The Institute views Homeland Security as the product of seven strategic functions that interact in a logical cycle. Our goal is deterrence, which takes place in the mind of the potential attacker when he realizes that his attack will be prevented, preempted, or mitigated by efficient and effective crisis management and consequence management - to be followed by certain attribution and powerful retaliation.

Effective deterrence depends upon both denial and punishment: denial of the objective of the attack, or punishment that leaves the attacker much worse off than before.

Information operations is an important element of all seven strategic functions, but especially of crisis management and consequence management where the impressions conveyed in the aftermath of an attack may determine whether the attacker believes he has succeeded or failed.

Civil Support involves only prevention, crisis management, and consequence management. The other strategic functions do not apply, as there is no enemy involved.

While the threats posed by terrorist attack are numerous and varied, those that could threaten the vital interests or even the survival of the nation may be grouped under six headings:

• Biological: Delivered as anti-people; anti-animal; anti-plant, anti-materiel, or bio-regulators
• Cyber: Destruction of data/ data transmission; theft of data; or attack upon the message/ legitimacy of another
• Nuclear: Blast / heat / electro-magnetic effects on cities; military; critical infrastructure
• Chemical Local damage; specific targets
• Radiological: Contamination to deny areas / produce chaos
• Enhanced Conventional violence designed by size or scale to produce extraordinary effects (mass casualties, assassination, etc.)

If the seven strategic functions are arrayed against the six threats, the result is a matrix of 42 mission areas (45 if we count the three mission areas resulting from Civil Support) that describe the total solution set of strategic challenges posed by Homeland Security. Every agency can locate its contributions to specific mission areas on this matrix, and see its relationship to the overall strategy as well as to other mission areas and agencies.

Strategic Functions, Threats, and Mission Areas for Homeland Security

Of course, this chart should actually be three dimensional as this set of 45 mission areas exists at each level of agencies involved: Federal, state, local, and private - hence the complexity of the Homeland Security mission as a whole.

The interaction of these strategic functions and mission areas during the current crisis is addressed in the "Strategic Logic" page of this primer.

Finally, although a National Strategy for Homeland Security has not yet been published, the gist of such a strategy may be inferred from the evident logic of the strategic cycle. The nation will wish to deter attack and minimize the effect of such an attack if it should come, by planning, organizing, training, equipping and exercising to be as strong as possible in each of the mission areas. Allocation of responsibilities within those mission areas has yet to be established by any national authority, leaving agencies considerable flexibility at this time in identifying the mission areas where they can provide the greatest contribution.

-Randy Larsen is the Director of the ANSER Institute for Homeland Security. Dave McIntyre is the Deputy Director for Research. Comments should be directed to 703-416-3597.