Homeland Security
Since before the founding of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2002, NGS staff have been deeply involved in homeland security matters, including conducting Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessments (THIRA); personnel, information, and industrial security; intelligence and counterintelligence programs; and terrorism risk reduction activities. For over a decade, Dr. Oliver has been a Professor at the University of Maryland Global Campus, developing and teaching public safety courses, including courses in homeland security. NGS is ready to meet client’s needs in the rapidly-changing homeland security environment. NGS collaborates with clients to ensure their organization, assets, and people are safe, secure, and resilient against threats, including terrorism, by reducing their vulnerability and minimizing the damaging consequences from an impactful event that might occur.
NGS offers clients subject matter expertise in numerous aspects of homeland security that include:
Infrastructure Protection – NGS has significant experience developing infrastructure protection plans and investigating infrastructure post-even performance.
THIRA Plans – Dr. Oliver prepared the the City of Annapolis’ first Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Plan. This project included site visits to all critical infrastructure and facilities within the City and the application of a standard THIRA process.
Post-Event Investigations – Dr. Oliver led the forensic investigative team that assessed the performance of the Murrah Federal Building following the 1996 bombing. The results were the only publicly available report on the building’s performance.
Workforce Protection – NGS supports the implementation of workforce protection strategies for our clients. Throughout his career, Dr. Oliver has served in various work force protection roles, including Acting FEMA Chief Security Officer and Interim Executive Director of the FEMA Office of Professional Responsibility. Dr. Oliver served as a Annapolis, MD Police Department Auxiliary Police Officer. In this capacity, he served in the U.S. Secret Service President Command Post during President Bush’s attendance at the 2005 Naval Academy graduation.
Personnel Security – NGS offers clients personnel security services. As part of his duties at USDA, Dr. Oliver served as the Department’s Personnel Security Officer, making him responsibility for overseeing the implementation of the Department-wide personnel security program for both public trust and national security clearances for the Department’s 100,000 employees. During his time with USDA, the Department’s personnel security program was awarded the Office of Personnel Management’s Eagle Award for the most improved personnel security program in the federal government. In addition, Dr. Oliver served as FEMA’s Acting Chief Security Officer, where he oversaw FEMA’s personnel security program.
Intelligence – NGS offers intelligence services to our clients. While with USDA, Dr. Oliver coordinated USDA counter-intelligence and counter-espionage activities with the intelligence community. He also coordinated counter-terrorism activates with USDA law enforcement entities. Following the 9/11 attack, Dr. Oliver was detailed to the FBI to represent USDA on a counter-terrorism task force.
Risk Assessment/Management – Please see our Mitigation Page for more information