Response to the following :
3 situational essay questions relating to Homeland Security. This solution deals with the issue of homeland security through three scenarios. The first essay involves outlining a strategy for an Action Plan in the event of the onset of a hurricane within 48 hours. The second essay outlines a memo for Terrorism Risk Insurance. The third essay outlines a memo on how a Director of Planning presents a plan to the mayor for dealing with a potential terrorist attack.
Essays (not more than 1,500 words for each answer).
Answer ALL THREE of the following question:
1. Emergency Management: You are the Director of Operations for the Maine Emergency Management Agency. It is Friday, August 31, 2012 and the long Labor Day weekend has already started. An estimated 50,000 tourists and summer residents will visit the Maine seacoast during the holiday weekend.
Meanwhile, a Category 4 hurricane named Robert had turned out into the North Atlantic. At 3 p.m. Friday you get an urgent call from the National Hurricane Center, advising that Robert has changed course and is bearing directly for the area between Portland and Rockland. The time of landfall is estimated for 3 a.m. on Sunday, September 2. The Hurricane Center estimates the chance that Robert will stay on course and strike the Portland-Rockland area at 40-50%; better estimates will not be available until Saturday morning.
The area depends on summer tourists for much of its revenue. Labor Day is the second biggest tourist weekend of the year. You are aware, of course, that time will be needed to implement any specific actions, and time is already short.
Develop an appropriate Action Plan to present to the Agency Director and the Governor, discussing the actions you will take and those you will not take (and give reasons why). Be sure to discuss timelines. Bear in mind that it is too late for long-term solutions!
2. Terrorism Risk Insurance: In the aftermath of 9/11, Congress passed the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, or TRIA, which established the federal government as a backstop re-insurer of insurance companies in the event of a major terrorist attack. TRIA has been extended several times, most recently in the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (TRIPRA) of 2007. The Act was a response to the possibility that insurers would refuse to insure against a major attack, which would drive companies out of high-risk "targets" such as New York City and Washington. Your new boss, an incoming Congressman from western Pennsylvania, has asked you to give him a briefing memo on the subject and discuss the pros and cons of repealing the Act. Write the memo.
3. Planning for a Terrorist Attack: Smallbridge, Indiana is a city of 250,000. The city is home to a mid-sized university, 2 hospitals, and 3 major research centers/industrial parks, as well as a variety of manufacturing and commercial properties. After taking the UMUC Homeland Security course and reading Gov. Martin O'Malley's discussion on preparing cities to deal with terrorism (Kamien, Ch. 20), the Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Smallbridge has convinced the Mayor that their city needs to develop a coordinated counter-terrorism plan. He has turned to you as the Director of Planning to develop the main action items and put them in a memo for the Mayor. Write the memo.