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General Security and Resilience

National Risk Index (FEMA)

In November 2020, FEMA released its National Risk Index (NRI), an online mapping application that analyzes a community’s risk factors from 18 natural hazards, some of which include coastal flooding, drought, earthquake, hurricane, and wildfire. The NRI can help entities, especially those with limited mapping and risk assessment capabilities, better prepare for natural hazards by providing standardized risk data for mitigation planning and an overview of multiple risk factors.

FEMA Continuity Training Schedule, November 2020

FEMA has published its schedule of upcoming National Continuity training and activities. In the coming months, FEMA is offering the Continuity of Operations (COOP) Program Managers Course, the Continuity Planners Workshop, and the Instructional Presentation and Evaluation Skills course. The COOP Program Managers Course covers program requirements and elements and support requirements and describes the roles and responsibilities of the Continuity Program Manager and other key players in developing a viable continuity program.

Hurricanes Lasting Longer, Staying Stronger Over Land, according to Study

Hurricanes are experiencing slower decay in their intensity following landfall today than they did in previous decades, according to the results of a study published yesterday in the journal Nature.  Scientists analyzed intensity data for North Atlantic landfalling hurricanes over the past 50 years and found that whereas in the late 1960s a typical hurricane lost about 75 per cent of its intensity in the first day past landfall, now the corresponding decay is only about 50 per cent.

New Tracker on Jihadist Attacks in North America and Europe

The Program on Extremism at George Washington University released a new tracker that monitors jihadist motivated terrorist attacks in North America and Europe. The tracker examines a number of dynamics related to jihadist attacks in the West since 2014 and their perpetrators. Some of the authors' key findings for the 104 attacks captured in the tracker include:

EPA Resources and Tools for Infrastructure Security Month

In recognition of Infrastructure Security Month, EPA has distributed a message highlighting some of its resources and tools to help utilities secure their infrastructure and increase resilience to natural disasters and malevolent acts. EPA points to and discusses its Power Resilience Guide as well as its Designing Customer Complaint Surveillance for Water Quality SRS document, which is intended to be used with a water quality surveillance and response system (SRS).

CISA Assistant Director Message for Infrastructure Security Month

Acting Assistant Director for Infrastructure Security Steven Harris at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has authored a message for critical infrastructure partners on the occasion of Infrastructure Security Month. During this month, Harris encourages partners to refresh their infrastructure security knowledge and spread effective messages in their communities and to their stakeholders.

November Brings Awareness to the Importance of Security and Resilience to Protect our Way of Life

We ended our ‘15CFAM’ campaign in recognition of NCSAM (National Cybersecurity Awareness Month) with a preview to November. Just in case you haven’t had your fill of acronym-soup, we have one more helping. For those of us who support the critical infrastructures that maintain our way of life, November’s recognition of Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience (CISRM) is the most relevant.

Public Works Director Discusses City’s Investments in Infrastructure Resiliency

Mark Ray, the director of Public Works and city engineer for Crystal, Minnesota, has written an article for Homeland Security Today in which he describes proactive measures taken by his city in 2020 to improve long-term resiliency. Mark explains how these measures were particularly important in 2020, given greater dependence on critical infrastructure systems while people were increasingly staying at home and the challenges of responding quickly to emergency situations that could emerge, such as sewer backups.

Hurricane Zeta (2020)

October 29, 2020

Zeta made landfall yesterday at about 5 pm ET near Cocodrie, Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane. By this morning, Zeta had weakened to a tropical storm and was moving rapidly across the Southeast.

Damage assessments for critical infrastructure are underway in the affected states. The following information was provided on today's CISA and FEMA-led Business and Infrastructure Call regarding impacts to the water and wastewater sector:

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