Explain the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved.

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For this assignment, you will build off of the information that you provided in the assignments for Units IV and VI to compose a 20- to 25-slide PowerPoint presentation. Your presentation should present your briefing of the hypothetical terrorist incident that you selected in Unit IV. Make certain to include the following elements in your presentation: Include an executive summary. The summary should be a high-level briefing or overview of your selected critical infrastructure and the type of hypothetical terrorist incident that has taken place. This should be written to briefly capture who, what, when, where, why, and how. Provide an overview of the targeted location. Incorporating your Unit IV Project Topic, discuss the location that was attacked, the significance of the location to the critical infrastructure, why the location was vulnerable, and why the location was targeted. Provide an overview of the attack methods used in the incident. Discuss the hypothetical attack and the specific attack methods that were employed.  Critical Infrastructure I pick in IV and VI is Food and Agriculture Sector

Food and Agriculture Sector

Food and Agriculture Sector

Explain the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved. Outline the roles and responsibilities of various federal, state, and local agencies and governmental and nongovernmental homeland security personnel that should be involved in prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery of and from your chosen incident. Discuss why it is important to protect critical infrastructure/high-value targets. Identify the response plan’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) by creating a SWOT analysis. What are the strengths of the critical infrastructure in regard to its stability against terrorist incidents? What weaknesses or vulnerabilities did you find with the critical infrastructure? What opportunities do you see for the future to prevent similar incidents from happening? What threats to the critical infrastructure still exist? Include a conclusion. Develop a brief conclusion that addresses the overall value of this type of exercise as it relates to your current or desired position. For additional guidance on how to perform and format a SWOT analysis, refer to the example on the webpage below, which shows how to present the information in a bulleted list: Mind Tools. (n.d.). SWOT analysis: Discover new opportunities, manage and eliminate threats. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm Since you will not be presenting this PowerPoint to your instructor in person, you will need to utilize the slide notes function to further explain the contents of your slides. Bold, italicized, or underlined text should be used sparingly on slides in order to maximize the prominence of key points. Each slide should address a single concept, and slides should follow a logical progression, each building on the other. Provide in-text citations and a reference slide for any outside sources that are used, including direct quotations, paraphrased words or ideas, tables, data, and images. The title and reference slides are not included in the required slide count. Information about accessing the Grading Rubric for this assignment is provided below. 

 Since you will not be presenting this PowerPoint to your instructor in person, you will need to utilize the slide notes function to further explain the contents of your slides. Bold, italicized, or underlined text should be used sparingly on slides in order to maximize the prominence of key points. Each slide should address a single concept, and slides should follow a logical progression, each building on the other. Provide in-text citations and a reference slide for any outside sources that are used, including direct quotations, paraphrased words or ideas, tables, data, and images. The title and reference slides are not included in the required slide count. 

Running head: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE SECTOR 1

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE SECTOR 6

Food and Agriculture Sector

Shaimika Jones

Waldorf University

HLS 3305

Jamie Gauthier

February 19, 2019

Food and agriculture sector is a major source of security to many citizens in a country. It ensures increased life sustainability without which life could be lost. Terrorist activities targeting this sector target the water and wastewater systems which targets the household water supplies, food processing and storage companies, farms and manufacturing firms. Therefore, securing such infrastructure is important to ensure increased health benefits to the population. The greatest threat to food and agriculture sector when it comes to terrorist attack is the water supply terrorism (Monroe, Ramsey& Berglund, 2018). This is the case where water supplied to different households is contaminated from the source so as to reach as many people as possible. This area is under high vulnerability because once water is contaminated with harmful chemicals then it is supplied, most of the connected households will be affected (Monroe, Ramsey & Berglund, 2018). The target of terrorism activity is to kill as many people as possible and hence this method would lead to several deaths.

