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DHS Planning Better

Cryptome publishes “Homeland Security Council: 15 Attack Scenarios“, “DHS Universal Task List v.2.0“, and “DHS Target Capabilities List v.1.0.” It looks like a well executed set of planning docs. Some quotes from the New York Times:

The agency’s objective is not to scare the public, officials said, and they have no credible intelligence that such attacks are planned. The department did not intend to release the document publicly, but a draft of it was inadvertently posted on a Hawaii state government Web site.

“We live in a world of finite resources, whether they be personnel or funding,” said Matt A. Mayer, acting executive director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Homeland Security Department, which is in charge of the effort.


“We live in a world of finite resources, whether they be personnel or funding,” said Matt A. Mayer, acting executive director of the Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness at the Homeland Security Department, which is in charge of the effort.

>…
Michael Chertoff, the new secretary of homeland security, has made it clear that this risk-based planning will be a central theme of his tenure, saying that the nation must do a better job of identifying the greatest threats and then move aggressively to deal with them.


“There’s risk everywhere; risk is a part of life,” Mr. Chertoff said in testimony before the Senate last week. “I think one thing I’ve tried to be clear in saying is we will not eliminate every risk.”

It sounds like the government’s response to these threats is maturing dramatically.