Effectively Communicating Risk Assessment

Effectively Communicating Risk Assessment

For your final project, you will be completing a high-level risk assessment. In alignment with Course Learning Objective 5.1. Compose a risk summary sheet for a specific threat or hazard relevant to a selected community-, state-, or national-level community, you will choose a specific hazard or threat and a unique situation or context to then follow the DHS risk assessment process (Links to an external site.) to assess and analyze the risk, develop alternatives, and recommend risk management strategies or practices.

Using and referencing the sources and notes you developed in the Week 3 | Annotated Reference List, you will compose a concise and well-supported risk summary sheet. 

Examples of official risk assessment-related fact sheets include: 

• DHS & National Academies 2005 Nuclear Attack Fact Sheet (Links to an external site.)
• U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine 2017 Anthrax Public Fact Sheet (Links to an external site.)
• U.S. Customs & Border Patrol 2017 Agriculture Fact Sheet (Links to an external site.)

Examples of risk-related public service announcements include: 

• FBI & CISA Alert I-092220-PSA: (Links to an external site.) Foreign Actors and Cybercriminals Likely to Spread Disinformation Regarding 2020 Election Results
• DHS National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin, May 14, 2021 (Links to an external site.)

Composing a Risk Summary Sheet

Your final submission will take the form of a risk summary or fact sheet that could be used as part of a public risk communication plan. The final product should synthesize available information on the specific threat or hazard, the vulnerabilities involved, and the relevant situational context. It should also communicate both the likely and potential impacts of the threat or hazard and recommended precautions, preparations, or actions for risk mitigation. While the summary or fact sheet itself is generally a compact, concise document of 1000 words or less, references or links for further information are also usually provided as either footnotes or endnotes. 

For this assignment, choose a specific threat or hazard, and a unique or bounded context to explore. General threats and high-level scenarios or vulnerabilities may be too broad to handle effectively in the scope of this assignment.  For example “Cyberterrorism in the United States” may be difficult to address clearly within a fact sheet, though “Ransomware Threats Against Public Utility Organizations” or “Virtual Blockades” might be more specific and appropriate to the depth of a fact sheet. 

Requirements

Your risk summary sheet or fact sheet should explain: 

• A specific threat or hazard and the associated vulnerabilities 
• Relevant contextual or situational factors 
• Any in-place risk management measures, programs, or policies 
• Recommended actions, decisions, or practices for risk mitigation your target audience should take 
• Links or references to supporting information and relevant sources 

The final version should be synthesized into a document of 1,000 words or less that concisely communicates the key information about the risk for your intended audience. Many of the government agency-provided examples provided above include graphic elements, letterheads, and advanced visual layouts. Should you choose to do so, your sheet may creatively incorporate these elements as well to the extent the visual layout or graphic design enhances or supports the information presented.  However, these elements are not required; the submission may be a simple text-based document.

The final grade for the project will be based on the depth and professionalism of the content presented. The final document should be based on information from at least 5 relevant supporting sources. All source information should be appropriately cited and referenced as direct links (Links to an external site.), footnotes/endnotes (Links to an external site.), or a reference list (Links to an external site.) as appropriate to your document layout. Use the rubric posted below to check your work against the grading criteria before submitting it. 

Your final submission is due no later than 11:59 pm on Sunday at the end of Week 6. 

Rubric