Robert Gerlach April 24, 2017

The purpose of this article is to compare and contrast the terms resistance and resilience. For the analysis, this article will investigate ways in which United States homeland security strategies have succeeded and failed to promote resilience. This analysis will continue with a case study of the Aurora, Colorado Theater Shooting to demonstrate community resilience. Concluding the paper, an analysis of the Hempfield Emergency Management Agency and its’ elements of resilience will be explored.

Resilience versus Resistance

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (2001) defines disaster resistance as “taking an action that will reduce or prevent the impact of disaster” (p. 9). That definition from the federal government illustrates the confusion of resistance versus resilience, but also shows how these two actions work hand in hand. 

Resistance strategies are those that are to prevent or protect, while resilience is the actions of response and recovery (Longstaff et al, 2010). Resistance is attempting to “prevent or stop disruptive events from happening,” while resilience is the “ability . . . to absorb, change, and still carry on” (Longstaff et al, 2010, p. 3). Both of these concepts work hand-in-hand to make an asset less vulnerable to threats.  While resistance is the hardening of the asset from an attack, resilience is the ability to continue to function after the attack with minimal negative effects.

For example, cyber systems are always under attack by hackers. To be resistant to attacks there are firewalls, anti-virus software, and other protection systems. Because resistant systems are not 100 percent effective, a resilience strategy must be employed. An example of a resilience strategy with cyber systems is the periodic backing up of data at an off-site location that is not connected to the internet.

For illustration, the Indiana County (Pennsylvania) Emergency Management Agency (ICEMA) employs both methods to ensure the continued operations of the agency in the event of a physical or cyber-attack. At a pre-determined interval, the physical data hard drives on the organization server are backed up to a secondary drive (B. Lygus, personal communication, September 5, 2016). This ensures that if there is an issue, the data can be almost immediately replaced in the event of a cyber-attack.  Additionally, to protect from a physical attack, the data is also stored at an off-site location (B. Lygus, personal communication, September 5, 2016).  The use of passwords, firewalls, and other security software and hardware are examples of resistance strategies of the ICEMA.  The periodic backing up of data on and off-site are examples of the resilience strategies of the ICEMA. 

The events of September 11, 2001, showed the leaders of the United States that the resistance and resilience strategies of the Cold War era are not appropriate for the new threat of global terrorism. Therefore, the Office of Homeland Security was established to assist in coordinating anti-terrorism efforts. The Homeland Security Act of 2002 elevated the Office of Homeland Security to become the Department of Homeland Security (Department of Homeland Security, 2015). The creation of the Department of Homeland Security brought together 22 agencies in response to the failures to prevent the 9/11 attacks (Purpura, 2007). “The DHS was created primarily because of criticism that the 9/11 attacks could have been prevented if federal agencies had an improved system of cooperating with each other and sharing intelligence” (Purpura, 2007, p. 130). 

United States Homeland Security Strategies

In order to better protect the homeland, the US. Northern Command was created on April 22, 2002. The U.S. Northern Command was created to coordinate military operations over the North American continent and “provide assistance to U.S. civil authorities as directed” (Jordan, Taylor, Meese, J., & Neilsen, 2009, p. 139).

On October 26, 2001, President George Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act into law (Kashan, 2010). The intent was to fill the gaps in the intelligence community which resulted in the September 11 attacks (Waxman, 2009). The USA PATRIOT Act provided the powers for the:

  • indefinite detentions of immigrants;
  • the permission is given to law enforcement officers to search a home or business without the owner’s or the occupant’s consent or knowledge;
  • the expanded use of National Security Letters, which allows the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to search telephone, e-mail, and financial records without a court order; and
  • the expanded access of law enforcement agencies to business records, including library and financial records. (USE PATRIOT Act, 2001).

In 2004, the National Counter-terrorism Center was established by The Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 (Purpura, 2007). This was in response to the investigation of the September 11 attacks which revealed that all the pieces of the puzzle were present to prevent the attacks, but due to the lack of sharing between the organizations, not one agency had all the pieces. 

In 2005, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) was established (Office of the Director of National Intelligence, n.d.). The DNI is hypothetically to be the final decision maker within the intelligence community, but they do not fully possess the ability to impose their day-to-day priorities on the individual intelligence agencies (Lowenthal, 2015, p. 73). 

