Societal Security as a System-of-Systems: Customs Agencies' Cross-Sectoral Contributions

Please note: This page may contain data in Norwegian that is not translated to English.

Author
Sasan Zarghooni-Hoffmanna and Marja Ylönenb

Year
2023

Publisher
Research Publishing, Singapore

Type of publication:
Notat

Link to publication:
http://doi: 10.3850/978-981-18-8071-1_P381-cd

Link to review:
https://www.rpsonline.com.sg/proceedings/esrel2023/html/P381.html

Comment:
The 33rd European Safety and Reliability Conference (ESREL 2023), 3 – 8 September 2023, Southampton, UK

Number of pages:
8

Language of publication:
Engelsk

Country of publication:
Norge

NSD-reference:
5960

This page was last updated:
2025-08-25 08:14:35.799277


State units related to this publication
Affiliations related to this publication
  • Etat
  • Sentraladministrative organ (direktorat m.m.)
  • Andre ordinære forvaltningsorgan

Summary
The aim of this paper is to provide new insights into cross-sectoral, cooperative aspects of societal security. Societal security can be defined as the continuous outcome of a resilience-based system-of-systems whose purpose is to protect society against a wide range of risks. One of its subsystems is the field of customs. The role of customs agencies in societal security is not well understood. In particular, the cross-sectoral, cooperative aspects have been overlooked both in official guidance and in practice. This paper analyzes the contributions of the Norwegian Customs (NC) to societal security from a system-of-systems perspective, using data from governance documents, official reports, and a list of the NC's collaborators. The main findings are that (1) customs is a node in societal security, and its role much wider than earlier recognized; that (2) the current framework for societal security does not adequately account for agencies whose normal contributions are outside their own sector; and that (3) this lack of understanding impedes efficient and effective measures. Insights on societal security as a system-of-systems are summarized in a jigsaw puzzle analogy.

Keywords: Societal security, Risk, Resilience, System-of-systems, Customs, Critical functional capabilities.