R. James Woolsey, Vice President, Global Resilience, Booz Allen Hamilton

DomPrep's John Morton met with R. James Woolsey, Vice President, Global Resilience, Booz Allen Hamilton.  The former Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) provides his insights into why first responders must be constantly aware of the limitations of intelligence and information-sharing - and, consequently, on the need to emphasize resilience, particularly in the area of command and control, over pure prevention. First responders must be aware of the limitations of intelligence if they are to be able to give a heads-up on potential terrorist attacks. The importance of having resilient communications available to ensure continuity in command and control in the event of an incident. How broad intel sharing is not always, or necessarily, desirable. Intel cannot translate terrorist intentions into programs for pure prevention. What is needed instead is to build programs into critical infrastructure that will ensure resilience and mitigate the effects of a catastrophic incident. Also, the need for continual "crisis gaming" to improve response. The mid-term solution is to work with governments of the Middle East to reduce vulnerabilities in their oil infrastructures. The need to move to high-grade diesel, bio-mass/cellulose ethanol, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid automotive engine technologies. A coherent DHS reorganization will be dependent on, among other changes, the reorganization and consolidation of congressional committee oversight in both authorization and appropriations. How some Army Reserve and National Guard units should be reconfigured specifically for civil support, given that so much in the field of critical infrastructure involves increasingly vulnerable networks that require a rapid national, federal response if they go down. How the local preparedness for continuity of operations in and/or following a catastrophic incident should emphasize communications, particularly by using new technologies such as wireless mesh and voice-over-Internet, as was demonstrated in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Philadelphia and San Francisco have been leading the way in this area. Perhaps the most important intel collection change in this era involves domestic mechanism for collection vs. satellite collection, for example. National-level intel is focused more on coordinating and routing intel within the country. Intelligence SharingRelating Risk Assessment and Critical Infrastructure ProtectionReducing Vulnerability in the Oil SectorHomeland Security ReorganizationLocal Preparedness for Catastrophic Threats