Quantified Perception has
done a semantic and text analysis on four DHS prime planning documents, and
some interesting features are illuminating.
The DHS documents used in
this analysis are:
·
The 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review
·
FEMA Strategic Plan, 2014–2018
·
Department of Homeland Security Strategic Plan, Fiscal
Years 2012-2016
·
DHS Science and Technology Directorate 2011 Strategic
Plan
While the solitary term “cyber”
is used 95 times, “biological” follows closely with 86 occurrences. DHS exhibits
a perceptive focus on biological threats that predates the Ebola focus of
recent months, with “biological threats” used 31 times across the documents,
while “cyber threats” is used just 12 times, despite the deeper history and
greater visibility of cyber incursions. Other
“threat” terms are used somewhat less frequently: nuclear terrorism (13);
climate change (11); terrorism threat (9); and weapons of mass destruction (3).
One of the broad thematic
areas is what we have categorized as “community and commerce.” Terms referring
to citizens, community, and trade are represented across the documents more
heavily than might be expected from DHS. Cooperation and collaboration among
different sectors of government and communities are a large theme of the
reports. Public-private partnerships, as well as other partner references, are
prominent in the language. Terminology used less frequently than might be
expected refers to the response phase following an incident. While “first
responders” and “public safety” are prominent, alternate terms of response and
recovery are relatively sparse.
A final area for attention
is the planning and process language. True to the expectations of a government publication,
citizen support is prominent in the language. “civil liberties” and “civil
rights are used 23 times overall, while “decision making,” “information sharing,”
and “best practices” combine for 65 occurrences.
It makes for alluring
reading, or you can see the full Quantified Perception report with accompanying
tables by on QPLLC.com.
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