Risk, Security, and Disaster Management

▪ Abstract This review examines the policies and practices that address the evolving conditions of risk, security, and disaster management in U.S. society. Although each condition presents particular challenges to public agencies and the communities they serve, all represent varying states of uncertainty and require different approaches for informed action. This analysis reframes the issue of managing risk by focusing on the distinction between policies and practices developed in reference to natural and technological hazards and those developed to enhance security from hostile acts. The author concludes that building networks of organizations committed to a process of continual inquiry, informed action, and adaptive learning is a more flexible, robust strategy than the standard practice of establishing greater control over possible threats through administrative structures. Supported by methods of network analysis, computational simulation, information infrastructure, and long-term policy goals, networked strategies offer an important alternative to hierarchical structures that prove vulnerable in uncertain environments.