Dams Security and Protection Seminar

Dam Security and Protection Seminar (L260)

Dams, levees, and related facilities are a vital part of the Nation’s infrastructure, providing a wide range of economic, environmental, and social benefits. Those benefits include hydroelectric power, river navigation, water supply, wildlife habitats, waste management, flood control, and recreation.

The Dam Security and Protection Technical Seminar is designed to provide dam owners and operators, emergency managers, and other relevant stakeholders with information on the fundamental aspects of security and protection for dams, levees, and related facilities. It provides a solid foundation for the effective implementation of security and protection programs.

This course provides participants with basic concepts related to threat, vulnerability, and consequence as key risk variables. It overviews of threats and relevant attack vectors and describes potential suspicious activities. The course addresses common physical vulnerabilities and related protective measures, including both land-side and waterside considerations. It includes information on the basic components of effective security and crisis management programs, including the development of security plans and incident response plans. It also addresses cybersecurity risks, security compromises, and privacy incidents.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

Discuss the purpose of risk assessment methodologies and results
Describe potential threats and relevant attack vectors
Evaluate the features of a given dam to identify potential surveillance locations and determine appropriate actions for detection and response
Describe protective measures applicable to dams and levees
Design and implement a security program
Design and implement a crisis management program
Describe the basic elements of cybersecurity

Target Audience

This course is designed for dam owners and operators; professional staff of dam safety and dam security programs; emergency managers at the Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial levels; and other safety, security, and incident management personnel with roles and responsibilities relevant to dams and related infrastructure.

Scope

The Dam Security and Protection Technical Seminar focuses on key security and protection concepts and their integration into risk management strategies.

The scope of the course includes:

Risk, risk components, and risk assessment strategies
Threats and attack vectors
Surveillance tactics and surveillance detection
Suspicious activities
Common vulnerabilities
Security programs, including selecting protective measures and developing and implementing security plans
Crisis management programs, including developing and implementing response plans, continuity plans, and exercises

Course Design

This course is designed for delivery in the classroom. Lecture, discussion, and multiple hands-on activities are incorporated to enable participants to learn, practice, and demonstrate their knowledge.

Activities include a method to grade participants, when appropriate, using a checklist administered by the instructors.

Course Schedule

Day 1	Day 2
Unit 0: Overview Unit 1: Understanding Risk Unit 2: Threats and Adversaries Unit 3: Surveillance, Detection, and Reporting	Unit 4: Security Programs and Protective Measures Unit 5: Incident Preparedness and Response Unit 6: Cybersecurity and Information Assurance Unit 7: Summary

Location

Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) - Rebud Center

3601 Lake Austin Blvd.

Austin, Texas 78703

(512) 473-3535

Directions

From Austin- Bergstrom International Airport, go west on State Highway 71 about eight miles to Capital of Texas Highway. Exit, merge right on to Mo-Pac (Loop 1) and travelnorth. Right after you cross the Colorado River, take the Fifth Street/Lake Austin Boulevardexit. Turn left and travel west on Lake Austin Boulevard. Continue about 1.5 miles to LCRA'soffices. Entrance is on the left just past the traffic light at Redbud Trail.

Speaker and Presenter Information

James O’Brien, PH.D.

Dr. James O'Brien has a distinguished thirty-year career providing leadership, program management, planning, training and exercises in the field of emergency management. He served three years as an emergency management training officer and ten years as a disaster operations planner. Additionally, Dr. O’Brien served for eight as the Director of Clark County, Nevada, Emergency Management developing and implementing the Las Vegas Urban Area Strategy, Concept of Operations and Operations Plans (CONOPS and OPLANS) for emergency mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery and performing disaster operations planning with continuity of government (COG) and continuity of operations planning (COOP) elements.

Dr. O'Brien teaches Emergency Management courses in the classroom and online for Southern Utah University and at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. In addition he has over twenty years experience training senior management, front-line supervisors, and tactical personnel in law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, public health, and administration. He has FEMA Train-the Trainer certificates for 1-300, 1-400, and L-499, and the comprehensive ICS curriculum. He has assessed over 180 Emergency Management Institute courses for alignment of course objectives with emergency management competency standards established by the International Association of Emergency Managers.

Dr. O'Brien has many years of Emergency Operations Center (EOC) experience having established the docuemntation, format, processes, and validation methods for a multiagency EOC in Clark County serving a population of 2.5 million residents and 42 million annual visitors. In addition, he established training requirements for EOC staff, conducted tabletop, functional, and full-scale exercises to validate the EOC functions.

Expected Number of Attendees

Relevant Government Agencies

Army, DOD & Military, Dept of Agriculture, Dept of Energy, Dept of Homeland Security, Dept of the Interior, EPA, SSA, Other Federal Agencies, State Government, County Government, City Government, Municipal Government, FEMA, Coast Guard, National Guard Association