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.
As we gather with family and friends between 24 December and 1 January, the Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) staff wish all members of the Emergency Services Sector (ESS) a very happy, safe, and peaceful holiday season. It was an honor and pleasure to serve your CIP needs during this past year, and we look forward to improving our outreach and services to the sector during 2007.
At this festive time of the year, ESS leaders, owners, and operators are reminded that the critical infrastructures (i.e., personnel, physical assets, and communication/cyber systems) upon which our loved ones and citizens depend must remain intact and operational without incapacitation or destruction by deliberate, natural, or accidental causes. Therefore, while our thoughts and attention turn to possible travel and celebrations, the EMR-ISAC recommends continued vigilance whenever and wherever to ensure survivability, continuity, and response-ability.
It is a sad fact that our adversaries (often including weather) will not be resting, but will continue to exploit vulnerabilities, test protective measures, and plan attacks during the remainder of this year and certainly throughout the next. Hence, persistent and effective vigilance is a bitter reality.
Please know that there will be no InfoGram published on 28 December and 4 January. The next InfoGram will be dated 11 January 2007.
The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) recently learned that some chief officers of Emergency Services Sector (ESS) departments and agencies are attending local Chamber of Commerce meetings. This information resulted in an EMR-ISAC analysis of the potential critical infrastructure protection (CIP) benefits of partnering with community business leaders at chamber functions.
Traditionally, a Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit action organization directed by volunteers, and designed to advance the commercial, financial, industrial, and civic needs of the community. Typically, the primary goal of chambers of commerce is to improve the business climate in a locality through networking, lobbying, common projects, and a selection of business services.
Considering the nature of these organizations, the EMR-ISAC appreciates the excellent opportunity for collaboration and communication (C2) between ESS chief officers and local business leaders. C2 with these community stakeholders should enhance their knowledge and support for the critical infrastructures of ESS organizations. Moreover, the relationship forged with this segment of the municipality will ensure comprehension of the emergency responder resources necessary to protect their respective businesses and infrastructures. At minimum, the human interaction at chamber events should assure acceptance of the ESS chief officer as the chief executive or operating officer (CEO or COO) of an entity that may exceed in personnel, equipment, and budget the size of many member businesses.
What better way is there for the ESS chief officer to interact with the business community leaders than to be a part of the local chamber of commerce?
The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) acquired information regarding a program that has the potential to enhance the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) of all Emergency Services Sector (ESS) members and their stakeholders.
Beginning in January 2007, the Rhode Island Association of Fire Chiefs (RIAFC) will launch a liaison program intended to open communications between RIAFC members and organizations that are stakeholders in providing emergency services in the state. Chief Robert Seltzer, RIAFC's president, conceived the idea and presented it to the association's board members. In describing his rationale for the program, Seltzer remarked that, "In the society we live in, we need to stay in touch with our stakeholders. Increasing fire service responsibilities and the emphasis on all-hazards planning necessitate that we are included in our stakeholders' planning and they in ours." He also pointed out that the fire service has much to offer its stakeholder partners and the liaison program provides an avenue to share that information.
Under the program's guidelines, designated RIAFC members will be assigned as the primary contact, or liaison, between the stakeholder organization and vice versa. The liaison contacts his or her respective organization on a monthly basis and reports orally or in writing to the association after each contact. The list of stakeholders includes 17 organizations that encompass law enforcement, fire, search and rescue, emergency medical, emergency management, mass casualty, transportation, the state's hospital association, and governor's office, among others.
The EMR-ISAC views this RIAFC liaison program as a model collaborative state-level project that may yield CIP benefits. Not only will all partners communicate-making each other aware of capabilities, challenges, needs, and lessons learned-but each can foster a rapport that can bolster the protection of the personnel, physical, and cyber/communication resources of all ESS and related partners in the state. Additionally, the liaison program should help answer the call for a serious federal effort to organize and synchronize the local, state, and national response to any crisis.
More information about the RIAFC liaison program to include contacts can be seen at: http://www.rifirechiefs.com.
The National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) released last summer is a comprehensive risk management framework that clearly defines critical infrastructure protection (CIP) roles and responsibilities for all levels of government, private industry, nongovernmental agencies, and tribal partners. The Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) considers the NIPP an unprecedented initiative at all levels of government and among private industry, tribal partners, and nongovernmental agencies, to build an overarching structure that integrates critical infrastructure security efforts, sets protection goals and supporting objectives, and focuses resources according to risk.
Recently, the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) component of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), began offering an independent study course (IS-860) that introduces the NIPP and provides awareness-level training for Emergency Services Sector (ESS) members at all levels of the public and private segments of society.
The course goals include defining critical infrastructure and key resources (CI/KR) protection in the context of the NIPP, and describing how the use of the risk management framework ensures steady-state protection within and across CI/KR sectors. This program also explains how the NIPP fosters information sharing, a practice regularly promoted in the InfoGram.
The NIPP builds on the principles of the President's National Strategy for Homeland Security and its companion strategies for the physical protection of critical infrastructure and key assets and the securing of cyberspace. It also fulfills requirements in Homeland Security Presidential Directive-7 and the Homeland Security Act of 2002. DHS Under Secretary for Preparedness George Foresman stated: "The NIPP formalizes and strengthens existing critical infrastructure partnerships and creates the baseline for how the public and private sectors will work together to build a safer, more secure and resilient America."
IS-860 can be taken for credit (a final exam is required and certificate awarded), or used for review purposes. Additional information about this course (IS-860) is available by visiting: http://www.training.fema.gov/EMIWeb/IS/is860.asp.
The U.S. Fire Administration/EMR-ISAC does not endorse the organizations sponsoring linked websites, and does not endorse the views they express or the products/services they offer.
This INFOGRAM may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. EMR-ISAC personnel believe this constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by email at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov.
The FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm
For information affecting the private sector and critical infrastructure, contact the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC), a sub-element of the NOC. The NICC can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9201 or by email at NICC@dhs.gov.
When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact.
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