DHS Issues Notices on Critical Infrastructure Protection
The Department of Homeland Security has recently issued two notices related to critical infrastructure protection, including: (1) the designation of "critical manufacturing" as the 18th critical infrastructure sector under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)1; and (2) the renewal of the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
NIPP to Help Ensure Country Functions After Terrorist Attack or Disaster
The NIPP, issued by the Department of Homeland Security in June 2006, sets the national priorities, goals, and requirements for effective distribution of funding and resources to help ensure that the U.S. government, economy, and public services continue in the event of a terrorist attack or other disaster.
In 2006, the NIPP included the following 17 critical infrastructure and key resource (CI/KR) sectors requiring protective actions in the event of a terrorist attack or other hazards: (1) agriculture and food; (2) banking and finance; (3) chemical; (4) commercial facilities; (5) telecommunications; (6) dams; (7) defense industrial base; (8) emergency services; (9) energy (redacted); (10) government facilities; (11) information technology; (12) national monuments and icons; (13) nuclear reactors, materials and waste; (14) postal and shipping; (15) public health and healthcare; (16) transportation systems; and (17) water.
Transportation systems CI/KR. Each CI/KR sector is supposed to have a plan to address its unique characteristics and risk landscape. For example, the following are highlights of the 2006 sector-specific plan for transportation systems under the NIPP.
Maritime. The plan is based on the concept of layered defense, with no single security program being a stand-alone program. For example, cargo being shipped to the U.S. must be reported to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) 24 hours prior to lading. A Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) partner's cargo shipping from a Container Security Initiative (CSI) port will still be reanalyzed by the National Targeting Center and the conveyance will make a Notice of Arrival (NOA) 96 hours before arriving at a U.S. port. Upon arrival, the conveyance is subject to boarding inspections and the cargo/personnel will need to clear customs before entering the U.S. through an intermodal gateway.
Freight rail. The most important freight rail security objective is reducing the risk of toxic inhalation hazard (TIH) cars in transportation. This objective has been further narrowed to minimizing the aggregate number of hours that loaded, unattended TIH cars stand in high threat urban areas.
Highway/motor carrier. This sector has identified the integration of security measures into the design of the U.S. transportation network; the enhancement of driver threat assessments and credentialing; and enhancement of existing hazardous material security requirements, as some of the ways to achieve its goals.
DHS Has Designated "Critical Manufacturing" as New CI/KR
On April 30, 2008, DHS issued a notice announcing that it has designated "critical manufacturing" as the 18th CI/KR sector under the NIPP. Critical manufacturing includes primary metal manufacturing; machinery manufacturing; electrical equipment, appliance, and component manufacturing; and transportation equipment manufacturing.
DHS states that failure in any part of a supply chain can ripple through manufacturing systems, causing cascading economic impacts. Therefore, the composition of the Critical Manufacturing sector attempts to address the sensitivity of individual manufacturing systems and the role of the manufacturing industry in cross-sector operations.
Comments on this designation are due by May 10, 2008.
DHS Has Renewed Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council
On April 30, 2008, DHS issued a related notice announcing that the Secretary of Homeland Security has renewed the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC) for a period of two years.
The CIPAC facilitates interaction between government officials and representatives of the community of owners and/or operators for each of the CI/KRs. CIPAC activities include planning and coordination among CI/KRs; implementing security program initiatives; conducting operational activities related to critical infrastructure protection security measures, incident response, recovery, infrastructure resilience, reconstituting CI/KR assets and systems for both man-made as well as naturally occurring events; and sharing threat, vulnerability, risk mitigation, and infrastructure continuity information and best practices.
1The NIPP was issued to fulfill the requirements of Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 7 and the Homeland Security Act of 2002.
(See ITT's Online Archives or 07/26/06 news, (Ref:06072625), for BP summary of DHS issuing the NIPP.)
DHS NIPP Web site available at http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/programs/editorial_0827.shtm)
DHS information on CI/KRs available at http://www.dhs.gov/xprevprot/programs/gc_1189168948944.shtm
Transportation Systems Sector-Specific Plan (dated May 2007) available at http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/nipp-ssp-transportation.pdf
DHS notice designating critical manufacturing as CI/KR (D/N DHS-2008-0038, FR Pub 04/30/08) available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-9412.pdf)
DHS notice on CIPAC renewal (D/N DHS-2008-0041, FR Pub 04/30/08) available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-9420.pdf