on its website, make this an ideal research and information resource for any

security or homeland security management professional.

According to the CRS website (2013), the CRS works exclusively for the United States

Congress, providing policy and legal analysis to committees and Members of both the House and

Senate, regardless of party affiliation. As a legislative branch agency within the Library of

Congress, CRS has been a valued and respected resource on Capitol Hill for nearly a century.

According to Mazanec (2013) in Fiscal Year 2012, CRS prepared: 534 new reports; 216

new legal sidebar products; 2,702 CRS report updates; and at years’ end had a total of 8,154

reports available for download. In 2012, an example of some products, services, reports, and

issues related to Homeland Security and terrorism-related issues were: Examination of

alternative approaches to interagency coordination of policymaking and implementation in such

areas as national and homeland security; analysis of major issues facing the electric utility sector:

the implications of environmental regulations, industry infrastructure concerns, reliability, and

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cybersecurity; and new nuclear and radiation detection technologies, analyzed existing and

planned federal laboratory construction, and examined a complex set of cybersecurity proposals.

2 - The National Incident Management System (NIMS) system is the nations’

standard for emergency incident preparation, management, and response and must be

strictly adhered to. According to Purpura (2007) both the National Response Plan (NRP) and

the National Incident Management System (NIMS) are national, rather than federal plans, and

aim to align the patchwork of federal emergency management plans into an effective and

efficient structure, while coordinating the capabilities and resources of all levels of government

and the private sector (p. 253).

The NIMS was developed with input from groups in the public and private sectors and

represents best practices, strives for standardization, and contains a core set of doctrine, concepts,

principles, terminology, and organizational processes. The NIMS document provides a

consistent nationwide template to enable all government, private sector, and nongovernmental

organizations to work together during any domestic incident. It’s applicable across a wide

spectrum of potential incidents and hazardous scenarios. Additionally, it provides a framework

of coordination and cooperation processes between public and private entities for joint

emergency planning, preparedness and response activities.

The NIMS provides a consistent national template to facilitate various levels of

government and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) along with the private sector, to

collaborate “to prevent, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of

incidents’ (Department of Homeland Security, 2008). NIMS is critical from the local to the

federal level because it provides nationwide guidelines to clarify the roles of federal, state and

local governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector in protecting against,

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responding to and recovering from disasters. It also requires state and local grant recipients to

adopt the NIMS all jurisdictional levels as a condition of receiving grant funding.

3 - The Homeland Security Today website is a tremendous source of information for

homeland security and terrorism-related information. Homeland Security Today (HSToday)

germinated in 2004 as a monthly print magazine published by Virginia-based KMD Media LLC

with an enthusiastic and dedicated ensemble of highly respected, veteran award-winning editors,

writers, contributors and illustrators propelled by an industry-tested publishing executive with

three decades of savvy know-how.

Its target audience are officials with homeland security responsibilities at all levels of

federal, state and local government, as well as executives of the industries that produce the

technologies government uses to ensure the nation is protected from terrorism and is prepared for

every type of man-made and natural disaster (Homeland Security Today, 2013).

The first edition of “HSToday” magazine, as it was originally titled, expressly targeted,

was edited and designed for America’s new post-9/11 homeland security landscape, and in

unprecedented short order, the HSToday brand quickly became the undisputed independent

media that homeland security and industry officials, executives and authorities routinely turn to

for accurate, trustworthy and reliable homeland security news, investigations, analysis, context

and perspective.

4 - The Customs and Border Protection (CBP) incorporation of radio technology

into passports is a best practice that makes our borders more secure. The use of Radio

Frequency Identification (RFID) also makes the job of CBP much easier while making the job of

those crossing the borders illegally, infinitely more difficult. Securing the orders and

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immigration has been debated for a few months and is one of the contentious and politically

divided topics facing the country.

The Customs and Border Protection have invested in technology at U.S. border crossings

which includes the incorporation of radio technology into passport. This technology

incorporates Radio Frequency Identification in documents that accesses and cross references

information from department’s database. In order to be issued a RFID, individuals must apply

and most require the applicant pass a background check.

