The state of security is not a stable state – it is not a good given to an entity once and for all. In everyday life, there are constant threats to it, both from the forces of nature and from the unintended and intended effects of human activity. To ensure the desired level of security, a security system is created, of which logistics is a coherent component. It is meant to scientifically demonstrate and provide theoretical foundations for the practical operations of the supply chain in crisis situations in terms of saving the lives and health of victims, as well as ensuring the conditions necessary for normal functioning for all those in need.
The essence of logistics in security
Logistics in security, as a new area of contemporary inquiry, differs from the one we deal with in stable, normal, and predictable conditions with greater or lesser probability. The differences concern the following areas:
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the subject of service, which is, for example, the population affected in crisis situations, customers affected in a competitive market, or enterprises affected by a financial crisis,
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the operating environment, which is, for example, the area of crisis response, the free market shaping demand and prices, or an affected group of people,
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the goals of operation, which include, among others, ensuring survival conditions for all affected persons, and in the case of civil logistics, achieving planned economic goals.
Logistical tasks carried out in crisis situations mainly include undertakings concerning specific groups of threats.
The first group includes tasks related to the elimination of extraordinary environmental threats, i.e., natural disasters and events caused by civilizational causes, that is, catastrophes, failures, and others caused by human action or negligence. This group of threats includes, among others: fires; floods and inundations; epidemics of human diseases; epidemics of plant and animal diseases; radioactive and chemical contamination; mining, construction, and transport disasters; and power grid failures.
The second group includes tasks related to the elimination of threats specific to the protection of internal security and public order as well as border protection. These include, among others: events undermining the constitutional order of the state; terrorism; road blockades; illegal demonstrations; ethnic conflicts; and mass migration.
The third group includes tasks related to the elimination of the effects of so-called cyberterrorism (soft terrorism), which is most often understood as an action aimed at destroying or distorting information transmitted, processed, or stored in IT systems. Information, alongside matter and energy, is of decisive importance for the development of a knowledge-based economy. Any disruptions in the flow of information cause difficulties in management, including logistics.
The fourth group includes tasks related to the elimination of the effects of a financial crisis, which actually affects everyone, not sparing individual investors or enterprises. Not even an economy with excellent development indicators provides protection against a crisis, and, in fact, anti-crisis instruments have not been fully developed. Only systemic analysis and risk management can mitigate the undesirable situations of financial crises, the existence of which in the business world is undeniable.
Taking into account the subject of service, the environment, the main goals of operation, and the tasks carried out in crisis situations, I propose to adopt the following definition: Logistics in security is a scientific discipline that creates the entirety of systemic solutions necessary for the full and rational satisfaction of the needs of executive and security management bodies, taking into account the economic capabilities of the state, to the extent necessary for training, achieving, and maintaining the capacity and readiness to act at the level required to ensure the desired security for a specific entity.
Presenting a new approach to logistics in security, I would like to draw attention to the fact that the level of security of an entity depends on several factors (presented in the definition).
First: logistics in security is becoming a science that uses its own achievements and others, such as, for example, technical sciences (automation, robotics, transport, telecommunications, biocybernetics, engineering, computer science), mathematical sciences (mathematics and computer science), economic sciences (economics, management sciences), military sciences (including National Security), and the newly created field of study, which is Safety Engineering. It is this latter discipline that develops methods, tools, and instruments used in the scope (phases) of:
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preventing the emergence of security threats: natural, civilizational, public, and during the operation of artifacts
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preparing entities and the security system in the event of threats
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counteracting negative effects (response) in the event of threats being triggered.
And it is in these areas that logistics becomes an effective tool for the mentioned phases to function efficiently and effectively.
The article comes from the magazine “Logistyka” 2/2011.