Critical Infrastructure Protection Program - Part 1

In this piece, I identify a critical infrastructure protection (CIP) program that is being implemented at the local government level, and I have evaluated what weaknesses the program may possess.  I selected the City of North Miami Beach, Florida, for this analysis.

Local governments represent the front lines of protection and the face of public services to the American people.  Their core competencies must include knowledge of their communities, residents, landscapes, and existing critical services for maintaining public health, safety, and order.  Communities look to local leadership to assure safety, economic opportunities, and quality of life (QOL).

Public confidence, therefore, starts locally and is dependent upon how well communities plan and protect their citizens, respond to emergencies, and establish order out of chaos.  To this end, the City of North Miami Beach Police Department, the private sector, and concerned citizens have begun an important partnership and commitment to action (Anonymous, n.d.).

To introduce you to The City of North Miami Beach, Florida, CIP program being implemented and to evaluate the weaknesses of that program, this chapter covers the following topics:

• What is a Critical Infrastructure?
• What is the Critical Infrastructure Protection Program (CIPP)?
• Examples of Local Government CIPPs
• Selecting a CIPP Implemented at the Local Government Level
• Evaluating the Selected CIPP Implemented at the Local Government Level
• Weaknesses of the Selected CIPP
• What Needs to Be Done to Improve on the Identified Weaknesses

What is a Critical Infrastructure?

Definition. Our nation’s economic vitality, national security, and QOL of our citizens depend upon the availability, continuous operation, and reliability of several different infrastructure sectors … both physical and virtual.  Since these various sectors provide a framework around which we live our daily lives, conduct business, and function as a society, we deem these sectors as critical to our country’s existence.  The attacks of September 11, 2001, heightened awareness of our nation’s vulnerabilities.  We realize the necessity to secure our critical infrastructure (CI) from future terrorist attacks.  Additionally, we need to secure our CI from all disasters and events that could disrupt and threaten our way of life (Hopkins, 2003).

Examples of Unique Protection Areas. The following individual CI sectors and special categories of key resources (KRs) have unique issues that require protective action (Anonymous, 2007b).

(a) Examples of CIs:  The following CI sectors need protection: (1) Agriculture and Food, (2) Drinking Water and Water Treatment Systems, (3) Public Health and Healthcare, (4) Emergency Services, (5) Defense Industrial Base, (6) Information Technology (IT), (7) Telecommunications, (8) Energy, (9) Transportation Systems, (10) Banking and Finance, (11) Chemical, and (12) Postal and Shipping.

(b) Examples of KRs:  The following KR categories also need protection: (1) National Monuments and Icons; (2) Commercial Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste; (3) Dams; (4) Government Facilities; and (5) Commercial Facilities.

What is the Critical Infrastructure Protection Program (CIPP)?

Implementing Protective Programs. The risk assessment and prioritization process enable the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sector-specific agencies (SSAs), and other security partners to identify opportunities.  These opportunities enhance current CI/KR protection programs where they will offer the greatest benefit.  Security partners give priority to developing CI/KR protection programs that focus resources on assets, systems, networks, and functions considered to be at greatest risk (Anonymous, 2006).

Local Governments. Local governments represent the front lines for homeland security and, more specifically, for CI/KR protection and implementation of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) partnership model.  They provide critical public services and functions in conjunction with private sector owners and operators.  In some sectors, local governmental entities own and operate CI/KR such as water, storm-water, and electric utilities.  Malevolent acts or disruptions that impact CI/KR begin and end as local situations (Anonymous, 2006).

Local Authorities and Security Partners. Local authorities usually handle initial prevention, response, and recovery operations until coordinated support from other sources becomes available.  They take this operational approach regardless of who owns or operates the affected asset, system, or network.  As a result, local governments are critical partners under the NIPP framework.  They drive emergency preparedness and local participation in implementing NIPP and sector-specific plans (SSPs) across a variety of jurisdictional security partners.  These security partners include government agencies, owners/operators, and private citizens in the served communities (Anonymous, 2006).

Coordinated Effort. State, local, and tribal authorities are responsible for providing or augmenting protective actions for assets, systems, and networks that are critical to the public within their jurisdiction and authority.  They develop protective programs, supplement federal guidance and expertise, implement relevant federal programs, and provide specifically needed law enforcement capability.  When appropriate, they access federal resources to meet jurisdictional protection priorities (Anonymous, 2006).

Examples of Local Government CIPPs

City of North Miami Beach, Florida, CIPP. Through its CIPP, the North Miami Beach Police Department continues to address the threat of terrorism and any potential attacks against CIs within the community.  By strengthening prevention and preparedness efforts against terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies, the city government develops appropriate levels of response to these types of incidents.  The Police Department continually assesses the vulnerabilities of the CIs and increases investment in their security.  They do this by continuously taking required steps to identify and protect KRs and services within their jurisdiction (Anonymous, n.d.).

The success of protective efforts requires close cooperation among government, community, and private sector participants at all levels.  Each citizen has an important role to play in protecting the CIs/KRs, which are basic to their daily lives.  Strong partnerships with citizens groups and organizations provide support to prevent terrorist incidents.  Groups such as Neighborhood Watch and Police Citizens Patrol enhance prevention efforts by being an extra set of eyes and ears.  They identify and report strange or suspicious behavior as related to terrorist activity.  The North Miami Beach Police Department was one of the first agencies in the country to offer local citizens with specialized training in Community Terrorism Preparedness and Strategic Actions for Emergency Response or SAFER (Anonymous, n.d.).

