InfoGram

September 4, 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 email at usfacipc@dhs.gov.

Identifying Critical Infrastructures

This is the second in a series of five brief articles that review the critical infrastructure protection (CIP) process as it applies to emergency first responders. The first article ("A CIP Review") can be seen in the 28 August InfoGram.

Events of the past two years have focused attention on the many national critical infrastructures: telecommunications, electrical power, transportation, water, gas and oil, banking and finance, etc. However, the U.S. Fire Administration Critical Infrastructure Protection Information Center (CIPIC) has attempted to inform firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and emergency managers regarding the protection of their own departmental critical infrastructures as well as those owned by others that may directly or indirectly affect their response-ability.

The major objective of a department's CIP program is to protect internal critical infrastructures. Generally stated, these are the people, physical assets, and communication systems that are indispensably necessary for survivability, continuity of operations, and mission success. The first step of the CIP process is to specifically identify these people, assets, and systems. The identification step recognizes and accepts there are definitely "show-stoppers" within the department that under all circumstances must remain intact and operational 24/7 to guarantee operational effectiveness.

Despite many similarities, the differences in personnel, assets, and systems among individual emergency response departments necessitate that chief officers identify their own organizational critical infrastructures. The remaining four steps of the CIP process cannot be initiated without the accurate identification of internal critical infrastructures. Therefore, the CIPIC reminds senior leaders that their protection activities or countermeasures cannot be implemented reliably if what really needs protection is unknown.

A thorough explanation of CIP and the five-step process can be seen in the CIP Process Job Aid available as a Microsoft Word Document (81kb) to read and download at: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/fire-service/cipc/cipc-jobaid.shtm.

Weather: A Frequent CIP Adversary

According to meteorologists at the National Weather Service, this summer the United States experienced the most tornadoes in a seven-day span, hailstorms that dropped record-setting chunks of ice, windstorms exceeding 120 mph, numerous powerful thunderstorms, seemingly endless rainfall, several deadly floods, hurricanes, and more. These widespread and destructive events caused a growing number of weather experts to suggest that, perhaps, because of global warming, severe storms will increase in frequency and violence. Thanks to fossil fuels, climatologists say, we have put more carbon into the atmosphere in the past 50 years than in the previous million years. "With more energy and instability on hand, there's more fuel for the storms that fire up. That means they can be bigger and nastier."

Such weather occurrences often exploit vulnerabilities in the critical infrastructures of first responders as well as those of the local community. They occasionally incapacitate the physical assets and communication systems upon which emergency response departments depend for the successful accomplishment of missions affecting life and property. Additionally, harsh weather has the tremendous potential to drain scarce resources and paralyze all that is requisite for organizational and community continuity of operations. It may be informative to note here that the interconnectivity and interdependence of local and regional critical infrastructures are a major vulnerability resulting in the periodic degradation or temporary elimination of services.

Given the prognostication by specialists for more adverse weather throughout America, the CIPIC recommends that firefighters, emergency medical personnel, and emergency managers prepare or revise their mitigation and preparedness plans to achieve the following minimum objectives:

• Protect the health and safety of personnel.
• Ensure uninterrupted communications including 9-1-1.
• Prevent the disruption to safe and rapid transportation.
• Eliminate the loss of apparatus and essential equipment.
• Avert damage to stations and other key facilities.

Bolstering CIP with News Organizations

A Federal Computer Week research group released this week the results of a national poll of over a thousand Americans. Seventy-one percent of the respondents indicated they would tune in to conventional news media for reliable information about natural or man-made disasters. The majority of survey participants inferred that they would treat the news media as a "first responder" to gather needed information about the catastrophe.

This survey reconfirms that news media organizations remain the main communication conduits to the public with the capability of dispensing valuable information. It is logical to conclude, therefore, that with frequent releases of properly guided and packaged information, the news media can be an effective part of a community's management of an emergency situation.

Unless the public is well informed, it will not know how to minimized panic and react constructively to preserve life and property including critical infrastructures. Since the news media executes rapid information dissemination, radio and TV announcers and journalists can significantly contribute to saving lives and infrastructures. By delivering completely responsible and dependable information fully processed by community leaders, including those of the emergency services, news organizations can meaningfully assist all disaster management operations.

The CIPIC recommends that community leaders develop strong, positive working relationships with the news media, and create new strategies for using these organizations and their personnel to cut through the chaos of any catastrophe.

Incorporating CIP in Training

Many have heard that "armies fight as they train" and "teams play like they practice." The operative words in these expressions are "train" and "practice," which apply equally as much to volunteer and career personnel on the front lines of domestic emergencies. Training and practicing are sacrosanct responsibilities of department chiefs, their training officers, and maybe more substantially, the company officers as the backbone of emergency service training. Furthermore, training and practicing are matters that significantly depend on the attitude, skills, and dedication of those specifically appointed to prepare and execute these activities.

Most would agree that training should be proactive, realistic, progressive, interesting, and supportive of the department's mission statement. Most would also agree that practice should provide practical and efficient opportunities to correct operational difficulties, improve command protocols, and resolve conflicts when integrating multiple (mutual aid) departments and other organizations.

Quality training and practicing significantly contributes to the protection of the most critical of all infrastructures-personnel. However, these activities can additionally teach and rehearse personnel on how to protect other critical infrastructures when performing their heroic duties. Acknowledging this, the CIPIC encourages all department trainers to know their organization's critical infrastructures, to understand how these infrastructures may or may not be protected, and to appropriately apply this information when planning and conducting all training and practice events.

Incorporating measures to protect internal and external critical infrastructures into these activities demonstrates an attitude and behavior that will yield positive benefits for the emergency department and its community.