Critical infrastructure protection

The concept of a "resilient infrastructure" allows the aspects of the all-hazards environment—terrorism, earth effects and natural disasters, deterioration, and accidents—to be considered in light of how we want the infrastructure to perform under adverse conditions. This chapter provides a framework for understanding infrastructure protection and resilience, solving problems in this field, and assimilating new information. Critical infrastructure protection and resilience (CIP/R) takes place in an environment of policy, strategy, plans, and law at the national, state, and local levels. The National Security Strategy, National Infrastructure Protection Plan Sector-Specific Plans, National Response Framework, and National Incident Management System documents establish the policy environment that surrounds all efforts for CIP/R. The design of protective systems is perhaps the broadest topic in the CIP conceptual framework. A complete protective system encompasses physical, human, and cyber dimensions (elements). The chapter briefly explains all three dimensions.