Meet Tom Ridge, First Risk Manager Of The U.S.

Of all the steps President George W. Bush has taken in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, perhaps the most significant from a long-term perspective was his decision to create an Office of Homeland Security.

In effect, the first person to head up this office, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, is the first official risk manager of the United States.

Take a look at Mr. Ridge's marching orders on the White House Web site (www.whitehouse.gov): “The mission of the Office will be to develop and coordinate the implementation of a comprehensive national strategy to secure the United States from terrorist threats or attacks. The Office will coordinate the executive branch's efforts to detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks”

Reading through his job description, Mr. Ridge has the unenviable task of coordinating a national risk management program to contain a vast terrorist threat. Specifically, he is responsible for:

Detection–identifying potential threats to strategic targets, such as water supplies, military installations, nuclear plants, oil refineries, dams, sewage treatment facilities, transportation centers, government office buildings and monuments, communication infrastructure, etc.

Prevention–working with federal and local agencies, as well as private entities to keep attacks or sabotage from happening in the first place.

Protection–mitigating against “the consequences of terrorist threats or attacks.” In other words, limiting the damages, and laying out a plan to respond to a catastrophe if something does happen despite our best efforts.

Recovery–working to “ensure rapid restoration” of any services lost due to a terrorist attack, as well as “coordinate efforts to stabilize U.S. financial marketsand manage the immediate economic and financial consequences of the incident.” Included is coordination of medical, financial and other aid to terrorist attack victims and their families.

Sounds like a risk manager to us.

Mr. Ridge and his staff of 15 or so are starting this agency from scratch. We believe the risk management community could provide a tremendous service to the country by giving Mr. Ridge the benefit of their expertise. We therefore urge the Risk and Insurance Management Society and the Public Risk Management Association to contact Mr. Ridge and propose the formation of a National Risk Management Advisory Council to help him in his monumental task.

Mr. Ridge does have one important advantage going for him as the first U.S. risk manager–he reports directly to the President. Indeed, his official title is Assistant to the President for Homeland Security. He noted in an Oct. 19 article in “Newsday” that “I have access [to President Bush] 10, 15 paces away [from his White House office]. I also can go in and see the President every time I wantI'm on a first-name basis: He calls me Tom, I call him Mr. President.”

All kidding aside, that kind of high-level access is too often the exception rather than the rule for risk managers. All private and government entities should follow this example, especially with the threat of terrorism looming over us all.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Property & Casualty/Risk & Benefits Management Edition, October 29, 2001. Copyright 2001 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.

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Meet Tom Ridge, First Risk Manager Of The U.S.

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