The major threat that may occur is the chemical attack. This is where a substance is intentionally put in the water system which has effects on the human body (Monroe, Ramsey & Berglund, 2018). The use of potassium cyanide can cause the death of many people if left in the water system. This chemical is colorless and hard to detect in water. It releases hydrogen cyanide gas which is highly toxic and it interferes with the ability of the body to use oxygen causing death. The agencies that can be used in the response of chemical terrorist attack include the National Incident Management System which is found at the local and national scale. They are responsible for mitigation of a terrorist attack (Gearon, 2017). The second agency is the National Communications System which is responsible for communicating and relaying information to the public. Homeland security programs should be well formulated to ensure that there is well formulated measures of curbing terrorism. Some of the programs include characterizing contamination and assessing exposure so as to ensure the water systems remain safe and secure from invasion. The second strategy is water security system and resilience to ensure that there is reduced probability of such an exposure(Gearon, 2017). The last important program is remediating a wide area so as to ensure the safety of the entire community.

Annotated Bibliography

Birkett, D. (2017). Water Critical Infrastructure Security and Its Dependencies.Journal of Terrorism Research, 8(2).

Water is an important infrastructure that is essential for the existence of human beings. It is therefore important to ensure that the water sources are well protected from contamination so as to improve human safety. People cannot survive for days without water hence it is very essential in life. However, the terrorist activities have been targeting the water sources as a way of increasing their attacks. Studies have shown that water systems are a soft target for the terrorist activities. This is because water affects a number of people once it has been contaminated. It is a soft target because it involves easy methods of introducing the contaminants and hence leads to massive deaths. This book is important in understanding the security of water infrastructure systems and some of the ways in which it is prone to terrorism.

Maiolo, M., &Pantusa, D. (2018). Infrastructure Vulnerability Index of drinking water systems to terrorist attacks. Cogent Engineering, 5(1), 1456710.

The vulnerability of the water supply systems as targets for counter-terrorism is a threat in the entire world. This is the reason why the international community scientists involve in vulnerability assessment of such events. It is important to always determine the vulnerability index of the drinking water distribution system so as to be able to make the right decisions related to the investment on security against terrorism. This is the index that breaks down the system into components and ensures that it is well known on the right measures that can be taken in case of a contamination. This index also ensures that there is increased preparedness to curb any threats of terrorism. This article will be important in enhancing and gaining more knowledge on how to carry out water assessment and calculating the vulnerability index on different water infrastructures. This helps in understanding how to prevent any contaminations or quickly respond to ensure minimal damage is caused.

Nafi, A., Crastes, E., Sadiq, R., Gilbert, D., &Piller, O. (2018). Intentional contamination of water distribution networks: developing indicators for sensitivity and vulnerability assessments. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 32(2), 527-544.

It is important to always ensure there is reliable and sustainable water supply. This is done by establishing a reliable and comprehensive risk analysis procedure. It enables the establishment of the vulnerabilities that exist in deliberate contamination of water. It is necessary to conduct sensitivity and vulnerability assessment so as to analyze the presence of early warning signs. This is because intentional introduction of contaminants leads to harmful effects on both the water as well as the infrastructure. This enables the agencies responsible for prevention and counteracting terrorism activities to respond at the right time. This article will be important in understanding the ways in which water terrorism is carried out. It also helps in understanding the effects of water terrorism and how it can be prevented.

Running head: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE SECTOR 1

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE SECTOR 6

Food and Agriculture Sector

Shaimika Jones

Waldorf University

HLS 3305

Jamie Gauthier

March 5, 2019

Critical infrastructure refers to cyber and physical systems and assets that the United Stated highly depends to the extent that their destruction or incapacity would have a significant and adverse effect on the physical and economic security or the public health of the United States and Safety of the Americans (Homeland Security, n.d). The identified sector is the Food and Agriculture Sector. The largest percentage of this sector is under private ownership and comprises slightly above 2 million farms, 935,000 restaurants and more two hundred thousand facilities that manufacture, process and store food. This sector is important because it gives to approximately one-fifth of the economy. Dependencies upon by many other sectors including water and wastewater systems, chemical, energy, and transportation systems.

