InfoGram

July 14, 2005

NOTE: This InfoGram will be distributed weekly to provide members of the Emergency Services Sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. 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.

Transportation Infrastructure

Intelligence, homeland security, and law enforcement authorities continue to stress that there are no indications terrorists are planning another attack like the London bombings of last week. Nevertheless, officials of America's mass transit systems have increased security measures for rail commuters by employing additional police, cameras, and bomb-sniffing dogs to protect stations, tracks, bridges, and other assets of the nation's transportation infrastructure sector. Cognizant that the United States remains a target, transportation sector leaders accept the reality that public transit is an "open-access system," which is highly susceptible to terrorism.

In past InfoGrams, the Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) discussed the interdependencies between and among the nation's critical infrastructure sectors. For example, throughout this country's history, Emergency Services Sector (ESS) organizations have been repeatedly and directly affected by incidents involving the personnel and physical assets of the transportation infrastructure as well as other national critical infrastructures. Sadly, there have been occasions when emergency first responders were injured or killed during response operations involving mass transit services.

The EMR-ISAC reminds community and ESS leadership of the appropriateness and necessity for an integrated approach to the implementation of added protection methods for one or more local infrastructures. Through effective planning and coordination, municipal stakeholders (e.g., police, fire, EMS, public works, public health, etc.) should be able to reconcile how each will fit into the prevention, protection, response, and recovery continuum. Thoroughly coordinated plans and security measures will also explicitly specify responsibilities and preparedness to assume respective roles before, during, and after man-made and natural disasters.

CIP Education Encouraged

Critical infrastructure protection (CIP) is all about protecting the key people, physical assets, and communication/cyber systems of America's critical infrastructures from all hazards. The paramount purposes of CIP are to ensure the survivability, continuity of operations, and mission assurance of the organizations and agencies that form each of the nation's critical infrastructures (e.g., agriculture and food, banking and finance, chemical, emergency services, energy, etc.).

Decision-makers of the critical infrastructure sectors have learned that they should not depend solely on law enforcement assets for protection. Police forces will never have enough people to thoroughly protect all infrastructures within their jurisdiction. Therefore, each infrastructure sector must accept responsibly to successfully educate their personnel on how to deter terrorist surveillance activities and future attacks. For example, most law enforcement agencies can provide superior training on how to identify suspicious activities, unexplainable behaviors, strange objects, and unusual circumstances (e.g., sensitive maps, explosives manuals, terrorist literature, oversized clothing, unusual questions, containers with exposed wires, fraudulent uniforms, etc.).

Numerous security experts affirm that the best defense for the country's critical infrastructures is human vigilance. A special security consultant to the U.S. Congress substantiated this when he noted that "many terrorists have been apprehended in Israel because citizens phoned in a report." The EMR-ISAC concurs: "The preeminent defense for communities remains decidedly low tech: human vigilance." Therefore, the leaders, owners, and operators of the Emergency Services Sector are encouraged to provide their rank and file with a quality CIP education that minimally includes current knowledge of local infrastructures, and recognition of adversarial activities to surveil or attack community infrastructures. Observations should be reported the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC) by voice at 202-282-9201, email at nicc@dhs.gov, or by facsimile at 703-607-4998, in addition to local police authorities.

Chemical Hazards

Congressional researchers reported last week to the Associate Press that plants in 23 states store hazardous chemicals that could endanger millions of people in a worst-case scenario. Their research indicated that more than 100 chemical plants are tempting targets for terrorist attacks. This information follows a Department of Homeland Security report of two months ago that identified 297 chemical facilities where a toxic release could potentially affect 50,000 or more people.

As a member of the National ISAC Council, the EMR-ISAC participates in inter-ISAC and cross-sector endeavors to promote the protection of the critical infrastructures of the United States. Consequently, the EMR-ISAC has frequent contact with the Chemical ISAC and is aware of the far-reaching security measures implemented by the chemical industry to address the threats from all hazards. Refining and petrochemical industries continue to institutionalize an integrated system of domestic security efforts that include federal regulations, government partnerships, intelligence sharing, vulnerability assessments, voluntary security activities, and more.

Despite these best efforts, the possibility for a man-made or natural disaster involving a chemical plant will persist. Given the probability for a deliberate or accidental incident, the EMR-ISAC encourages Emergency Services Sector organizations-in conjunction with their municipal government officials-to efficiently coordinate prevention, protection, and response actions with chemical manufacturing facilities within or adjacent to their jurisdiction. The prevailing threat warrants the update and rehearsal of emergency plans for chemical hazards that integrate all responder departments and mutual aid elements.

WTC Health Registry Quarterly

On 26 May 2005, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene released its new World Trade Center Health Registry (WTCHR) Quarterly Report. The report, now in newsletter format, is the seventh in a series providing information and updates about the WTCHR to both enrollees and the public. This edition incorporates articles relating to possible 9/11 health effects, announcements, questions and answers, and links to resources and other information posted on the Registry website: www.wtcregistry.org. Abstracts of the articles featured in the May newsletter can be found online at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/wtc/wtc-report200505-abstracts.pdf (PDF, 33.7 Kb, Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Help).