What Is Critical Infrastructure

The “Critical infrastructure, or CI, is a subcategory of infrastructure that includes those assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, which are so vital that their failure or destruction would have a debilitating impact on security, governance, public health and safety, public confidence, commerce, or other societal factors” (Bullock, Haddow, Coppola, 2016). According to the 2013 US National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) there are 16 of these sectors and throughout this paper we will discuss a cyber attack on the water supply sector. The best way to discuss the above will be through the evaluation of the impact that a cyber-attack could have on our water supply, and the probable third and fourth order effects from

With that we get into unclear territory of how much power the government should have in the name of national security. With such a large plethora of things that can be affected by natural and manmade disasters, the private sector is a logical partner for protecting the homeland and its interest. “In the years since 2011, the country has struggled to find the balance between protecting public health and safety and protective civil liberties.” This idea is one reason why the government will not attempt to secure every possible target. Also, “The federal government does not have the financial resources to shoulder 100 percent of America’s homeland security responsibilities, those who own and operate business have a natural incentive to protect them. This private incentive that is innate in infrastructure is also a global phenomenon. The United States is not the only country facing manmade and natural threats, and in order to best mitigate risk, we have come to a realization that we have to push out our borders far beyond our ports edge. Interagency coordination is a concept that highlights that expansion. The United States and our allies overseas work hand in hand to coordinate and share intelligence that allows for all involved to continue to evolve into safer countries. Globalization brought with it the capacity to travel freely and quickly, critical infrastructure in countries around the world depend on the ability of goods and people to travel quickly and efficiently across borders. That acts as private incentive for countries to coordinate on an international level through interagency cooperation or the conventions and law to best protect their general interest which is the safety of their

1. Offer your opinion as to the two critical infrastructure sectors you feel are currently most at risk. Provide reasoning as to why you hold this position and what role the private sector can play in decreasing this risk.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has recognized 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks are considered vital to the United States and if these sectors were incapacitated in any form, this would be detrimental to security, the economy, public and safety. These sectors are identified as the following (Department of Homeland Security, n.d.):

Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21): Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience outlines the 16 most critical infrastructures within the United States of America. The 16 critical infrastructures are the Chemical Sector, Commercial Facilities Sector, Communications Sector, Critical Manufacturing Sector, Dams Sector, Defense Industrial Base Sector, Emergency Services Sector, Energy Sector, Financial Services Sector, Food and Agriculture Sector, Government Facilities Sector, Healthcare Sector, Information Technology Sector, Nuclear Sector, Transportation System Sector, and Water and Wastewater Sector. The research paper will briefly cover the 16 critical infrastructures within PPD-21 and then delve into the Energy Sector. The intent

The Obama administration must conduct a single comprehensive assessment of our nation’s infrastructure. This survey would link the information that already exists within the agencies so it would look systematically at the needs and vulnerability of U.S. transportation, electricity, water, ports and other strategic infrastructure and identify pressing infrastructure needs nationwide. The survey would then help the administration develop a strategy to promote efficient and rapid deployment of advanced infrastructure at the national

A critical infrastructure is defined as any facility, system, or function which provides the foundation for national security, governance, economic vitality, reputation, and way of life. (http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/NIPP_InfoSharing.pdf)In short, critical infrastructure is by definition essential for the survival of the nation. The USA PATRIOT Act specifically defines critical infrastructure as "systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, (Jena Baker McNeill and Richard Weitz, 2010) so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating

Critical Infrastructure can be protected by assessing the threats and vulnerability. After that, a plan to counter threats and vulnerabilities should be developed (International Journal of Control and Automation, n.d.). There is no such thing as a perfect plan or a perfect world. Just because there are vulnerabilities does mean it can be fixed or brought down to a minimum. These are the best results to ensure Critical Infrastructure Protection from the International Journal of Control and Automation:

It is essential to understand America’s critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR) and National Infrastructure Protection Program (NIPP) to ensure survivability of its critical assets, while maintaining security for America. “The plans are carried out in practice by an integrated network of Federal departments and agencies, State and local government agencies, private sector entities, and a growing number of regional consortia (DHS, 2009, p. I).” Several agencies work together to mitigate attacks on CIKR to protect public safety and security of the nation. A terrorist may stop at nothing to carry out an attack on CIKR. If an attack or natural disaster does transpire, each agency working together to restore the damage must be timely. Additionally, NIPP helps to identify hazards associated with the various sectors, and provides necessary security measures to harden resources (DHS,

The Department of Homeland Security supplies a national protection plan concerning critical infrastructure security. This plan targets a wide audience, including public and private critical infrastructure owners and administrators. Managing risks through identifying, deterring, and disrupting threats to critical infrastructure is the direct focus of this plan. The ability of an organization to reduce the impact of a threat that has occurred and reducing the impact of one that may occur is essential to an active security posture. Compromise of a critical infrastructure such as oil, airports, or traffic flow management could result in a major loss of life or resources (Department of Homeland Security, 2013).