The assets of the sector are important to a mixture of the government and private industry. It is important to the private industry as the industry owns that largest portion of the sector and disruption of the sector affects the revenues of the private industry. It is important to the government as it significantly contributes to the performance of the American economy and public health. The subsectors in this sector are agricultural and food processing product distribution, supply, regulatory, oversight and industry organizations, agricultural and food supporting facilities, agricultural and food product storage, agricultural food product transportation, and processing, packaging and production.

Criticality of the Sector

This sector is a critical asset as the interruption of its operations has the potential to adversely affect the United States economy and public health. In addition, the sector contributes to approximately 20 percent of the United States economic activities. The sector is a critical asset to the United States as a fifth of the American agricultural products is exported to other countries which contribute to the growth of the economy and in creating a positive trade balance. For instance, exportation of agricultural products created a positive trade balance of approximately $40 billion in 2013 (Department of Homeland Security, 2015). The sector is important to the economy of the nation as it employs thousands of American citizens who work in stores selling groceries, restaurants, supermarkets, institutional food selling facilities and other food outlets. The sector also has a positive contribution to the humanitarian actions in the world and significantly plays a role on food security as the country provides food aid during disasters and to poverty-stricken areas around the world.

The consequences of disruption to the food and agricultural sector are that it would negatively affect the activities and performance of the United States economy and lead to the closure of food outlets in the country leading to loss of jobs to the citizens working in these sectors. Interruptions of the sector would also affect the quantity of food reserves for humanitarian activities in the world, and negatively global food security.

Sector Risks

The risks that threaten the disruption of the Food and Agricultural sector are accidental and intentional food contamination, diseases and pests, and severe weather and climate. Food contamination is a risk to the operations of the sector as it leads to illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths costing the economy billions of dollars for medical care, lost productivity and deaths. Contamination causes disruption by making food products unfit for human consumption, causes public panic, leads to a public health crisis, and causes economic losses to the supply chain of the implicated foodstuffs. The sector can also be disrupted by an attack on a critical transportation or energy node.

Crops and animals are highly affected by diseases and pests, which reduces food production in the country. The interstate movement of animals and products increases the spread of disease. Outbreaks of animal disease cost the nation billions of dollars and disrupt the sector by causing loss of livestock, production, and revenue earned from international trade.

Severe weather includes droughts, floods, and climate variability, which are natural hazards and significantly influences the production of food. Severe weather causes a significant risk to the sector due to the sector’s high dependence on climate and because weather affects the health of plants and animals impacting their production levels. Severe weather and climatic change are causing changes in crop and livestock development.

Partnerships

The security and resilience of the sector are undertaken through a partnership effort between all levels of government and the critical infrastructure owners and operators. The governmental and non-governmental homeland security programs for this sector are those undertaken by the USDA and FDA. The responsibilities of the USDA include ensuring the health of plants and animals and the safety, correct packaging and labeling of the processed poultry, meat, and egg products. These programs assess, plan and mitigate threats through undertaking research in contemporary crop technology, animal and plant health protection, and human nutrition to ensure an increase in crop yield with minimal resources.

The governmental and non-governmental programs for disaster mitigation and management for this sector are identifying and assessing current and future threats to the nation’s information infrastructure, consolidating data from surveillance systems to detect biological events that affect agriculture and food and working directly with responders and component partners across the nation.

The local, regional and national partners represent the owners and operations in the sector and collaborate with the SSA to discuss security and resilience initiatives, and provide technical expertise. The international partners manage initiatives to enhance plant and animal health, food safety, food defense, and soil and water management.

OPSEC

Operational security is an analytical process used to ensure that the adversaries do not get access to information that could compromise the secrecy of the information or the process of identifying and protecting critical information that would be used by adversaries to gain an advantage.

The countermeasures to OPSEC issues to the food and agricultural sector are actions to avoid and reduce contamination in agriculture. The countermeasures are meant to counteract the presence of radionuclides in farmed areas and reducing radiation dose in the food chain. Other countermeasures include vaccine development, disease, and pest surveillance, development of disease-resistant crops, and rapid development. These countermeasures reduce the appeal of food and agriculture as a target.