The Mission Dependency Index: Fallacies andMisuses

摘要

The U.S. Infrastructure is extensive and faces performance, physicalrndeterioration, natural disaster, terrorism, and social challenges. The problem is furtherrncompounded by the fact that funds are limited. Decision-makers need to prioritize theirrnassets on the basis of risk and allocate budgets accordingly. The response to this situationrnhas been the quest for a simple equation that quantifies risk in terms of ordinal numbers.rnUnfortunately, most proposed risk indices are seriously flawed and likely to lead to badrndecisions. This paper first focuses on the Mission Dependency Index (MDI) as anrnexample of an over-simplified model that has gained wide acceptance for ranking facilityrnrisk. It then proposes the Operational Risk Failure Modes and Effects Analysisrn(ORFMEA) as a rational method for analyzing potential threats to facilities and link tornmissions. The ORFMEA enhances the standard Operational Risk Management (ORM)rnassessment by incorporating vulnerability and facility/mission time criticality.