George Mason University CIPP. The George Mason University CIPP (of Fairfax, Virginia) studied the effects of the 2004 and 2005 tropical storm seasons.  They were particularly interested in the infrastructure damage caused by hurricanes in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas.  The CIPP study recommended that federal and state agencies find ways to better share information before, during, and after a catastrophe.  Large disasters, such as the 2005 mega-storms, do not respect political borders.  Thus, it is up to state and local governments and the federal government to plan better and to coordinate responses well before, during, and long after the initial emergency (Driver, 2007).

Skilled utility workers, technicians, and power engineers comprise the nation’s critical human infrastructure, which is an aging and shrinking collective workforce.  Faculty and teachers at post-secondary educational institutions experience similar attrition.  Additionally, research money is diminishing.  The twin challenges of education inputs/outputs and the aging of a knowledgeable workforce present an emerging issue directly related to the ability to increase the grid’s reliability and respond to future large-scale catastrophes (Driver, 2007).

Kentucky CIPP. Through the Kentucky Homeland Security University Consortium, the National Institute for Hometown Security (NIHS) manages the Kentucky Critical Infrastructure (KCI) Protection Program.  The program focuses on research, development, and technology transfer designed to protect the nation’s community-based CIs.  In consultation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), NIHS determines research needs and requirements.  The DHS then provides program funding to perform those research needs and requirements (Anonymous, 2007a).

In previous years, the KCI provided funding for 23 separate research and development (R&D) projects.  Each project requires a Kentucky-based university serving as the lead institution for the research, development, and coordination activities.  DHS expects at least one other Kentucky-based college or university as well as non-Kentucky universities and institutions to participate on each project.  Where appropriate, DHS also encourages private sector participation (Anonymous, 2007a).

Because of the successful KCI experience with the existing 23 projects, DHS has decided to fund and support a more advanced structure.  This advanced structure allows performance of more relevant and integrated technology solutions.  The approach moves the program towards national significance and long-term stability.  Participating universities and principal investigators (PIs) on previous KCI projects will notice significant differences in the current solicitation and subsequent project management process (Anonymous, 2007a).

National Capital Region. Following the events of September 11, 2001, protecting CIs has become a major concern in the United States.  Infrastructure systems are critical because they are essential to the functioning of modern societies.  Additionally, their network characteristics make them vulnerable to both random disasters and intentional attacks.  Planning for and response to large-scale disruptions require coordination among local, state, and federal authorities and also the private sector, which are the primary owners of such infrastructures (Pommerening, 2005).

This interdisciplinary research project presents published findings that evaluate CIP measures and their impact on security-related cooperation within the National Capital Region (Washington, DC metro area).  Prior research on governance options for regional infrastructure systems and on inter-agency disaster response capabilities indicates a variety of possible modes of coordination (Pommerening, 2005).

CIP for the Local Naval Installation. Hun Kim wrote that the Presidential Decision Directive-63 (PDD-63) recognizes the growing potential vulnerability of physical and cyber-based systems essential to the economy and government.  As a result, the Department of the Navy (DON) designed the CIP program to develop, administer, and coordinate an enterprise-wide effort to do the following:

• Identify mission essential infrastructures
• Assess their vulnerability
• Develop a coordinated physical and cyber indications and warning capability
• Take the necessary actions to ensure achievement of DON objectives during CI loss

Begun in 1999, this DON CIP program actively pursues outreach to regional and local commanders for education on the CIP construct to coordinate Naval Integrated Vulnerability Assessments (Kim, n.d.).

References

Anonymous (n.d.). City of North Miami Beach, Florida, Critical Infrastructure Protection Program. The official website of the City of North Miami Beach, Florida. Retrieved from http://northmiamibeach.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7BF04CACB1-1126-4FF5-85C3-81ACF84754F9%7D.

Anonymous (2006). National Infrastructure Protection Plan. Washington, DC: Department of Homeland Security, 196 pp.

Anonymous (2007a, August). Kentucky critical infrastructure protection program: Request for research and development project proposals. The National Institute for Hometown Security. Retrieved from http://www.thenihs.org/program_kci_criteria.php.

Anonymous (2007b, October). National Strategy for Homeland Security. Washington, DC: Homeland Security Council.

Driver, D. (2007, January 16). Critical infrastructure protection program examines effects of 2005 hurricanes. The Mason Gazette. Retrieved from http://gazette.gmu.edu/articles/9559/print.

Hopkins, B. (2003). State Official’s Guide to Critical Infrastructure Protection. Lexington, Kentucky: The Council of State Governments, 100 pp.

Kim, H. (n.d.). Critical infrastructure protection for the local installation. Retrieved from http://www.chips.navy.mil/archives/02_Summer/authors/index2_files/cip.htm.

Pommerening, C. (2005, November 3-5). Governance structures for protecting critical infrastructures: The example of the National Capital Region. Paper presented at the 2005 Fall Research Conference of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM), Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://cipp.gmu.edu/clib/pubDetail.php?id=84.