Responses should be a minimum of 250 words and include direct questions. You may challenge, support or supplement another student’s answer using the terms, concepts and theories from the required readings. Also, do not be afraid to respectfully disagree where you feel appropriate; as this should be part of your analysis process at this academic level.

Respond to:

Exploring the components of EO: 13636 and Critical Infrastructure Security Presidential Policy Directive (PDD-8) what two elements/sectors impacted by the adoption of a framework of resilience do you believe need greater emphasis on over the next 5 years. Why have you chosen these two?

I apologize upfront for the length of this post…

The 16 Critical Infrastructure Sectors of the United States have been named so due to their importance in the ability of the nation to maintain national security, continuity of the economy, protect the populace, provide for defense, all while maintaining a modicum of the status quo in the everyday lives of Americans (Department of Homeland Security, n.d.a, para 1).

Many of the critical infrastructure sectors such as the Critical Manufacturing Sector, Communications Sector, Dams Sector, Energy Sector, and the Food and Agriculture Sector fall mostly (or entirely) within the ownership and oversight of the private sector. The irony is that although the ownership for these areas belong primarily to the private sector, it’s the responsibility of the public sector to ensure that these critical infrastructure sectors remain partially or wholly intact during the an emergency incident, and also that they remain unaltered from “outside influences” which may seek partial or complete destruction as a means to bring the United States to its proverbial knees. Partnership between the private and public sectors is crucial to maintain the resilience and survivability of these areas of critical infrastructure.

Protection of the 16 Critical Infrastructure Sectors is vital not just from the perspective of nation-state (or non-state) actors, but also from the ravages and unpredictability of nature. All the sectors are critical to the well-being of the nation, so selecting just two is a rather difficult task. However, one sector in particular could be considered to be the foundation, or “enabling function” of all the others: the Energy Sector (Department of Homeland Security, n.d.b, para 1). Without energy, all the other sectors fall flat. Manufacturing, defense, commerce, the economy, agriculture, government office buildings and military bases, the “family truckster” schlepping the kids on vacation to Disney World; all are dependent upon energy to function. It doesn’t matter if that energy comes for the nozzle of a hose at the local gas station, or the flip of a wall switch closing the circuit of electricity to turn the lights on, keep food-stuffs cold, or keeping the rocks frozen for a splash of bourbon on a hot summer day, it all depends on energy from electricity, natural gas, or oil to make that happen.

The electricity section of the energy sector has several different stressors. One of those stressors is the relative age of much of the millions of miles of power lines and transformers that make up the electrical grid of the nation. Most of the more important parts of this system, such as the large power transformers (LPT) which move electrical power from one location to another are over 40 years old, and though there are several new plants in the U.S. to build replacements, doing so takes time, patience, and money; new LPTs can cost between $284 to $817 million a piece (Department of Energy, 2012, pg vi). Additional stressors to this sector are potential attacks from various state and non-state actors, as well as nature in the form of floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, forest fires, and solar flares which can cause electromagnetic pulse (EMP), knocking out vast sections of the grid in a cascading effect. Adding to the stress of this section of the Energy Sector are increasing mandates and legislation to reduce the use of reliable sources of electricity such as coal and nuclear power for less reliable sources such as solar and wind, and then forcing those unreliable and unpredictable sources of electricity onto an already temperamental grid (Fischer, 2015, pg 1).

Another vulnerability to the United States and its Critical Infrastructure is toward the Information Technology Sector. Resilience in this area is paramount, as very little is accomplished these days without the use of computers, servers, digital and virtual storage devices and facilities, and the ever-evolving industry which keeps this sector moving forward (Department of Homeland Security, n.d.c. para 1). Although there has (rightly) been much influence in the protection of information technology through increased cybersecurity legislation, the threats toward this sector increase exponentially with each new ground-breaking invention. Every invention ever made for the good and improvement of mankind has been twisted at some point by greed, ignorance, or evil, and information technology is no different. Although cybersecurity is moving forward to provide a bulwark of protection, it will never be enough. In years past, thugs used physical weapons to gain money and power through physical threats of violence made in person; today the same outcome can be achieved by teenagers from the relative calm and safety of their bedrooms with nothing more than a computer and the knowledge of how to abuse the power that information technology provides.

As such, these two areas (the Energy Sector and the Information Technology Sector) will be the crux of resiliency issues over not only the next five years, but probably much farther into the future.

References

Department of Energy (2012). Large Power Transformers and the U.S. Electrical Grid. Retrieved from https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/Large%20Power%20Transformer%20Study%20-%20June%202012_0.pdf.

Department of Homeland Security (n.d.a). Critical Infrastructure Sectors. Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/cisa/critical-infrastructure-sectors.

Department of Homeland Security (n.d.b) Energy Sector. Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/cisa/energy-sector.

Department of Homeland Security (n.d.c.) Information Technology Sector. Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/cisa/information-technology-sector.

Fischer, T. (2015). Assessing Emerging Policy Threats to the U.S. Power Grid-How Regulations, Mandates, and Subsidies Undermine Electric Reliability. Institute for Energy Research. Retrieved from https://www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/greatest-threat-power-grid-govt/.

Obama, B. (2011). Presidential Policy Directive/ PPD-8. The White House. Retrieved from https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/presidential-policy-directive-8-national-preparedness.pdf.

Obama, B. (2013). Executive Order 13636 of February 12, 2013- Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity. The White House. Retrieved from https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2013-02-19/pdf/2013-03915.pdf.

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