Understand the Situation—Threat Analysis

Identifying, researching, and analyzing information about potential threats and hazards is a key activity in Understand the Situation. Threat analysis determines:

What can occur
How it will occur
How often it is likely to occur
The consequences that can occur
How it will affect the communities in which it occurs
How vulnerable we are to the threat

The example below depicts a simple threat analysis for an unnamed city in Florida.

Collage image showing the threats in the Job Aid example—a CBP agent inspecting boxes, a shipwreck, and cocaine and handgun smuggling.


	Human-Caused	Natural Disasters
What can occur?	Drugs Maritime disasters Smuggling Oil spills	Hurricane Wildfire
How will it occur?	Crimes Accidents Terrorist-related	Weather-related
How often is it likely to occur?	Based on statistical data	Seasonally
What consequences can occur?	Economic Degradation in the quality of life Decrease of property values Environmental damage	Loss of life Flooding Power outages Damage to property Economic damage
What can occur? What actions would the community need to take to deal with the thread/hazard?	Law Enforcement First Responders Community activists Hazardous Materials response teams Public relations	Evacuation Sheltering Health care Mental health care
How vulnerable are we to the threat?	Based on the level of preparedness, effectiveness of prevention and protection activities	Based on the level of preparedness (i.e., do you have a sea wall built to prevent flooding?)

Click this link to access a text version of the simple threat analysis table.