Vulnerability and Threats Assessment
Vulnerability and threats are the procedure of identifying, quantifying, and ranking of the risks to a given facility. Vulnerability assessment involves assessment of the threats that may arise from potential dangers to infrastructure, and the society as a whole (Benton, Camp & Small, 2013) This paper assesses the vulnerabilities and threats in Kansas City particularly, agroterrorism, wildfire, and the Wolf Creek Nuclear Power Generating station.
- Agro terrorism in Kansas City
Agro terrorism is the act of terrorists to damage a state’s agricultural sector through the use of biological agents against plants and livestock. Agroterrorist attacks can lead to disastrous economic challenges, especially when affiliate industries are considered. Agriculture affiliated industries include suppliers, transport, distributors, and restaurants. A deliberate act of agroterrorism has fiscal effects that trickle down in various dimensions, therefore, spreading to other sectors of the economy. The trickle-down impact finally reaches the consumer of agricultural produce (Keremidis et al.,2013). Apart from economic impacts, such an attack can also damage the confidence of the public in the government. The policy of dealing with the aftermath of an agricultural attack can attract a backlash and criticism from citizens of a state.
A good example is the foot and mouth epidemic that occurred in the United Kingdom in the year 2001. Additionally, the attacks can cause anxiety among citizens, primarily if the effects are related to human health. The Kansas City faces two significant challenges regarding agroterrorism; beef cattle and wheat and corn production.
- Beef Cattle
The beef cattle sector in Kansas is the largest in agriculture since it has the third-largest number of cattle in ranches (Rotz et al., 2015). However, the potential of the beef sector is exposed to several vulnerabilities. The fundamental weaknesses in the beef sector arise from various factors like intensive contemporary farming, susceptibility to disease, insufficient surveillance, and inadequate veterinary training. Other factors include inefficient disease reporting and focus on wrong statistics.
The first vulnerability is the practice of concentrated and intensive contemporary farming in Kansas City. The breeding and rearing of livestock in crowded conditions implies that it is difficult to manage them; in the event of a disease outbreak, a challenge of containing the disease will arise, mainly if it is spread through the air. The only option is to destroy all the cattle that are infected hence the economic loss.
Secondly, livestock has become more susceptible to diseases. The immunity of animals continues to deteriorate due to the improved methods used in animal husbandry. The improved methods of breeding include sterilization, injection of hormones, and abuse of antibiotics through either overuse or misuse. The practices weaken the immune system hence making the beef cattle vulnerable.
Thirdly, there is reduced or lack of farm security and surveillance in Kansas. Most farms in the city rarely use bold methods to bar unauthorized access, especially during auctions of cattle. There is a lack of safety and security measures in most of the facilities. This is worrying because it places a huge part of the agricultural sector at risk since there is a lack of preparedness.
Fourthly, the disease reporting system is not efficient. The authority for reporting events that are abnormal among livestock lies with the producer of the farmer. Unfortunately, the farmers lack the incentive to communicate since there is no well-defined program. Most farmers do not see the need because there is no program for indemnity in agriculture.
Another factor causing vulnerabilities is inadequate diagnostic and veterinarian training. Over the years, the number of people training as veterinarians as well as the quality offered is decreasing. Often most trained professionals are unable to identify and cure exotic diseases. The main reason could be because the profession is not attractive to trainees; hence the low number of recruits. However, poor wages and inappropriate training also play a role.
Finally, most farmers concentrate on the overall statistics instead of paying attention to detail through individual cattle statistics. Focusing on the whole herd downplays the importance of attending to livestock singularly hence reducing the chances of noticing emerging problems within the crowd.
- Wheat and Corn Production
Kansas City has ranked one of the top producer’s crops, especially wheat and corn. According to the census of agriculture in 2017, Kansa farmers produced 319 million bushels of wheat, which accounts for approximately 20 percent of all grain produced in the United States. The fact that Kansas provides a lot of wheat and corn means that the sector is vital to the economy; however, it faces a lot of vulnerabilities.
Firstly, diseases have a significant effect on wheat and corn productivity. The burden of diseases on wheat and corn production is high since they spread quickly; hence containment is quite challenging. Even if a solution to stop the spread of infection is found, it is expensive, and the plantation that is already infected cannot be saved.
