InfoGram

October 23, 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 information systems. It has been prepared by NATEK Incorporated for the US Fire Administration. 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.

CIP Information Exchange

Previous InfoGrams communicated that the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) Critical Infrastructure Protection Information Center (CIPIC) is the Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) for the emergency management and response sector of the United States. As such, the Center actively supports the formal information exchange agreement between USFA and the Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) Directorate of the Department of Homeland Security, which assumed the responsibilities of the former National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC).

The primary goal of the relationship between the USFA and IAIP is to promote and facilitate the expeditious dissemination of information regarding potential threats and vulnerabilities to the critical infrastructures of the fire and emergency medical services. Another important goal of this arrangement is to acquire the information sharing cooperation of all fire, EMS, and emergency management departments throughout the nation. To provide a quality forum and to expedite essential information sharing, the Center will continue to use this document (InfoGram) to supply information about CIP trends, developments, best practices, threats, vulnerabilities, and suspicious activities.

Although only a few suspicious activities directed against emergency response organizations have been reported in recent months, the CIPIC cautions against complacency or passivity with regards to information sharing. Non-cooperation denies other emergency departments the opportunity to know the patterns, methods, and sources of potential malicious actions that possibly threaten the critical infrastructures of first responders. For example, this week a county emergency manager reported one of his cities discovered that during the last three months its website was being frequently visited by individuals from a country that sponsors terrorism. Naturally, that caused municipal leaders to question why this was happening and to discuss their readiness for a possible attack. The lesson to be derived here is not new but still relevant. Community and department websites must be purged from any information that can be used by our adversaries to plan and execute destructive actions.

The lesson is a good example of how information sharing can assist other municipalities and departments in making important decisions about preparedness and the protection of critical infrastructures. Therefore, the CIPIC urges all members of the emergency management and response sector to make credible reports to the IAIP by phone at 202-323-3204/3205/3206, or by email to nipc.watch@fbi.gov. In turn, IAIP will provide the CIPIC with refined data for dissemination throughout the sector as exemplified in the preceding paragraph.

Status of al Qaeda Threats

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a joint Information Bulletin to all state and local authorities including elements of the private sector advising that recent multiple reports indicate terrorists may be poised to conduct simultaneous attacks in the near term against U.S. interests in a number of domestic and overseas venues. The exact timing, targets, and locations of the possible attacks are unknown.

Some reports indicate that a large attack could follow a series of smaller operations in the Middle East and South Asia. The Information Bulletin was provided to sustain the awareness of appropriate state and local authorities and the private sector responsible for security of critical infrastructures and other potential target sets.

The United States remains at Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) Threat Level Yellow (Elevated). DHS and the FBI encourage all state and local authorities to remain vigilant as the war against terrorism continues.

Strengthening CIP with Leadership

There is no better time than now to strengthen CIP through quality leadership considering all that has transpired in the last two years. To assist senior emergency managers and responders in making a difference, particularly in the discipline of CIP, the CIPIC offers the following as a conceptual framework and not an exhaustive checklist. Its purpose is to stimulate thoughts among chief officers about daily actions that should yield benefits for CIP:

• Personally develop technical proficiency in the CIP Process.
• Understand that subordinate officers are a critical infrastructure of the department.
• Be a CIP teacher and mentor to the officers entrusted to you.
• Genuinely apply leadership skills to care for and serve your officers.
• Actively listen to your officers and then act upon what you heard.
• Inspire professional and personal excellence in your officers.
• Instill in your officers a spirit to achieve and win in all circumstances.
• Create a climate in which subordinate officers learn to be accountable.
• Establish tough but achievable standards and demand they be met.
• Foster strict individual and organizational discipline.
• Help your officers to rise and meet all challenges.
• Remember that how you treat your officers will affect how they treat their subordinates.
• Ensure your officers know their critical infrastructures and which ones need protection.
• Realize that organizations do (CIP) well only if their chief checks and checks again.

Primer on All-Hazards Emergency Management

The protection of critical infrastructures, the safety of citizens, and the preservation of property are major imperatives for all state and local leaders. Will you be ready to lead your state, community or organization in response to varied disasters and emergencies that challenge these obligations?

"If Disaster Strikes Today: A Governor's Primer on All-Hazards Emergency Management," was recently released by the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA). The primer highlights for state leaders and their staff the importance of maintaining a viable emergency management program. It also provides an overview of the roles and responsibilities of the state emergency management agency and the resources and capabilities that exist to maintain a coordinated, statewide, emergency preparedness, response, and recovery system.

Having reviewed the document, the CIPIC suggests that it has almost equal value for local leaders interested in knowing more about upward, sideways, and downward emergency management policies and programs. Awareness of these may help local decision-makers to manage disasters more expeditiously and efficiently. This primer of 24 pages can be seen and downloaded from the following link: http://www.nemaweb.org/docs/Gov_Primer.pdf (PDF, 1.9 Mb, Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Help).