Risk Assessment

Maturing DHS Institutional Risk Analysis Capabilities Fact Sheet

The Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate identified three goals to advance institutional risk analysis capabilities to support the Department's resilience and readiness programs. This effort is expected to provide DHS with research and analysis intended to inform risk analysis qualifications and training guidelines to enable a stronger, better-informed futures cadre at DHS.  

Memo on 90-day People's Republic of China Threats Sprint

Official memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, directing a 90-day PRC Threats Sprint across the Department.

Feature Article: Software Suite Will Harden Defenses for Soft Targets

S&T is continuously working to equip those within DHS dedicated to securing soft targets with enhanced detection methods.

Digital Ecosystems for Student Security, Safety, and Well-Being

Co-hosted with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) School Safety Task Force and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology (OET), the goal of this Digital Forum was to engage with the education sector, school safety stakeholders, civil society, and technology companies to amplify programs and platforms that help reduce risk factors to the radicalization to violence, ensure broad awareness of the threat of targeted violence and terrorism, and share innovative solutions for prevention.

Feature Article: Protecting Food from the Farm to Our Plates

S&T collaborates with DHS experts to ensure that the food we eat and our agricultural supply are safe.

Threat Assessment and Management Teams

The Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) provides a resource that gives an overview of threat assessment and management teams. Through identifying and managing potential threats, these teams provide alternatives to investigation and/or prosecution for bystanders who are actively seeking intervention assistance with a known individual at risk of mobilizing to violence.

Travel Risk Assessment

The DHS Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans recently completed its evaluation and review of all currently travel restricted and 180-day warning countries.  Notably, this review included new recommendations to remove from travel restrictions certain countries that have demonstrated significant compliance improvement.

News Release: DHS Awards Small Businesses for Risk Assessment Tool

Two U.S. small businesses were awarded a total of $1.96 million in funding through the DHS SBIR Program to develop tools that will support dynamic network modeling for risk management to emergency communication networks.

S&T CRISTAL Fact Sheet

To help mitigate the interruption of lifeline supply chains, researchers at a Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate Center of Excellence, the Food Protection and Defense Institute (FPDI), are developing new ways of identifying and understanding how and where supply chains are vulnerable to disruptions. As part of this work, research teams are also finding methods to document and assess the components of food supply chains – something that could also help meet goals of the Food Safety Modernization Act.

FPDI has developed an early prototype software tool for supply chain mapping, vulnerability assessments and analysis called Criticality Spatial Analysis (CRISTAL). Through CRISTAL, FPDI aims to develop a new capability to: (1) define and document food critical infrastructure, and (2) assess risk in the global food supply chain.

S&T START Fact Sheet

START advances science-based knowledge about the causes and consequences of terrorism, and the effectiveness and consequences of responses to terrorism.