Interdependence Across the National Critical Functions February 6, 2023
Provides a novel interpretation of national critical functions to enhance their use for research by the risk analysis community.
HSRD Publications
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Characterizing the Performance of Uncrewed Aircraft Systems February 6, 2023
Analysts leveraged available data on performance of uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) platforms and developed an approach to characterizing spray coverage as a function of payload, speed, endurance, and delivery. They present performance parameters of interest, whether the spraying goal is breadth or density of coverage. Their findings are reported here.
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Perceived Environmental Threats, Place Attachment, and Natural Resource Employment: Predicting Willingness to Move from a Threatened Coastline January 25, 2023
This study examines the factors predicting willingness to move among residents of southeast Louisiana.
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A House Reunited: Prospects for Bipartisanship in a Divided Country January 19, 2023
This Perspective presents some proposed solutions, and potential data sources to evaluate policy solutions, to problems related to mis- and disinformation, election security, extremism, and immigration reform. The authors have synthesized workshop conversations and added citations from relevant research literature to provide scholarly context for the various policy facets they explored.
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Emergency Management in California: Reflections by Mark Ghilarducci, Director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services December 30, 2022
During a November 2022 webinar, Mark Ghilarducci, the Director of California Governor's Office of Emergency Services, reflected on his more than 30 years of experience in public safety and emergency management at the local, state, and federal levels. Director Ghilarducci discussed how California faced challenges from climate change, COVID-19, and other threats; lessons from these experiences; and his view of the future of emergency management.
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Improving Precommissioning Assignments and Readiness on the U.S. Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Cutter December 13, 2022
Researchers identified approaches the U.S. Coast Guard could take to improve crew satisfaction with precommissioning assignments on offshore patrol cutters and overall fleet readiness. They evaluated the options using five criteria: crew satisfaction, crew preparation and knowledge retention, timeliness, feasibility, and cost.
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USCG Project Evergreen V: Compilation of Activities and Summary of Results November 30, 2022
This report summarizes the findings of Evergreen V, the most recent iteration of an ongoing scenario-based strategic foresight initiative that aims to help the U.S. Coast Guard identify issues, areas of opportunity, and potential challenges that it will likely face in the coming decades, so that senior leadership can better bridge the gap between near- and long-term planning and prepare the service to meet future demands.
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Activities and Results from U.S. Coast Guard Project Evergreen V November 30, 2022
This brief summarizes the findings of U.S. Coast Guard Project Evergreen V, part of a long-term strategic planning effort to identify emerging challenges and future trends that might alter demand for missions and the ability to perform them.
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Risk-Informed Analysis of Transportation Worker Identification Credential Reader Requirements November 10, 2022
The U.S. Coast Guard is determining how many facilities handle certain dangerous cargoes and whether, according to a risk analysis, requiring those facilities to biometrically verify the Transportation Worker Identification Credential of every person accessing a secure area of such a facility would be cost-effective. This report answers those questions.
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Humanitarian Policymaking as Networked Governance: Social Network Analysis of the Global Compact on Refugees November 2, 2022
This article uses social network analysis to understand policymaking from a networked governance perspective. We examine one of the most significant refugee policy processes, the efforts to formulate and adopt the Global Compact on Refugees.
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Disaster Management and Resilience October 20, 2022
This brochure describes RAND's work, which directly supports decisionmakers in developing actionable planning and policy for disaster management and resilience.
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Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center October 14, 2022
Housed within the RAND Homeland Security Research Division, the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC) supports federal, state, local, tribal, and public- and private-sector organizations that make up the homeland security enterprise.
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Harnessing the Power of Science and Technology Communities for Crisis Response September 19, 2022
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has relied on scientific and technical advice to respond to various threats and hazards. To enhance DHS's ability to leverage science and technology communities to support the use of science, technology, innovation, and analytical capabilities during crisis response, RAND researchers offer a conceptual framework and five imperatives for consideration when providing technical support during a crisis.
