U.S. Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20472 National Preparedness Directorate Information Bulletin No. 255 June 29, 2007 TO: All State Administrative Agency Heads All State Administrative Agency Points of Contact All State Administrative Agency Grant Points of Contact All Core City/Core County and State Points of Contact All State Homeland Security Directors All State Emergency Management Agency Directors FROM: Corey D. Gruber Acting Deputy Administrator National Preparedness Directorate SUBJECT: Certified Course Available for Delivery Catalog Number MGT-332 The Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Preparedness Directorate, National Integration Center, Training and Education Division is pleased to announce that a new certified course is available for delivery in the 56 states and territories. This course is tailored toward emergency managers, emergency planners, and emergency responders. The University of Tennessee’s Agriculture and Food Vulnerability Assessment Training Course is now available for delivery. This training initiative will strengthen the ability of state and local communities and industry to improve intelligence and operational capabilities for prevention and deterrence of terrorist acts that target the agriculture and food sector. It is important that communities have the tools and training to identify their agriculture and food facilities of greatest vulnerability and to have the knowledge to develop measures at the local level to mitigate those vulnerabilities where feasible. The course also supports the Interim National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)1 and addresses several of the Interim NIPP goals and objectives. This course will enhance the capability of private industry and local communities to protect critical infrastructure and key resources (CI/KR) against plausible and specific threats through training individuals to use vulnerability assessment information in recognizing specific threats and identifying and implementing protective measures against specific threats. The course will also aid in the long-term reduction of CI/KR in a comprehensive and integrated manner through reduction of general vulnerabilities within and across sectors where needed. The course will also address the NIPP goal to maximize efficient use of resources for infrastructure protection through utilizing Operational Risk Management2 (ORM) principles where appropriate to assist officials at the state, county, and local levels in 1 Interim National Infrastructure Protection Plan, DHS, February 2005. 2 Food Security Assessment: Application of Operational Risk Management, Guide to States and Industry, USFDA, CFSAN, February 2004 (For Official Use Only). www.fema.gov U.S. Department of Homeland Security Washington, DC 20472 identifying their facilities of highest risk. Most importantly, this program will strongly promote the building of partnerships among federal, state, local, and private sector stakeholders to implement CI protection programs through the development and delivery of specific training that will assist individuals to carry out their responsibilities to support the NIPP. The Agriculture and Food Vulnerability Assessment Training Course will be at the planning/management level and will cover the essential criteria that should be considered by agriculture and food facility managers and state, county and local officials when assessing vulnerabilities for all sites, including farms and food facilities. The course will assist agriculture and food facility managers and officials at the state, county, and local levels in identifying those facilities that would be considered of highest risk if a disaster or act of terrorism were to occur. The course will also discuss key elements to mitigate vulnerabilities that should be considered for individual high risk facilities in order to prevent or deter the occurrence of a terrorist attack and will provide checklists where available to facilitate this work. For further scheduling assistance or information requests on all certified courses, please contact the Centralized Scheduling and Information Desk (CSID) at 1-800-368-6498, staffed weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. EST. www.fema.gov