Intelligence and Warning is Border and Transportation Security is responsible for protecting America's borders, territorial waters, and transportation systems by centralizing information-sharing and databases that track and monitor all aspects of border control and America's transportation systems. Domestic Counterterrorism covers a wide variety of activities, ranging from National Security Agency monitoring of telephone conversations to local police monitoring of persons of interest. Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets identifies a clear set of national goals and objectives and outlines the guiding principles that will underpin our efforts to secure the infrastructures and assets vital to our national security, governance, public health and safety, economy, and public confidence. Defending against Catastrophic Threats reduces vulnerability of the United States to terrorism. Emergency Preparedness and Response will create one emergency response plan to be used at all levels of government and will ensure that first-responders, from the federal government level down to local levels, receive proper training and equipment.

United States’ national infrastructure are resources that are vital to keep commerce operating. Technology have allowed the governments and the private sector to share vital information with them. The nation well-being depend on each of the critical infrastructures, the big question is on how to maintain all of our infrastructure sectors operative without any problem. There a big wave of threats to our nation and if one of this threads go through, it can created a multidimensional problem to the infrastructure system of the country. The main concerns that exist in protecting the U.S. against any attacks to any U.S. infrastructure and in the same time on how to have a system that work well with other agencies. For example; is important to

Also, the homeland is safeguarded against acts of terrorism, manmade or natural disasters, and focused on actions to protect the citizens, residents, visitors, critical assets, systems, and networks against the Nation’s greatest risks, by enhancing Protection through cooperation and collaboration with all sectors of society to create conditions for a safer, more secure, and more resilient Nation. Furthermore, the Protection capabilities are achieved through specific, but are not limited to, critical infrastructure protection, cybersecurity, border security, immigration security, protection of key leadership and events, maritime security, transportation security, defense of agriculture and food, defense against weapons of mass destruction threats, and health security (National Preparedness…, 2011). Due to the fact that the private sector owns approximately 85 percent of the nation’s critical infrastructure (banking and financial institutions, telecommunications networks, energy production,and transmission facilities) there is greater emphasis now on public and private sectors forming effective partnerships for protection. A series of Information Sharing and Analysis Centers is one new feature of infrastructure protection, which are public-private partnerships designed to provide members of

Never before has the United States of America experienced such a large scale disaster in the modern day. Striking in August of 2005 Hurricane Katrina was the first real test for the Federal emergency Management Agency since there mission had changed after the events of 9/11 which directed the focus of FEMA to the home land much more so then ever before. After a natural disaster a primary concern of local, state, and federal Emergency Management Agency’s is always critical infrastructure. Critical infrastructure is anything that is important to the operation of society and is important to the recovery efforts such as power plants, bridges, tunnels, Dams, and hospitals. Some examples of critical infrastructure that was affected during Hurricane Katrina are the U.S 90 highway bridge, the I-10 Pascagoula River Bridge, and a CSX railroad bridge (Lwin, 2014). The Federal Emergency Management Agency is highly criticized for their response to Katrina. According to a 218 page report by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general FEMA received "widespread criticism for a slow and ineffective response to Hurricane Katrina." (Ahlers, 2008). Some of the most notable topics that the inspector general of FEMA found were “manpower problems, a decline in planning for natural disasters as attention focused on

Nearly every community has some sort of community risk, threat, and assessment plan that takes into account one of the six potential risks that are of concern to homeland security. Though each of these plans will likely differ from one another, many communities will have the same types of information in their plans. This essay will look at the Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment Guide (THIRA), the Community Risk Reduction Planning Guide, as well as FEMA’s National Preparedness plan. Any combination of these guides are a good starting point for every community in America. At top of every communities list as well as the nation is the protection of the critical infrastructure. Loss of infrastructure regardless of how big or small the community is could have very crippling effects on that community.