Discussion_questions

Week#1 Discuss the Types of Critical Infrastructure that encompass your jurisdiction, rating them from the most important to the least important in relation to the least secure to the most secure.  What are the vulnerabilities of the least secure forms of critical infrastructure/ key assets? 1 page

In relation to discussion number 1, what improvements would you recommend in order to better protect your most vulnerable critical infrastructure/ key assets?  Are these improvements fiscally and strategically possible for your jurisdiction or are these a “wish list”? 1 page

Week#2 What is meant by Network Flow Resilience (page 79), and the Paradox of Redundancy (page 80) of the textbook?  How does this apply to your jurisdiction/ local community?  What forms of redundancy are within your current position and what forms could be used to improve resilience?  2 pages

Research your community communications plan for emergencies, as well as your agency’s communications redundancies.  What are the basic outlined contingency plans for communication and communication failures? What redundancies (back-ups) exist if any? Are these effective enough or are more forms of redundancies needed to increase resilience in the face of crisis?  If additional redundancies are necessary, what is needed and why?

Week#3 What are the greatest cyber threats to the United States Today? Who are the aggressors, and what are their motivations for attacking the critical infrastructure of the United States? 2 pages

Election Cyber Security has recently been added to the list of vulnerabilities and priorities threating the national security and democratic sovereignty of the United States. Provide a brief synopsis of the emerging threat, strategies for ensuring the integrity of elections, and what is currently being done to combat this growing threat which also faces France, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  You should use the Rosemont College library and the internet to perform academic research to aid your quest for knowledge

Week# 4  Discuss the importance of Information Technology security and data acquisition controls.  What are your agencies policies on IT?  Are they strict enough?  Do they meet the IT industry’s standards within the proprietary sector?  2 pages

Week#5

What are the threats, both from a homeland security (man-made threats) and emergency management (natural threats) perspective?  Discuss the safety of US designed NGS vs. the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan? Are there any differences that protect residents better?   Also consider besides the fuel and reactor threats, most NGS plants store their radioactive waste onsite (including from when they opened until present day) as there has been no National Storage Site approved yet).  You should use the Rosemont College library and the internet to perform academic research to aid your quest for knowledge.   2 pages

Week#6

Discuss the state of Public Health Preparedness for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  What resources are available in case of an epidemic or even pandemic issue? Are we prepared? You may wish to research the following organizations in preparing your answers: 3 pages

References:

• Southeastern PA Surge Medical Assistance Response Team
• PA-4 Disaster Medical Assistance Team
• Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT 3)

Review the following articles, and respond as to if these losses of power were acceptable considering the outcomes, and explain how these issues could be better corrected to prevent them from occurring again.  

·       Power restored to Phoenixville Hospital after 2-hour outage

o   Weblink: www.montgomerynews.com/springford_reporter_valley_item/power-restored-to-phoenixville-hospital-after–hour-outage/article_9c5643c2-8d9c-5cd2-96ad-20f9abc0c052.html

·       Power restored after Phoenixville Hospital lightning strike (VIDEO)

o   Weblink: www.dailylocal.com/article/DL/20110821/NEWS/308219993

·       The Case of A Hospital’s Emergency Power Failure

• Weblink: www.ecmweb.com/content/case-hospitals-emergency-power-failure  

       Saint Mary’s Hospital Looses Power for 5 Hours

• Weblink: www.timesunion.com/local/article/St-Mary-s-Hospital-loses-power-for-five-hours-11006876.php

Week#7.The United States survived the feared Y2K crisis when it came to Banking and Financial Resiliency but struggles to stay ahead of present day threats including cyber threats, data protection, fraud, threats of EMP, Denial of Service (DOS) network outages, and money laundering for illicit organizations.  What is the realistic threat and probability today, of these threats affecting the American Consumer, and causing a mass panic over the security of personal or business funds within financial institutions?  2 pages

Resources:

Banking and Financial Infrastructure Continuity

Link: https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL31873.pdf

Department of the Treasury

Link: www.treasury.gov

DHS Financial Services Sector:

            Link: www.dhs.gov/financial-services-sector

National Infrastructure Protection Plan Banking

Link: www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/nipp_bank.pdf

·       What Happens when the Lights Go Out?Weblink: com/news/what-happens-when-the-lights-go-out/325423″>www.healthcaredive.com/news/what-happens-when-the-lights-go-out/325423