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Critical Infrastructure Protection Based on your review of any of the assigned or supplementary resources for this module or previous modules, describe what you feel is one of the most urgent or alarming vulnerabilities in our nation's critical infrastructure based on the concept of interdependency? What mitigation measures, if any, do you think would be effective and practical for reducing that vulnerability and preventing disruption of that infrastructure? Author: Jonathan B. Smith Michigan
State University 's School of Criminal Justice I believe the greatest vulnerability in our nation's critical infrastructure(1) based upon the concept of interdependency lies in the fact that "private industry owns and operates approximately 85 percent of our critical infrastructures and key assets." ("The White House," p. 8) I feel that The National Strategy for The Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key Assets report is overly optimistic about the private sectors motivations and capacity to prudently engage in the reassessment of risk management plans and independent investment in further infrastructure security; given the additional and heightened risks following 9/11. Without a substantial public/private partnership and additional regulations by the appropriate governing bodies, the security of the critical infrastructure in the hands of the private sector will vary widely in quality and scope. The Tragedy of the Commons "Applied to critical infrastructure security, the tragedy of the commons works like this. Security is not free. A company incurs costs when it invests in measures to protect the portion of infrastructure that it owns or controls. If a company does not believe other companies are willing or able to make a similar investment, then it faces the likelihood of losing market share while simply shifting the vulnerability elsewhere. When terrorists strike, the company will still suffer the disruptive consequences of an attack right alongside those who did nothing to prevent it. Those consequences are likely to include the cost of implementing new government requirement." (Flynn, p. 55) Mitigation of The Tragedy of the Commons The only way to mitigate the risks posed by the tragedy of the commons is to ensure that universal security regulations are imposed upon the private sector trustees of our nation's critical infrastruture components. When the requirements are imposed on all critical infrastructure owners equally, the cost of the additional security is borne by the entire nation, similar to how insurance risks are pooled and shared through insurance companies and reinsurers. With the economic and social interests of 85 percent of the critical infrastructure owners in alignment, the interdependency risk posed by the tragedy of the commons will be greatly mitigated and our nation's resources can then be focused upon other potentially devastating critical infrastructure interdependencies. Works Cited: Flynn, S. (2004). America the
vulnerable: How our The White House. (2003). National
Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key
Assets. Retrieved September 7, 2004, from Critical Infrastructure Definition "National security and the quality of life in the United States rely on the continuous, reliable operation of a complex set of interdependent infrastructures: electric power, oil and gas, transportation, water, communications, banking and finance, emergency services, law enforcement, government continuity, agriculture, health services, and others. Today, these systems depend heavily on one another; that interdependency is increasing. Disruptions in any one of them could jeopardize the continued operation of the entire infrastructure system. Many of these systems are known to be vulnerable to physical and cyber threats and to failures induced by system complexity. In the past, the nation's critical infrastructures operated fairly independently. Today, however, they are increasingly linked, automated, and interdependent. What previously would have been an isolated failure could cascade into a widespread, crippling, multi-infrastructure disruption today. Currently, there are no tools that allow understanding of the operation of this complex, interdependent system. This makes it difficult to identify critical nodes, determine the consequences of outages, and develop optimized mitigation strategies." Statement of Dr. Samuel
G. Varnado Advisory
System | Bio
Terror | DHS
Priorities | DHS
Progress | Emergency
Management | Homeland
Security Defined | Infrastructure
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