Before the Storm

We build infrastructure and everything else for a purpose, which enables a service, activity, or capability. All infrastructure has a purpose. When we protect against harm, it is the purpose that we are protecting. When we know how to protect that purpose, we know what we require of our infrastructure and can incorporate our protection approach and measures directly into the design. When protection is inherent to the design of a system, it is inherent to the service, activity, or capability. This more closely reflects how people behave and is more efficient than imposing security measures on system design. Protection and resilience go hand in hand, with the same foundation in risk analysis. When we understand this relationship, we can forecast protection requirements over the life of the capability and design accordingly. We can protect against the unknown by focusing on how failure affects the operations that we can control.

Join Marianne as she builds on her developing understanding of infrastructure risk and resilience, and explores the protection and security of assets and capabilities, encounters diverse perspectives, and learns the meaning of social licence. The threats she faces are not only project-based and she must deal with real-world challenges from colleagues and clients. Through her journey, we learn the value of evidence-based planning, focusing on those aspects that we can control, and spending the time to really understand why, as much as what is being protected. Before the Storm builds on the principles and concepts introduced in After the Flood. It is a clear and engaging exploration of protection planning for students, industry practitioners, or anyone interested in infrastructure, business continuity, security integration, and emergency and risk management.