According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection website (2013) travelers who

obtain and travel with a radio frequency identification or RFID- enabled travel document may

receive the benefits of using a Ready Lane to expedite the inspection process while crossing the

border. RFID-enabled cards approved by the Department of Homeland Security include: the U.S.

Passport Card; the Enhanced Driver's License (EDL); the Enhanced Tribal Card (ETC); trusted

traveler cards (NEXUS, SENTRI, Global Entry and FAST cards); the new Enhanced Permanent

Resident Card (PRC) or new Border Crossing Card (BCC).

5 - One of the most serious deficiencies identified after 9/11 was the criticality of

sharing information; the Homeland Security Information Network is a terrific venue for

collaboration and sharing best practices. The Homeland Security Information Network

(HSIN) is a national secure and web-based portal for information sharing and collaboration

between federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, private sector, and international partners engaged

in the homeland security mission.

HSIN is made up of a network of communities, called Communities of Interest (COI)

which are organized by state organizations, federal organizations, or mission areas such as

emergency management, law enforcement, critical sectors, and intelligence. HSIN provides

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secure, real-time collaboration tools, including a virtual meeting space, instant messaging and

document sharing. HSIN allows partners to work together instantly, regardless of their location,

to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate (Department of Homeland Security, 2013,

Homeland Security Information Network website).

The HISN site is accessible 24/7 and has multiple tools like documented libraries and

(ICAV) Integrated Common Analytical Viewer which is now OneView which can provide up to

date geospatial overlays which can assist you in getting true up to date maps and satellite

information. The site also offers incident reporting, giving you and other lessons learned or

immediate advice to certain emergencies that others may have experienced and sharing best

practices.

6 - First Responders Network Authority (FirstNet) was created to oversee the

development of the national public safety network which is the first step in first responders

being able to communicate with each other. Following the tragic events of September 11,

2001, the 9/11 Commission recommended the establishment of a nationwide, interoperable

public safety communications network to resolve the communications challenges faced by

emergency responders nationwide (Department of Homeland Security, 2012).

The Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network will provide a secure, reliable and

dedicated interoperable network for emergency responders to communicate during an emergency

(Department of Homeland Security, 2012, Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network Fact

Sheet). FirstNet, an independent authority within the Department of Commerce’s National

Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), is responsible for deploying the

Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network.

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Kahn believes that emergency responders cannot rely on cell towers to be able to talk to

one another (2013). Hurricane Sandy proved this, leading the FCC in 2012 to hold meetings to

hopefully come up with strategies to improve communication amongst emergency personnel

(Kahn, 2013). Kahn states that solutions that exist today combine the capabilities of LTW with

voice reliability of the Land Mobile Radios that first responders currently use (Kahn, 2013).

These solutions have been demanded since 9/11 to improve the communication amongst

emergency personnel.

7 – The Department of Homeland Security website for The National Infrastructure

Protection Plan is an invaluable resource for any homeland security, or emergency

management professional. The National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) (2009) provides

a unifying framework that integrates a range of efforts designed to enhance the safety of our

nation's critical infrastructure.

The overarching goal of the NIPP is to build a safer, more secure, and more resilient

America by preventing, deterring, neutralizing, or mitigating the effects of a terrorist attack or

natural disaster, and to strengthen national preparedness, response, and recovery in the event of

an emergency. The NIPP was developed by critical infrastructure partners including federal

departments and agencies, state and local government agencies, and private sector entities. The

NIPP integrates the concepts of resilience and protection, and broadens the focus of NIPP-related

programs and activities to an all-hazards environment (Department of Homeland Security, 2009).

Not only does this website have the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, but, it also

has links to the 16 critical sector specific plans (SSPs). The SSPs detail how the National

Infrastructure Protection Plan risk management framework is implemented within the context of

the unique characteristics and risk landscape of each critical infrastructure sector. Each sector

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specific agency developed an SSP through a coordinated effort involving its public and private

sector partners (Department of Homeland Security, 2009).

