InfoGram

March 13, 2003

NOTE: This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the emergency services sector with news and information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. For further information please contact the U.S. Fire Administration's Critical Infrastructure Protection Information Center at (301) 447-1325 or email at usfacipc@dhs.gov.

U.S. Fire Administration's CIP Program

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) has the mission to promote critical infrastructure information sharing and protection actions among the first responders of the fire and emergency medical services throughout the nation. In October 2000, USFA initiated a Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Program to support this mission and, simultaneously, established the Critical Infrastructure Protection Information Center (CIPIC) at USFA's location on the campus of the National Emergency Training Center (NETC) in Emmitsburg, Maryland.

In May 2002, USFA signed an agreement with the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) to transition the CIPIC into an Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC). The CIPIC assumed ISAC duties to facilitate the movement of threat intelligence and infrastructure protection information among selected CIP stakeholders, which include USFA, NIPC, and the emergency services (fire/EMS) sector of the United States. Since that time, the CIPIC/ISAC continues to disseminate relevant, timely CIP information and provide technical CIP assistance by electronic mail, telephone, and facsimile.

Because the CIPIC/ISAC is ideally co-located with USFA on the NETC campus, it offers many advantages to the sector it exists to serve. It is useful to know that the CIPIC/ISAC has an abundance of quality resources available to assist with the needs of CIP constituents. For example, the CIP specialist has access to the National Fire Academy, the Emergency Management Institute, the NETC Learning Resource Center, and the National Fire Programs. Also available for consultation are experts in the areas of firefighting, emergency medicine, hazardous materials, emergency management, response, mitigation, etc. There are several instances when these resources have made a favorable difference in the ability of the CIPIC/ISAC to address CIP issues and recommend realistic, constructive actions.

Practicing Critical Infrastructure Protection

The primary objective of practicing CIP is to protect the people, physical entities, and cyber systems that are indispensably necessary for the survivability, continuity of operations, and mission success of an organization. Simply stated, the personnel, things, and systems that must be always intact and operational are the organization's critical infrastructures. The secondary objective of CIP is to deter or mitigate attacks on these critical infrastructures by people, nature, and HazMat accidents. Considering these acutely consequential objectives, the CIPIC proffers that CIP is possibly the most essential component among all the important activities involved in emergency preparedness and response. This is why CIP should be the business of senior leadership, such as the chief officers of fire and emergency medical departments.

Senior leaders recognize the urgent requirement for response-ability, which is the product of decision-making and a crucial ingredient of leadership. Response-ability is the ability to choose sound, reliable responses or courses of action for any incident. It is that "leader quality" necessary to guarantee a fire/EMS department is fully response-able at all times and for all events. With this key characteristic, chief officers ensure that their departments are capable of responding to the right place, at the right time, and do the right things for the right outcomes.

The CIPIC espouses that the practice of CIP should be a response-ability of senior leaders. When selected as course of action and properly implemented, it will bolster operational effectiveness and enhance a department's efforts to be completely response-able for when and where needed regardless of the nature of the emergency. For more information about implementing CIP in a resource-restrained and time-efficient manner, see the CIP Process Job Aid at the following URL: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/fire-service/cipc-jobaid.cfm

Corporate Sponsorship: A CIP Option

Although the CIP process is intended to be resource-restrained, the application of countermeasures may require small or large amounts of money that emergency response departments and their communities do not have. How then do department or community leaders execute measures that protect their critical infrastructures?

A recent InfoGram suggested it might be helpful for local first response departments to identify businesses and charitable organizations willing to purchase equipment, apparatus, etc., that will improve each department's CIP status. Another idea that has been discussed by some emergency services organizations is corporate sponsorship. A straightforward "adopt-a-department" campaign could offer tangible opportunities for companies and individuals to help their local first responders initiate countermeasures that reduce or eliminate vulnerabilities to deliberate or accidental attacks.

Recruiting corporate sponsors to purchase or finance the tools of protection can yield positive results for both the contributing businesses and receiving emergency agencies. Assisting the infrastructure protection of local fire/EMS departments will enhance their operational effectiveness and response capabilities, which benefits everyone in the community, including the people and property of contributing corporations. Unfortunately, however, philanthropic contributions are not tax deductible unless the recipient is a "not-for-profit" organization.

Suspicious Activity Alert

Between 3:00 and 8:00 a.m., on 8 March, a marked county fire and rescue department vehicle was broken into while parked at the Virginia house of a department member. Stolen from the vehicle were items including a gold rescue chief badge, an orange colored helmet, three sets of pre-plans for locations within the county, and a portable radio with all the Northern Virginia frequencies. The county police department is investigating this crime and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is communicating with the local police.

All emergency first responders are requested to remain alert for any individuals trying to gather information about their departments. Each department should ensure that their facilities and equipment are secure at all times. If any department observes similar behavior within or around their jurisdiction, contact the local police and FBI immediately. Fire/EMS department personnel who witness suspicious activities involving department information or property are also requested to notify the NIPC using the contact numbers seen below. The NIPC will assure that the USFA CIPIC/ISAC is aware of reported incidents and any trends or patterns associated with these events.