InfoGram

April 1, 2004

NOTE: This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the emergency management and response sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. It has been prepared by NATEK Incorporated for the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by email at emr-isac@fema.dhs.gov.

Planning for Water Shortages

Officials of the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) and the American Water Works Association (AWWA) recently indicated that more American communities might be confronted with increasing water shortages or stoppages resulting from man-made or natural events. Both the GAO and AWWA studied this issue and recommended local planning to prevent or alleviate the dangerous disruption caused by little or no water over short and long periods of time.

Given prevailing droughts and recent water system failures, the EMR-ISAC agrees that water shortage emergency planning is prudent and necessary at local and regional levels of government. Normally, the municipal and/or county emergency manager would be responsible to lead the development and revision of these plans. This individual recognizes the essential role of the public works office in community emergency management and, specifically, for mitigation and preparedness practices regarding water shortages or stoppages.

According to the 2004 edition of the Fire Department Water Supply Handbook (by PennWell Corporation), fire departments should appoint a Water Supply Officer who maintains a favorable rapport with the local public works director. This relationship ensures efficient water supply or appropriate alternatives for all hazards. The arrangement also facilitates the preparation of a water supply master plan for the fire department and municipality that includes the operational status and location of all water supply points. The EMR-ISAC suggests that a cohesive relationship between the fire department and public works office will yield tremendous benefits for the emergency manager during the preparation of water shortage emergency plans.

Continuity of Operations Planning

The EMR-ISAC consistently espouses the critical infrastructure protection (CIP) philosophy that government and organizational leaders must protect those infrastructures absolutely required for survivability, continuity of operations, and mission assurance. These are the critical infrastructures that must be protected with countermeasures if threatened by and vulnerable to man-made or natural attacks.

A continuity of operations (COOP) plan will ensure that vital government or organizational services are available without interruption at all times, particularly during emergencies. The plan should recognize that certain critical infrastructures must remain intact and operational during all hazards. It will further discern the mission essential tasks that must continue unabated to guarantee successful COOP.

The identification of the critical infrastructures and mission essential tasks is a prerequisite for COOP planning because it establishes the parameters that drive many other planning endeavors. Additionally, experience sustains that as CIP significantly promotes COOP, so does COOP planning considerably enhance CIP. Therefore, the EMR-ISAC recommends the following minimum actions by emergency managers and first responders charged with the preparation of a COOP plan:

• Identify the critical infrastructures and essential tasks necessary to assure the undisrupted continuation of government or organizational services.
• Prioritize the critical infrastructures and essential tasks for appropriate protective measures.
• Implement protective measures for the high priority critical infrastructures and essential tasks as quickly as resources permit.
• Prepare succession lists for those in key leadership positions.
• Select and equip an alternate site to continue operations when the primary location is threatened or degraded.
• Establish redundant voice and data communication (cyber) systems.
• Revise and rehearse the COOP plan at least annually.
• Safeguard the COOP plan as a document for official use only and for limited distribution.

Impersonation: A Threat

The Washington Post reported this week that a suspected serial arsonist impersonated a fire marshal and attempted to obtain a list of teachers, yearbook, and fire evacuation plan from the main office of a nearby elementary school. The impostor fled the school only after its principal asked to inspect his identification, which he had quickly flashed.

This incident serves as a reminder to all community servants that America's criminals and transnational terrorists continue to exploit vulnerabilities in order to plan attacks on soft targets within the United States. The possibility of aggravated arsonists and even suicide bombers impersonating emergency responders is real and requires a different mindset by legitimate first response personnel. Specifically, all members of the emergency management and response sector must be aware of this threat and, if necessary, change their collective behavior.

How can emergency departments quickly confirm the identity of a potential impostor rapidly entering into the fast pace and occasional confusion at the scene of an incident? Accepting that the first several minutes of response operations leave little to no time for detailed identification, the EMR-ISAC offers the following practices for consideration:

• Issue and mandate the wearing of picture identification while on duty.
• Require a 100% identification check at suspicious incidents.
• Maintain 100% personnel accountability at all incidents.
• Be observant and preserve situational awareness during the performance of duties.
• Attempt to know as many members of your department as possible.
• Recognize the members of neighboring departments and mutual aid organizations.
• Establish aggressive controls over vehicle access to the incident scene.
• Implement strong controls over non-official or spectator access to the incident scene.

Personal Information Security

During the last several years, first responders have been victims of fraudulent behavior and identity theft. Many of these victims were demoralized by the loss of financial stability resulting in periodic absenteeism while pursing legal recourses. Too often their calamity could have been avoided by simplistic personal information security procedures. The following briefly summarizes the more common countermeasures to protect the critical information of emergency personnel and their families. Furthermore, the EMR-ISAC advises that parents teach these actions to their young adults as imperative life-survival habits:

• Never divulge social security numbers unless you initiate the contact.
• Shred all paperwork containing social security numbers, bank account and credit card numbers, and other personal information.
• Use a locked mailbox or post office to pay bills and send paperwork with critical numbers.
• Check your credit reports annually for suspicious activity, incorrect entries, or unauthorized changes, etc.
• Scrutinize all bank and credit card statements for suspicious activity, incorrect entries, or unauthorized changes, etc.
• Deliberately look for unusual attachments to an ATM as well as nearby intruders when it is necessary to patronize these machines.
• Install firewall software and use secure websites when conducting personal or business electronic transactions by computer.
• Protect your computer passwords just like credit card numbers.