8 – A smart phone application has the possibility to allow 911 operators to see what

callers see thus allowing for quicker well-informed decisions. Under development is a smart

phone application that could let emergency 911 operators take control of phones at the scene of

an incident to gather medical data from victims. A caller can place his smart phone on a victim's

torso, and the emergency operator can view the victim's breaths per minute, gauging whether or

not the caller should start CPR. The victim himself, if physically able, can transmit vital-sign

information to emergency responders.

According to Jackson (2013), the Android app, being developed at the University of

North Texas with National Science Foundation funding, will be unveiled and publicly

demonstrated at the National Emergency Number Association conference in Charlotte, N.C. next

week. Remotely controlling a device’s cameras and accessing medical vital signs data collected

by the app could help an operator make faster, smarter decisions. The app currently is in the

development stage and will have to undergo testing in a hospital environment and gain Food and

Drug Administration approval before being made available.

The Federal Communications Commission currently requires cellular service providers to

give location information for emergency calls to public safety answering points (PSAPs).

Through its Next Generation 911 program FCC is trying to incorporate a full range of mobile-

and Internet-based technologies into the emergency system, enabling the use of text, video,

images and other digital data by PSAPs (Jackson, 2013).

The primary challenge is accurately locating the source of cellular and voice over IP calls,

so that they can be routed to the proper PSAP and dispatchers will know where to send help.

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Carriers using network tools and GPS can provide pretty accurate location information for calls

made outside, but calls made from inside buildings are harder to locate. Vertical location is a

particular challenge, since GPS can only locate a device to within about 60 feet vertically,

Schulzrinne said. “That’s a big problem.” The opportunities lie in the possibility of gathering

more information through the growing functionality of smart phones and mobile devices.

Cameras and microphones, and the computing power to analyze data provided by them, could

help provide remote operators with greater situational awareness during emergencies (Jackson,

2013).

With console software and an Internet connection, a PSAP operator could take control of

a caller’s phone using the app, much like a help desk operator can remotely take over a desktop

for troubleshooting. The operator could access live video, controlling zoom and exposure, to see

an emergency scene and assess the medical condition of a victim. Vital signs such as breathing,

heart rate and blood pressure could be gathered from the microphone and light sensors on the

phone and displayed on the operator’s screen. The operator would direct the caller in gathering

the data and the caller would have to enable the operator’s remote control for the session. This

opt-in requirement offers a compromise to provide some assurance of privacy and security while

enabling the gathering of data (Jackson, 2013).

9 – The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Recovery Lessons

Learned & Information Sharing website is an excellent source of lessons learned for

disaster recovery. The FEMA Recovery Lessons Learned & Information Sharing website

serves as a national online network for the exchange of ideas surrounding the Disaster Recovery

Community. It encourages feedback and contributions to help develop a “one stop shop” for

those involved in planning, capacity building and disaster recovery operations. The website has

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the following Lessons Leaned & Information Sharing Sections: General Recovery Issues,

Recovery Core Capabilities: Chemical-Biological-Radiological-Nuclear; and Exercises (Federal

Emergency Management Agency, 2013).

The General Recovery Issues provides information on the following subjects: The Road

Home? An Examination of Louisiana’s Road Home Program; Disaster Recovery as a Social

Process; Baseline Indicators for Disaster Resilient Communities; Disaster Resilience Indicators

for Benchmarking Baseline Conditions; and Implementing the Recovery Framework for disasters

without Stafford Act disaster declarations (Federal Emergency Management Agency, 2013).

The Federal Emergency Management Agency website (2013) Recovery Core Capabilities

area provides information on subjects such as: Planning; Housing; Economic; Infrastructure

Systems; Health and Social Services; Natural and Cultural Resources; Recovery Leadership; and

Public Information.

The Chemical-Biological-Radiological-Nuclear section provides information for the

following subject areas: Community Responses to Industrial Disaster; Regional All-Hazards

Recovery Framework; Urban Area Recovery Planning with CBR; Interim Clearance Strategy for

Environments Contaminated with Hazardous Chemicals; Critical Infrastructure and Economic

Impact Considerations: For Recovery from Chemical, Biological and Radiological Incidents;

Key Planning Factors: For Recovery from a Chemical Warfare Agent Incident; Key Planning

Factors: For Recovery from a Biological Terrorism Incident; and Key Planning Factors: For

Recovery from a Radiological Terrorism Incident (Federal Emergency Management Agency,

2013).

