Interdependencies and System Modeling

The interdependencies and system modeling capability provides the foundation for all NISAC products including asset prioritization, hurricane, earthquake planning scenario, and other impact analyses. NISAC’s modeling capabilities in this area include the following:

• Agriculture and Food Infrastructure Modeling and Analysis Activities
  
  NISAC is expanding models and performing systems-level analyses in the agriculture and food sectors to help identify vulnerabilities in the system and inform policy analysis. These analyses will assist in the understanding of infrastructure protection, mitigation, and recovery options and help prioritize research and development.
  
  The agricultural and food industries remain vulnerable to deliberate attacks. A concerted chemical or biological assault has great potential for catastrophic economic and/or human health consequences. Additionally, the agriculture and food sectors are relatively understudied as integrated systems, and hence their response to disruptions may be poorly understood. The sector’s response to recent well-publicized contamination incidents has been criticized. The nature of the impacts and perceptions about the response may be due, at least in part, to the increasingly concentrated and intensive nature of American agribusiness that has increased the potential speed of disease spread through the system and the rapid growth of global supply chains. NISAC is evaluating these issues through scenario modeling and analysis for food and agriculture supply chains.