Site Map - Risk Management

12/17/2007 - A bill (S. 2216) introduced by Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC) would require the Homeland Security Department to conduct risk assessments of rail security threats and then recommend additional measures to increase safety. The recommendations would consider infrastructure, facilities, terminals, tunnels, bridges, and any other high-risk areas. The bill would include funding of $515 million.

12/12/2007 - Virtually everyone in the stock market in 2001 and 2002 was blindsided by the Internet bubble and various corporate frauds. How did it happen? Who is to blame? For insightful, authoritative answers, a good place to turn is to Harvard Business School Professor D. Quinn Mills's book .

12/11/2007 - Building owners and managers can always make their facilities safer, but at what cost? Three years after the United States learned how vulnerable its landmark facilities were, a new software tool is being released that can help building owners and managers calculate and compare life-cycle costs of various methods used to reduce terrorist risk at buildings. Due out in beta version in September, with version 1.0 promised for March 2005 and a final version a year after that, the software "will allow building owners and managers to make comparisons among several alternative risk mitigation measures under different user-defined disaster scenarios," according to a recent report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Read "Cost-Effective Responses to Terrorist Risks in Constructed Facilities"

12/10/2007 - The book had its genesis in an assignment to conduct a risk assessment on an (unnamed) international telecommunications company. The authors try to bring the reader into the process, but gaps interrupt a smooth narrative flow. One suspects overly aggressive editing, the result being that the book is neither easy nor enjoyable to read.

12/07/2007 - The Red Cross tested updates using the web site Twitter.com during the California wildfires.

12/05/2007 - The cost of 9-11 was staggering, but it was far less than a worst-case scenario in terms of life-insurance and injury related claims. That's according to Risk Management Solutions (RMS,a company that helps insurers gauge and manage risk. In a recent report, RMS estimates losses for several segments of the insurance industry--workers' compensation, individual and group life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, and health insurance--in seven hypothetical scenarios that it models.

12/05/2007 - Britain's largest companies have become considerably more concerned about terrorism in the last year, according to a recent survey conducted by RAND Europe and Janusian Security Risk Management in conjunction with the Financial Times.

12/04/2007 - Is Houston, Texas, high on al Qaeda's list of desired targets? A risk analysis report by Stratfor, a company that provides business and security intelligence, notes that Houston is a potential al Qaeda target, in part because it is home to Halliburton Co., a company that was specifically mentioned by Saudi Arabian militants in its May 27 attacks on western residential and business compounds in Khobar.

12/04/2007 - To ensure adequate IT funding, security must sell management on the potential benefits of the proposed purchases.

12/03/2007 -  The survey was conducted by The United States Conference of Mayors to determine the level of interoperability between jurisdictions and agencies, to identify obstacles that exist, and to gauge how much funding cities are receiving--or need to receive--to make interoperability ubiquitous.

11/29/2007 -

11/27/2007 - To prove security's worth, managers must communicate security's value to every facet of the organization.

11/16/2007 - A dissertation published by the RAND Corporation assesses the risk of chemical terrorism in Los Angeles and discusses how emergency responders should plan for such an event. It also considers "low-cost options in equipment, training, organization, and doctrine that could improve the response to a chemical terrorist event." @ Link to the dissertation or abstract via SM Online.