Secondly, agroterrorist attacks on wheat and corn do not require or high levels of technology. Crop diseases are highly contagious, and they spread effectively from the point of the source (Howard, Cakan & Upadhyaya, 2016). Therefore, the material needed to start an outbreak is in small quantities only. A small amount can be adequate to initiate an epidemic that could last for months. Additionally, an agent of destruction does not have to be a product of the laboratory; for example, a handful of wheat or corn tillers that are infected by stem rust can be sufficient to cause an outbreak
- Wolf Creek Nuclear Generating Station in Kansas
Wolf Creek Generating Station is a nuclear power that is located in Kansas City. The power plant is the first in Kansas, and it has been providing reliable energy to citizens since 1985. The plan generates approximately 1200 megawatts of electricity hence powering close to a million homes. Power plants, wolf creek included, are vulnerable in several ways, especially to well-informed attackers. Research reactors, enrichment plans, and fuel fabrication plants are most susceptible to deliberate attacks; such attacks lead to radioactive contamination. The attack threats can take a lot of forms, including attacks on equipment, cyber attacks, and external attacks. The chances of an attack on nuclear energy facilities have been in existence before the attack on the Pentagon. This paper discusses the vulnerabilities of assaults on equipment that could lead to a reactor meltdown.
- Reactor Meltdown
Reactor meltdown is an extreme accident of the nuclear reactor that causes the core to damage as a result of overheating. Physical ground attacks on equipment often cause reactor meltdown. Although Wolf Creek power plant has enhanced physical security measures, there is a possibility of unauthorized access to essential components. Attackers can store complicated malware on a drive and upload it to a vulnerable device within the institution. The host computer can then infect other machines in a short span, thus affecting the whole network. Severe cyberattacks can put down the plant for a long while.
The wolf creek power plant is also vulnerable to large aircraft crashes. The nuclear power plant is designed to withstand harsh conditions, but it is no the case with attacks by large aircraft that are loaded with fuel. If the air attack penetrates the power plant, then there will be a meltdown of the reactors. This was the case in the Pentagon attack.
Another threat that this facility faces regards the storage of spent fuel. Nuclear fuel is removed from a reactor when it cannot be able to sustain a chain reaction. The fuel is stored in water that is later transferred to other sites. The concern is that if a deliberate attack is made on the facility hence draining the cooling water, then the reactor could overheat (Snyder, 2014). The Wolf Creek Nuclear plant is also at risk of being attacked.
- Massive wildfire due to drought in Kansas
Kansas City experiences a lot of wildfires; the city has a fire season that runs from early March to mid-April. The fires in the city are massive in that high winds across several towns drive them. Reports indicate that the fire spreads over thousands of acres, and sometimes it causes substantial damages, loss of human and animal lives. The fire department is vigilant, and it has allocated resources for prevention and firefighting. For example, a fire was reported in southern Kansas, and the local government, through the governor dedicated funds for recovery. Despite the efforts and resources geared towards fire fighting, the city is still vulnerable to fire for many reasons.
The first cause is climate change that is happening all over the globe. Kansas City gets its moisture in winter; therefore, its plantation spends most of the summer dry due to lack of rain or warm temperature. Consequently, the vegetation kindles fires since it is dry. Global warming even increases the risk the environment is warmer than it would typically be. Global warming dries out the vegetation even further; this makes it more vulnerable to fire.
The second factor is the people and culture. People play a fundamental role in the spread of wildfire. Environmental issues are a crucial factor, but the fire has to be started by something or somebody. Natural events like lightning can ignite a fire, but most of the time, human beings are at the center. It is either interference with power or a car blowing up, but both people are responsible. Another example is events of celebrations by the use of fireworks that could accidentally lead to a fire. Additionally, the preference of people to reside in areas close to forests that are inclined to burn.
Another risk factor is fire suppression by the nation. The United States has a habit of suppressing wildfires, and this has worsened the current wildfires. Suppressing fires happens when the state intervenes and stops fires from continuing to burn. The act prevents things that would have been consumed by the fire from burning. However, the material accumulates, and the next time there is a fire, there is more of stuff to burn (Thompson et al., 2013)
References
Benton, K., Camp, L. J., & Small, C. (2013, August). OpenFlow vulnerability assessment. In Proceedings of the second ACM SIGCOMM workshop on Hot topics in software defined networking (pp. 151-152).
Howard, J. C., Cakan, E., & Upadhyaya, K. (2016). Climate change and its impact on wheat production in kansas.
Keremidis, H., Appel, B., Menrath, A., Tomuzia, K., Normark, M., Roffey, R., & Knutsson, R. (2013). Historical perspective on agroterrorism: lessons learned from 1945 to 2012. Biosecurity and bioterrorism: biodefense strategy, practice, and science, 11(S1), S17-S24.
Rotz, C. A., Asem-Hiablie, S., Dillon, J., & Bonifacio, H. (2015). Cradle-to-farm gate environmental footprints of beef cattle production in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Journal of animal science, 93(5), 2509-2519.
Snyder, T. (2014). Environmental isolation of thermotolerant Ameobae from Wolf Creek Generating Station cooling waters.
Thompson, M. P., Vaillant, N. M., Haas, J. R., Gebert, K. M., & Stockmann, K. D. (2013). Quantifying the potential impacts of fuel treatments on wildfire suppression costs. Journal of Forestry, 111(1), 49-58.