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President's Corner

April 2012 Dear Fellow SARMA Members, Recent developments at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have sent mixed signals about the future of risk as a key element of decision-making, prioritization and resource allocation. Among these was the Department's decision to disband the Office of Risk Management and Analysis (RMA), which was responsible for coordinating risk practice across DHS, and which had been identified as a key resource for implementing the Department's Management Directive on risk. In this regard, the dissolution of RMA calls into question who will now champion risk management as a core business process of the Department. With some of the RMA staff now reassigned to the Office of Policy at DHS Headquarters, one possibility is that this office will now assume responsibility for these functions and become a new center of gravity for Department-wide strategic risk management activities. This could be a logical outcome, but it would also require the articulation of the role that is in keeping with Policy's mission. Likewise, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recently announced its intention to combine most of the standalone preparedness grants into a single "National Preparedness Grant Program" in FY 2013. However, as currently defined, the Threat and Hazard Identification Risk Assessment guidance does not provide for (1) a process that is comparable and repeatable from jurisdiction to jurisdiction; (2) the consistent assessment of threats and hazards; or (3) consideration of the consequences of loss resulting from an incident. The good news here is that there is ample opportunity for refinement. There are also groups, like SARMA, who I know would be willing and eager to assist. I'd like to hear what you think about these issues, too. Please send your thoughts and comments to info@sarma.org or start a discussion on the SARMA LinkedIn page. My best, Kerry Kerry L. Thomas President

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