ABSTRACT
All security programs, regardless of their complexity or industry application, are designed to protect assets and, generally speaking, assets are anything of value. This chapter introduces the concepts of asset identification, determination of criticality, and consequence analysis. Assets are anything of value to an organization and range from the basic to the mission critical. It is the latter which is of primary importance for protection by the security program. Generally, assets consist of people, property, and information. Critical assets are those which are needed for the organization to execute its primary missions and functions. People assets may include employees and customers along with other invited persons such as contractors or guests. At a typical chemical facility, for example, the employees and contractors are the people in need of protection from various threats, including chemical leaks and explosions to natural disasters. An organization’s property assets consist of both tangible and intangible items that can be assigned a value.
