Upcoming Events: 3/11-3/12 5th International Conference on the Ethics of National Security Intelligence 3/12-3/14 2010 PISA Conference 3/14 (3 days) ISMA/OSAC Latin America 2010 3/15 (3 days) 3rd Annual Biometrics for National Security and Defense 3/15 (3 days) DoD Architectures 3/16 (3 days) USAPACOM Science & Technology Conference 3/18 (2 days) Cyber Security Conference 3/22-3/26 Defense Systems Acquisition Management Course 3/22 (3 days) Non-Traditional Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance Summit 3/23 (2 days) Cyber Security Conference 3/23-3/25 Defence Logistics Europe 2010 3/23-3/25 Intelligent Information Privacy Management Symposium 3/23-3/24 The Government Security Expo & Conference 3/29 The Telecommunicator's Role in Homeland Security 3/29-4/2 Unified Quest 2010 4/6 SARMA Officers & Committees Meeting 4/6 (3 days) SPIE Defense, Security, and Sensing 2010, Defense, Security, and Sensing Exhibition 4/7 1st Annual Integrated Air and Missile Defense Symposium 4/8 (2 days) 2010 PONI Spring Conference 4/8-4/9 International Conference on i-Warfare and Security (ICIW) 4/11-4/14 1st SRA-Latin America Congress 4/11-4/14 Geospatial Intelligence Middle East 2010 4/11-4/16 Pacific Northwest International Conference on Global Nuclear Security More

President's Corner

Dear Fellow SARMA Members, If you are like me, your tolerance for winter weather has been seriously eroded at this point. Besides attempting to stay warm and dry, however, one thing we can all do while we wait for the snow plows to do their work is read the Quadrennial Homeland Security Review (QHSR) Report. Released this past week, the QHSR Report represents the first effort to create a true strategic roadmap for the U.S. homeland security enterprise since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security in 2003. This is a significant accomplishment, and while it stops short of providing guidance for how to address many long-standing challenges, it does identify a number of areas where further maturation is required. These include: Establishing a comprehensive system for building and sharing awareness of risks and threats; and building a homeland security professional discipline. Some thoughts include: A. Part of the challenge in making effective use of risk as an enterprise-wide decision support tool has been the lack of a common lexicon. By investing in the Common Knowledge Base (CKB) Project and SARMApedia, SARMA has provided the foundation for standardizing nomenclatures throughout the security risk management community. B. Another challenge has been the lack of a uniform system of governance. SARMA has made substantive recommendations on ways to address this in the past, and will seek to reengage with DHS and the Obama Administration on this issue in the days ahead. C. SARMA is also in the process of establishing a Government Advisory Panel for the purpose of providing non-partisan, professional advice to policymakers. D. Finally, we strongly believe in the need for professional education and training. SARMA is in the process of establishing such a program for the security risk analysis and management discipline -- something DHS could also leverage. My best, Kerry Kerry L. Thomas President Security Analysis and Risk Management Association

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