Vulnerability Assessment

Any efforts to ensure the capability of your organization to prevent, prepare for, respond to, or recover from a major incident must begin with an understanding of the threat environment. The Center for Threat Management conducts programs in Vulnerability Assessment to assist in the process of identifying and evaluating solutions to threats of concern and prioritization of the resources necessary to implement them.

After establishing a team of internal and external stakeholders, CTM employs a systematic methodology to characterize the threat environment, understand the resulting vulnerabilities, and build an effective strategy to manage gaps in capabilities.

• Identify the threats and hazards of concern
• Evaluate the effects and impact of threats and hazards
• Identify and assess target capabilities for priority threats
• Make recommendations for implementation of target capabilities

Consistent with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Comprehensive Preparedness Guide for Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) and threat management best practices, this methodology emphasizes training, education, communications, scenario-based exercises, and process improvement as priority tools in threat management. Building on an established legacy of operational research conducted in the asymmetric threat environment, this methodology also ensures a balance between threat management and routine operations, emphasizes partnerships to leverage existing capabilities, and considers oft-overlooked secondary effects due to proximity of potential targets and organizational interdependencies.