HOME   |  CURRENT MEMBERS   |  MEMBER FORUMS   |  MORE INFORMATION
Updated January 31, 2008
SCOPA PROGRAMS
Scopa Mission
State Capitals Organized to Protect America (SCOPA)is the unified voice of all disciplines responsible for the security of a state capital region. State capitals are icons of liberty that the National Strategy for Homeland Security defines as critical infrastructure which “guarantee our national security and freedom, and administer key public functions.” To assure their protection, SCOPA is an active network of state capital cities that communicates, coordinates, and applies best practices to improve collaboration between state and local governments in their shared responsibility to prevent, protect, respond, and recover from incidents and assure the continuity of business and government operations.


SCOPA Background
The Organizing Committee of SCOPA, representing five states and the District of Columbia, met in July, 2005 to frame the mission and programs of SCOPA. The Organizing Committee shared a common concern over the threat to state capitals but lack of attention and resources devoted to protecting these critical infrastructures. The initial meeting of SCOPA concluded with the firm resolve of the members to expand the membership of SCOPA and formalize the organization at a second meeting to be held in October, 2005.

Scopa Programs
The SCOPA Organizing Committee defined four major program areas that are candidates for SCOPA implementation, each of which is designed to meet the perceived needs of state capitals. These are presented in priority order, below, and will be further refined by the expanding membership of SCOPA.

Networking and Information Sharing

  • SCOPA is a network that joins together those organizations responsible for protecting all state capital regions
  • The SCOPA network includes all state, county, and city government agencies in the capital region as well as private partners that include critical infrastructure providers to the state capital, business, and citizens
  • SCOPA collaborates with urban area regional initiatives (the Department of Homeland Security’s Urban Area Security Initiative), regional Citizen Corps programs, existing professional associations, and other partners in Homeland Security
  • SCOPA provides a free-flowing system for communication among agencies and jurisdictions across each capital region, include a web portal, meetings, conferences, and other media of exchange
  • SCOPA supports the creation of state capital region information fusion capabilities to increase the awareness of threats to the region
  • The results of networking will be the continual flow of information and education (a) among all members within each capital region and (b) among capital regions across the nation

    • Advocacy

    • SCOPA advocates and grows its membership as the national unified voice for state capital region security and incident management
    • SCOPA creates within each state capital region a unified voice to advocate integrated security and continuity of business and government to the state constituency
    • SCOPA works collaboratively to use its national unified voice to promote capital region programs to federal government grant and funding sources
    • SCOPA advocates the needs of state capitals to federal and state legislators
    • SCOPA demonstrates that state capitals are representative of the diversity of the American city and thus ideal venues for pilot programs to support security
    • The results of this advocacy program will be (a) an ever-expanding membership for SCOPA and (b) the representation of SCOPA views to existing and future organizational influencers of national Homeland Security policy

    Techniques and Technologies

    • SCOPA endorses and promotes “best practices” as defined by scientific and technical organizations, and the Department of Homeland Security, including encouraging all SCOPA members to embrace standards in procedures and technologies
    • SCOPA does not provide product or company endorsements, and at all times avoids the appearance of a conflict of interest; however, SCOPA does endorse and recommend best practices and standards to which companies may design their products and services
    • SCOPA organizes and members may, at their discretion, serve as laboratories and test beds for emerging technologies which can be sponsored by government agencies or private sector companies
    • SCOPA distributes the results of pilot and other tests to SCOPA members
    • SCOPA communicates to Members relevant information about vendors that have demonstrated adherence to SCOPA-supported best practices and standards
    • The results of this program will be that SCOPA will (a) foster, create, and implement technology or procedure pilot testing and (b) serve as a media for reporting the results of pilot programs to all SCOPA members

    Create Financial Advantages

    • SCOPA works collaboratively to create financial advantages for its Members in the form of grants, cooperative purchasing agreements, quantity discounts, free training programs, and other economic benefits that will accrue to the participating SCOPA Member
    Join the Organizing Committee: Conference Calls and Web Meetings Every Month
    SCOPA represents all organizations responsible for protecting the state capital region of the 50 states, territories, and tribal jurisdictions. You can be a part of SCOPA today by participating in the monthly conference calls. The next meeting is February 14th at Noon (EST).

    For further information on the next SCOPA organizing meeting, contact Sharon Pratt at 202-288-0668.
    Copyright 2008 State Capitals Organized To Protect America