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Joint Requirements Framework for Collaboration at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security September 6, 2022
To help the U.S. Department of Homeland Security plan and assess joint activities, researchers created a framework consisting of a decision aid incorporating factors to consider when forming joint programs and collaborations, a taxonomy of jointness types, a tool for selecting program types, and recommendations for structuring joint programs for success.
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Informality, Violence, and Disaster Risks: Coproducing Inclusive Early Warning and Response Systems in Urban Informal Settlements in Honduras September 2, 2022
This research examines the coproduction of early warning systems linked with response capacities for floods and landslides through the case study of work in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with a focus on nine urban informal settlements with high levels of territorial gang violence.
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Supporting Threat Reporting to Strengthen School Safety: Findings from the Literature and Interviews with Stakeholders Across the K–12 School Community August 25, 2022
This report describes threat reporting models available to U.S. kindergarten through 12th-grade schools and how school leaders can support individual decisions to report threats effectively. Through literature review and stakeholder interviews, the authors identified ways to encourage reporting and the relevant challenges schools face.
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Harassment and Discrimination on the Basis of Gender and Race/Ethnicity in the FEMA Workforce: 2021 Survey Follow-Up August 24, 2022
This report presents results of a follow-up survey of Federal Emergency Management Agency employees on workplace harassment and discrimination, employee reporting experiences, and workplace climate. About one in five employees experienced at least one gender-based/sexual or race/ethnicity–based civil rights violation in the year preceding the survey, a substantial decline from 2019 levels.
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An Urban Governance Framework for Including Environmental Migrants in Sustainable Cities August 19, 2022
This article proposes an urban governance framework for including environmental migrants in sustainable cities.
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What Policy Changes Could Help Save Lives from Illicit Synthetic Opioids Overdose? August 18, 2022
In this recording of a July 2022 virtual event, experts discuss the findings from the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking Final Report, and recommendations to reduce lives lost to illicit synthetic opioids. The Commission was established under Section 7221 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 and was charged with examining aspects of the synthetic opioid threat to the United States.
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Preparing for Post-Quantum Critical Infrastructure: Assessments of Quantum Computing Vulnerabilities of National Critical Functions August 18, 2022
Researchers assessed quantum computing vulnerabilities in the 55 national critical functions (NCFs) identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The researchers evaluated the significant issues affecting each NCF; rated it for urgency, scope, cost per organization, and other mitigating or exacerbating factors; then combined the ratings to rate each NCF's priority for assistance. This report documents their findings.
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Securing U.S. Elections: A Method for Prioritizing Cybersecurity Risk in Election Infrastructure August 16, 2022
Diversity of U.S. election systems means that developing a national picture of cybersecurity risk is challenging; each state and jurisdiction needs to evaluate and prioritize risk in the systems it oversees. Researchers from the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center have developed a methodology for understanding and prioritizing cybersecurity risk in election infrastructure to assist state and local election officials.
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Efforts to End a Stalemate in Landslide Insurance Availability Through Inclusive Policymaking: A Case Study in Sitka, Alaska July 28, 2022
We explored how participatory techniques could overcome one disaster risk financing-related stalemate: the case of landslide insurance in a highly landslide-prone location, Sitka, Alaska.
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Technologies for Primary Screening in Aviation Security July 21, 2022
The article examines technologies currently in use and emerging technologies with potential for use in the primary screening of carry-on baggage, checked baggage and air cargo.
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Identifying Critical IT Products and Services July 6, 2022
Researchers have identified the software and businesses that provide critical information technology products and services and developed a framework to continue this analysis as technology evolves. Assessing software risk, business risk, and interdependencies among businesses, the authors recognize that highest revenue does not necessarily equal greatest risk.
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America's 5G Era: Strengthening Current and Future U.S. Technical Competitiveness in 5G June 30, 2022
Fifth-generation telecommunications technology (5G) offers a wide variety of potential applications from industrial automation to virtual reality to connected autonomous vehicles. In this Perspective, authors discuss the global state of play in several aspects of the 5G ecosystem as of June 2020, and raise several issues for policymakers to consider.