Critical Infrastructure Protection in Homeland Security - Research Paper Example

Critical Infrastructure Protection in Homeland Security Critical infrastructure is described as an infrastructure that is very important such that its destruction or incapacity can have devastating effect on the national security and defense. It is also referred to as a vital structure (Lewis, 2006). The federal law defines critical infrastructure as the assets and systems virtual or physical, “so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters” (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2011). A critical infrastructure protection refers to the policies, preparedness, and strategies necessary for the protection, prevention, and when needed, takes action on the attacks of the key assets and sectors (Lewis, 2006). The U.S. Department of Homeland Security indicates that it has recognized 18 critical infrastructure sectors and they include: 1. agriculture and food, 2. banking and finance, 3. chemical, 4. commercial facilities, 5. communications, 6. critical manufacturing, 7. dams, 8. defense industrial base, 9. emergency services, 10. energy, 11. government facilities, 12. healthcare and public health, 13. information technology, 14. national monuments and icons, 15. nuclear reactors, materials and waste, 16. postal and shipping, 17. transportation systems, and 18. Water (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2010). Critical infrastructure offers numerous opportunities, benefits, and services which the nation relies on. U.S. Department of Homeland security is much aware of the infrastructure risks posed by natural disasters, pandemic diseases, and terrorists. The Department understands that these threats possess serious effects such as cutting off the population from power, emergency supplies, transportation, or clean water. The Department manages resources and programs that enhance partnership between the public and the private sectors, improve protective programs, and create flexibility to endure and recover quickly from the effects of terrorist threats or natural disasters. The main activities in these areas entail: Evaluating vulnerabilities, enhancing security protocols, and protective programs implementation Improving preparedness through exercises and training Helping with contingency response, recovery, and planning Implementation of real-time information sharing Implementation of cybersecurity measures Helping with infrastructure management and data collection Implementing regulations or set of laws for high-risk chemical amenities Creating standards for federal construction security (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2010). The Importance of Critical Infrastructure Protection Any attack on the critical infrastructure can result into disruption of the government and business functioning and create cascading effects that beyond the incident’s physical location and the targeted sector. Manmade, technological, and natural hazards and direct terrorist attacks can lead to catastrophic losses. These catastrophic losses include property destruction, intense damage to the public confidence and morale, economic effects, and human casualties. Attacks made using the nation’s critical infrastructure components as weapons of mass destruction can have severe psychological and physical consequences. The Homeland Security Act of 2002offers the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the primary authority of carrying out the entire homeland security mission. The act gave the Department of Homeland Security with the primary mandate of developing a detailed national plan to protect critical infrastructure and suggest the measures needed to guard the critical infrastructure and main resources of the United States (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2010). The National Infrastructure Plan (NIPP) The comprehensive or detailed plan developed by the Department of Homeland Security is referred to as the National Infrastructure Plan (NIPP) and the Department published it in 2006. The plan (NIPP) offers the unifying structure that incorporates a variety of protective security endeavors for the improved protection and flexibility of the country’s critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR) into a distinct national program. The main goal of NIPP is to create a more flexible, more secure, and a safer America by averting, discouraging, neutralizing, or alleviating the impact of intentional efforts by the terrorists to incapacitate, destroy, or “exploit elements of our nation’s CIKR and to strengthen national preparedness, timely response, and rapid recovery of CIKR in the event of an attack, natural disaster, or other emergency” (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2010). Sector-Specific Plans The Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 (HSPD-7) instituted the United States policy for improving critical infrastructure protection by creating a framework for the Department of Homeland Security partners. The Department’s partners framework was to enable them recognize, give priority, and guard the critical infrastructure within the communities against terrorist attacks. The directive identified the critical infrastructure sectors and for each sector, a federal Sector-Specific Agency (SSA) was designated to direct resilience-building and protection programs and activities. A Sector-Specific Plan was developed by each Sector-Specific Agency and the plan details the use of the NIPP framework based on the distinct features of each sector. The plan also offers a means through which NIPP is implemented or applied across all the sectors of the critical infrastructure. The Sector-Specific Plans are the conclusion of the national planning endeavors that indicates the many hours of collaboration and outreach between the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and its partners. The partners include state, tribal, private sector, territorial, local, and federal partners. The NIPP depends on the sector partnership model as its main organizational structure for the coordination of the country’s critical infrastructure protection operation. It is important to note that the critical infrastructure sector has a Government Coordinating Council and Sector Coordinating Council (which represents the private sector). These two councils were created to share best practices, techniques, data, and give support to the systematic risk-based plan. The Department offers tools, support, and guidance to help these sector-specific groups work together as they undertake their responsibilities (U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 2010). Challenges facing Critical Infrastructure Protection in Homeland Security The state’s strategy to protect critical infrastructure and the main assets is not functional because of a few failed strategies. These failed strategies include federalism, that is, the separation of the federal and state governmental controls. The Department of Homeland Security has not yet defined basic terminologies (such as risks or vulnerability) required by the states to undertake meaningful analysis. The first challenge is that the critical infrastructure problem is a local issue and thus the federal government is supposed to offer funding and guidance, but the local and state jurisdictions must take first initiative in defending against attacks on the critical infrastructure assets. Such a move is not effective because the local jurisdiction will not have the capability of protecting its critical infrastructure assets, instead it will waste money attempting to do the same. The Government Accounting Office identified the problem soon after the formation of the Department of Homeland Security; it asserted that there were challenges that will be faced in the strengthening of the homeland security because these challenges exceeded the authority and capacity of the existent government levels (Darken and Lewis, 2005). The second challenge is the failure to communicate; critical infrastructure protection lacks a shared terminology. Majority of the people are utilizing poorly defined terms “for the community of homeland security experts to communicate, properly. The lack of widely accepted definitions of terms used in homeland security leads to reinvention of the wheel, false starts, and more detours” (Darken and Lewis, 2005). The absence of widely acknowledged definitions of terms utilized in homeland security results in false starts and numerous detours. Many definitions of risk and vulnerability exist; this is because each agency in the local, state, and federal government has its own definitions of these terms. Presently, a generally accepted definition of the terms risks and vulnerabilities does not exist (Darken and Lewis, 2005). References Darken, R. & Lewis, T.D. (2005). Potholes and detours in the road to critical infrastructure protection policy. Homeland Security Affairs, 1 (2), 1-11. Lewis, T. G. (2006). Critical infrastructure protection in homeland security: Defending a networked nation. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2010). Critical infrastructure. Retrieved from http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1189168948944.shtm U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2010). National infrastructure protection plan. Retrieved from http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/editorial_0827.shtm U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2010). Sector-specific plans. Retrieved from http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/gc_1179866197607.shtm U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2011). Critical infrastructure protection. Retrieved from http://www.dhs.gov/files/programs/critical.shtm Read More