Protection Strategies Incorporated (PSI), conducted feasibility studies, cost comparisons, and qualitative analyses of Vulnerability Assessments conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for several Defense National Stockpile Center (DNSC) depots utilized by the Defense Logistics Agency. The Defense National Stockpile Center -- a part of the Defense Logistics Agency -- is responsible for providing safe, secure and environmentally sound stewardship for strategic and critical materials in the United States National Defense Stockpile (NDS).
These depots were created just before World War II with a mission of acquiring and storing metals, minerals and agricultural supplies such as rubber. The stockpile of materials was intended to decrease dependence upon foreign sources of supply during national emergency. The DNSC stores 42 commodities at 20 locations throughout the U.S. that have a current market value of over $1.5 billion. Commodities range from base metals such as zinc, lead, cobalt, and chromium to the more precious metals such as platinum, palladium, and industrial diamonds.
PSI reviewed existing vulnerability assessments to validate and address the findings and recommendations based on the actual threat posture, perceived threat, and likelihood of attack or threatened attack for each depot. A key essential element of this process involved conducting interviews with the site managers and depot personnel to gain insight and knowledge of past, present, and future operations, security measures, historical incident data, and emergency response plans. Additionally, interviews were conducted with the on-site security force, local law enforcement agencies, fire and rescue services, and the local Federal Protective Services office that has over-site of each facility. The off-site interviews were critical to assess the established perception of the local populace towards the depots, the nature of the relationship between the local law enforcement / emergency services personnel and the depot personnel.
All information obtained from the interviews and the assessments was utilized to determine the security posture of each site, which included criminal and nefarious activity that might affect the depot’s operating environment. Based on these factors, a feasibility analysis report was produced for each site either concurring with the findings and recommendations suggesting alternate cost effective measures other than those identified in the reports, or identifying corrective actions taken by the DNSC to mitigate the findings.
