FEMA's New THIRA Guidance Aids in Risk Management

In April 2012, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released Comprehensive Preparedness Guide 201, which outlines a process for conducting a threat and hazard identification and risk assessment (THIRA). This new THIRA guidance presents states and urban areas with an opportunity to reinvigorate their efforts to identify, analyze, and manage the risks they face.

CNA’s approach to THIRA implementation is based on our experience designing and implementing risk-based assessments and building risk management programs for state and local homeland security agencies.

The core principles of our approach to THIRA implementation are simple.

• Build on existing work. We recognize the importance of incorporating the full range of work that jurisdictions have already completed into the THIRA process. That could mean reviewing hazard identification results from the mitigation planning process, evaluating the findings from previous all-hazards risk assessments, and updating inputs to existing frameworks for assessing capabilities.
• Incorporate the THIRA process into a longer-term approach. We view outputs from the THIRA initiative as important near-term contributions to a longer-term strategy for risk-based decision-making. Our approach ensures that the required near-term deliverables from the THIRA initiative truly serve a jurisdiction’s long-term needs. The real benefit from completing the THIRA comes from institutionalizing a repeatable process that pinpoints needs, not from “checking the box” by submitting the year’s required paperwork.
• Embrace multi-disciplinary, multi-jurisdictional collaboration that engages all relevant preparedness stakeholders. We know from experience that hazard identification and risk assessment processes can fall prey to stovepiping, allowing one perspective to overshadow other inputs. Effective implementation of a THIRA process that truly addresses all-hazards demands expertise from across the public, private, and non-profit sectors, as well as across different disciplines.

We have employed this multi-faceted process in jurisdictions across the country, and our approach to THIRA implementation is informed by a wide range of relevant experience with local, state, and federal customers. For example, we have:

• Implemented risk-based capabilities assessments for multiple urban areas, including analyses of risk, current capability levels, and priority gaps;
• Developed a comprehensive, FEMA-approved national training curriculum on homeland security risk management, including web-based and mobile instructor-led courses;
• Led support to FEMA on developing the 2011 and 2012 State Preparedness Report surveys, which are the first nationwide assessments to use the Core Capabilities outlined in the National Preparedness Goal;
• Built detailed, risk-based scenarios to support capability assessments and requirement modeling; and
• Designed risk-based exercise programs that reflect the unique risk and capability considerations for particular communities.