10 – An excellent source of information and community of homeland security best

practices is the Department of Homeland Security Integrated Task Force Collaboration

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Community website. To implement the Executive Order on Improving Critical Infrastructure

Cybersecurity and the Presidential Policy Directive on Critical Infrastructure Security and

Resilience, the Department of Homeland Security established an Integrated Task Force to lead

implementation and coordinate interagency, and public and private sector efforts, and to ensure

effective integration and synchronization of implementation across the homeland security

enterprise (Department of Homeland Security, 2013, Integrated Task Force Collaboration

Community website).

The Integrated Task Force Collaboration Community (2013) collaborative website allows

users to search topics of interest. The website also allows users to submit new ideas, solicit

comments, post comments and ideas concerning homeland security issues and topics. For

example, today’s question is, “What would you like to see a public-private partnership for

security and resilience achieve?”

The website also allows users to vote on specific topics and to agree or disagree on a

particular topic and to leave comments. I think this has great potential, but, currently has very

few users. The Department of Homeland Security, and the different agencies and organizations

under it, is constantly criticized for not collaborating enough. This website is another example of

the federal government providing an avenue for collaboration among the local, state, tribal, and

federal level (Department of Homeland Security, 2013, Integrated Task Force Collaboration

Community website).

11 – Project Shield America is one of the most effective methods in preventing an

attack on the homeland by preventing terrorists and nation states from acquiring weapons

of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials. Shield America

is an industry outreach and enforcement initiative developed by U.S. Immigration and Customs

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Enforcement (ICE) to prevent the illegal export of sensitive U.S. munitions and strategic

technology to terrorists, criminal organizations and foreign adversaries (Department of

Homeland Security, 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Project Shield America

website).

According to the Project Shield America website (2013) the project is conducted under

the counter-proliferation strategy of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement. The department

works with other agencies and engages in enforcement of import and export violations. In order

to accomplish the objectives of the project, ICE pursues a four prong approach; inspection and

interdiction, investigations, industry outreach, and international cooperation.

As indicated previously, Shield America is a four-pronged program for export

enforcement and industry outreach. Inspection and Interdiction involves specially-trained CBP

officers inspect outbound shipments for violations of U.S. export laws and report violations to

ICE for investigation. The investigations portion requires ICE special agents investigating

export violations, seizing illegal shipments of controlled technology and munitions, and pursuing,

the arrest, prosecution and conviction of violators. Industry Outreach is where ICE agents

conduct outreach visits with industry officials to educate them about U.S. export laws and to

solicit their assistance in preventing illegal foreign acquisition of their products.

Finally international cooperation ICE attachés in foreign countries enlist the support of

their host governments to initiate investigative leads and to develop information in support of

ongoing domestic investigations. ICE also supports the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI)

that increases international cooperation in interdicting illegal shipments of weapons of mass

destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials (Department of Homeland

Security, 2013, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Project Shield America website).

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12 – Natural disasters are inevitable and recovery efforts must be efficient; the

National Disaster Recovery Framework (NDRF) creates an increase in efficiency during

the recovery phase and promotes greater support to the state and lower level governments.

The National Disaster Recovery Framework outlines which federal agency is responsible for

what efforts during a disaster. The target audience for the document is not solely government

and is designed to allow the private sector and other non-government organizations to be able to

understand how the process will work. The focus is to support lower levels of government and

designed to be flexible, allowing managers to collaborate efforts (Department of Homeland

Security, 2011).

The National Disaster Recovery Framework (2011) is a conceptual guide designed to

ensure coordination and recovery planning at all levels of government before a disaster, and

defines how they will work together, following a disaster, to best meet the needs of states, local

and tribal governments and communities and individuals in their recoveries. For the first time, it

established coordination structures, defined leadership roles and responsibilities, and guides

coordination and recovery planning at all levels of government before a disaster happens. It

involves better utilization of existing resources and enables effective recovery support to

disaster-impacted States, Tribes, Territorial and local jurisdictions. It provides a flexible

structure that enables disaster recovery managers to operate in a unified and collaborative

manner and focuses on how best to restore, redevelop and revitalize the health, social, economic,

natural and environmental fabric of the community and build a more resilient Nation.