These examples of the actions of the United States illustrate primarily resistance strategies to protect the country. To promote resilience, the Department of Homeland Security developed the “Ready.gov” initiative. Created in 2003, “Ready is a national public service advertising (PSA) campaign designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies including natural and man-made disasters” (DHS, n.d.). The purpose of the Ready.gov campaign is to provide information to citizens and businesses to make them self-sufficient for at least 72 hours in the event of an emergency or disaster. This strengthens the community and creates resilience.  The core processes were noted to work towards business resilience and therefore the Ready Business was developed and launched in 2004 (DHS, n.d.). 

Case Study

On July 20, 2012, at 12:05 a.m. the movie The Dark Night Rises starts at the Century 16 Movie Theaters in Aurora, Colorado (KABC-TV, 2012). At 12:39 a.m. the 911 center became overwhelmed with hundreds of calls reporting the shooting. James Eagan Holmes had a ticket for the movie and entered the theater normally. After the movie started, Holmes left through an emergency exit and blocked the door so he could regain entry to the theater (KABC-TV, 2012). “[H]e donned riot gear and re-entered the theater, tossed two gas canisters and began shooting into the crowd at about 12:38 a.m.” (KACB-TV, 2012). Police arrived within 90 seconds and at 12:45 a.m. James Eagan Holmes was arrested outside the theater (KABC-TV, 2012). A total of 12 people died and another 58 were injured from the event.

A civil lawsuit claims that “theater employees failed to check doors, and lacked closed-circuit television cameras that would have allowed them to spot trouble” (Aurora Sentinel, 2016). The emergency exit did not have any alarm to trigger theater staff (Roberts, 2016). Furthermore, there was not any extra security for the opening night which was expected to draw at least 1,000 people, and no guards were armed (Aurora Sentinel, 2016). It was noted that “He [James Eagan Holmes] picked this location because of the lack of security” as he had scoped the location multiple times, taking pictures and notes (Aurora Sentinel, 2016). 

While adding alarms to the emergency doors and video surveillance of the theater and grounds are examples of resistance. The measure of them are examples of robustness. The volume of the emergency door alarm or even automatic monitoring company alerting is an example of a more robust system. Furthermore, adding to the number of security officers makes the system more robust. Finally, adding armed security is another layer of robustness that could be measured.

Conclusion

The Hempfield Township Emergency Management Agency (HEMA) has initiated multiple strategies to promote resilience with its organization, the Township government, and both the residential and commercial community (R. Gerlach, personal communication, September 11, 2016).

First, the organization has developed an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) that is reviewed, and revised as needed, every two years. This review is performed by a committee representing those who would be operating during an emergency; which includes Township Administration, Public Works, Emergency Medical, Firefighting, and Law Enforcement. To aid the planning process, a hazard vulnerability assessment is performed to determine and analyze old threats and identify possible new threats. In addition to the EOP, HEMA has developed a Continuity of Government plan and a Disaster Recovery plan. These plans provide activities and strategies primarily for resilience.

To ensure the operations of the Township and the Emergency Operations Center, various duplicated equipment is stored in multiple locations throughout the Township. Furthermore, HEMA has identified a secondary EOC and two tertiary EOCs. All of them are turn-key and ensure that Emergency Operations can be coordinated in the event the primary EOC is compromised. Furthermore, the primary and all alternative EOCs have back-up power systems that can survive at least 72 hours before requiring fuel. These activities are examples of resistance.  

The Hempfield Township Emergency Management Agency embraces the whole community approach to emergency management. The whole community approach recognizes “that a government-centric approach to disaster management will not be enough to meet the challenges posed by a catastrophic incident” (FEMA, 2011, p. 2).

“Whole Community is a means by which residents, emergency management practitioners, organizational and community leaders, and government officials can collectively understand and assess the needs of their respective communities and determine the best ways to organize and strengthen their assets, capacities, and interests. By doing so, a more effective path to societal security and resilience is built. In a sense, Whole Community is a philosophical approach on how to think about conducting emergency management” (FEMA, 2011, p. 3).

In order to better serve the community it protects, HEMA has engaged both the commercial and residential communities (R. Gerlach, personal communication, September 11, 2016). One aspect of this engagement is through the internet with social media (Facebook and Twitter) and the ReadyHempfield.org campaign. Similar to the Ready.gov campaign, ReadyHempfield.org is focused on the specific needs and demographics of Hempfield Township. Furthermore, social media is used not only to educate the community about emergency preparedness; weather alerts and other information are communicated via this medium.

Finally, HEMA also engages its community directly. It completes this by providing speakers to organizations to educate about the agency and emergency preparedness. HEMA also participates in multiple functions throughout the year in which it sets up an educational booth.

References