Increased threats of terrorism require heightened awareness of company and supply chain security. In the past, firms may have considered only the potential threat to their firm when considering defense protection. However, given the interconnectedness of companies, products, and transportation infrastructure in today's high-speed global supply chains, there is growing concern that disruptions can reach beyond an individual firm, which leads to the need for a broader supply chain defense framework.

As such, firms must proactively enhance their supply chain resiliency against terrorism. They need to enhance overall security as well, in order to protect customers, the public, and brand equity. This starts with understanding the five key potential adverse consequences of supply chain security failures:

1. A terrorist attack against a firm's supply chain might cause widespread disruption to customer delivery capabilities leading to a loss of short-term revenue and creating a service failure.
2. There could be reduced brand equity if customers believe the attack occurred because of a supply chain security failure resulting from neglect.
3. Loss of revenue could lead to investor discontent with the firm's performance, and the subsequent sale of equity investments.
4. This disruption could also increase regulatory scrutiny.
5. A terrorist attack could result in significant legal liability.

While the above are likely the primary consequences for the target firm, secondary consequences extending beyond the target firm to include other supply chain partners are also possible. If supply partners perceive the attack was due to the firm's insufficient security efforts, the supply chain relationship would suffer and could potentially be dissolved.

Since supply chains are vulnerable to attack and security failures, supply chain defense has become an increasingly important issue for both practitioners and researchers. Unfortunately, a comprehensive framework for securing the supply chain has not been created. This article discusses such a framework that integrates supply chain security, disaster management, and criminal justice literature to guide practitioners in organizing security initiatives.