For the first time, the National Disaster Recovery Framework defines: core recovery

principles, roles and responsibilities of recovery coordinators and other stakeholders, a

coordinating structure that facilitates communication and collaboration among all stakeholders,

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guidance for pre- and post-disaster recovery planning and; the overall process by which

communities can capitalize on opportunities to rebuild stronger, smarter and safer. The National

Disaster Recovery Framework also introduced six new Recovery Support Functions that

provides a structure to facilitate problem solving, improve access to resources, and foster

coordination among State and Federal agencies, nongovernmental partners and stakeholders

(Department of Homeland Security, 2011).

Conclusion

The terrorist threat to the homeland will always be present and natural disasters are

inevitable. The key to minimizing the loss of life and assets is by following the four phases of

emergency management: preparation, response, recovery, and mitigation. A large part of the

success of practioners is due to information sharing of best practices. This paper discussed some

of those best practices and provided excellent information sources for emerging technologies,

topics and issues related to homeland security, national preparation and recovery plans, and

terrorism. It also explained the importance and specifics of the nations’ incident management

system, the infrastructure protection plan, and the natural disaster recovery framework.

Preparation, collaboration, and sharing best practices are all ways to prepare for tomorrow’s

unexpected events. The nation is stronger and more resilient since 9/11 and with each natural or

man-made disaster it only becomes stronger.

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References

About CRS (2013). Congressional Research Service website http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/about/

Department of Homeland Security (2008). National Incident Management System. Retrieved

from: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nims/NIMS_core.pdf

Department of Homeland Security (2008). Privacy impact assessment for the use of Radio

Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for border crossings. Retrieved from:

http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/privacy/privacy_pia_cbp_rfid.pdf

Department of Homeland Security (2009). National Infrastructure Protection Plan. Retrieved

from: http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/NIPP_Plan.pdf

Department of Homeland Security (2009). National Infrastructure Protection Plan: Sector

Specific Plans. Retrieved from: http://www.dhs.gov/sector-specific-plans

Department of Homeland Security (2011). National Disaster Recovery Framework. Retrieved

from: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/recoveryframework/ndrf.pdf

Department of Homeland Security (2012). Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network Fact

Sheet. Retrieved from:

http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/Fact%20Sheet_Nationwide%20Public

%20Safety%20Broadband%20Network.pdf

Department of Homeland Security (2013). Homeland Security Information Network website:

https://www.dhs.gov/homeland-security-information-network

Department of Homeland Security (2013). Integrated Task Force Collaboration Community

website. Retrieved from: http://eoppd.ideascale.com/

Department of Homeland Security (2013). U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Project

Shield America website: http://www.ice.gov/project-shield/

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Federal Emergency Management Agency (2013). Recovery Lessons Learned & Information

Sharing website. Retrieved from: http://www.fema.gov/recovery-lessons-learned-

information-sharing#GRI

Homeland Security Today (2013). Homeland Security Today website:

http://www.hstoday.us/home.html

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phones.aspx?

Kahn, D. (2013, March 12). Will First Responders Be Able to Communicate When the Next

Hurricane Sandy Hits? HStoday.us. Retrieved from: http://www.hstoday.us/blogs/best-

practices/blog/will-first-responders-be-able-to-communicate-when-the-next-hurricane-

sandy-hits/c5d9ae9cec463da2ed8b3de53dd67009.html

Mazanec, M. B. (2013). Annual Report of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of

Congress for Fiscal Year 2012. Retrieved from

http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/about/crs12_annrpt.pdf

Purpura, P. P. (2007). Terrorism and homeland security: An introduction with applications.

Burlington, MA: Butterworth–Heinemann.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection website (2013). Ready Lane - Radio Frequency

Identification (RFID). Retrieved from:

https://help.cbp.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/1210/~/ready-lane---radio-frequency-

identification-(rfid)