Asymmetric Threat Preparedness Operation

Scenario 8: Asymmetric Threat Preparedness Operation

Objective:

The objective is to provide a scenario for preparedness and alerting for threats against critical infrastructure. This scenario addresses rapid response of geospatial information production

Description

The scenario involves a coalition sharing information from military and civilian sources within nations. A nation has determined that its homeland critical infrastructure has an increased threat by terrorist activity. The nation activates threat preparedness procedures, which rapidly generates a common operational picture (COP) that is customized to this specific asymmetric threat. The COP requires immediate information from multiple civilian and military sources within its nation and its coalition member nations. The COP is used by military, police, and emergency response agencies in both the threatened nation and its coalition nations to guide threat mitigation and preparedness operations.

Aspects of Coalition Geospatial Support

The intelligence sources of all coalition nations are required to provide the best possible complete picture of the threat situation, especially given the global nature of these threats. To compound matters, the threat is asymmetric, meaning that its exact nature is unpredictable. Hence, most off-the-shelf information products are inadequate. From a geospatial aspect, this means that geospatial information must be produced rapidly based on commonly-adopted procedures. Access to and compatibility with civilian sources of geospatial information are also required, increasing the dependency on common standards. The urgency of this information does not allow sufficient time for the coalition to develop new procedures once the threat has been detected. Instead, the coalition must rely on its product-neutral databases, its core services, and its ability to chain services. Service chaining for information production follows a model of the threat situation that is assembled rapidly following detection.

For this scenario, “in-theatre” refers to the geographic area to which the specific threat pertains.