Reference no: EM133935521

Case: The critical infrastructure of the United States is broken down into 16 sectors, and each sector has subsectors or components. Some sectors are more critical than other sectors. Public safety officials must identify the sectors that exist in their communities, and those sectors should be prioritized to determine their value for public safety. For example, protecting a nuclear reactor has a higher priority than protecting an isolated gas station. Both are important, but one has a higher priority for the safety of the community and the surrounding region. In this assignment, you will address the question, "What makes critical infrastructure critical? Use this text to review Unit 4 materials for this assignment.

Unit 4 IP Identifying & Evaluating Local Critical Infrastructures Location of Infrastructures In today's day and age, public safety officials must be observant about what is going on in their community, particularly regarding the critical infrastructures that support the surrounding region. For example, critical infrastructures that are in your community may also support other cities - or even a State or other areas in the United States. A nuclear power plant that is located in your community is an infrastructure that may support a large region - and its sabotage or destruction may impact multiple communities that are supported by it. At the other end of the spectrum are smaller critical infrastructures in your community that may not impact surrounding cities. For example, a small 5 officer police department may only impact one city. Every infrastructure is important, but not all infrastructures have the same equal impact, if it is damaged or sabotaged. As a public safety official, it is your job to identify all infrastructures in your community - and to determine how or why they are critical - and to assess the scope of their impact, if they are damaged. Every community is different - and some cities may not have specific infrastructures located in them. For example, not all communities have nuclear power plants located in them. You must determine what your community does have. Click here for a reminder of the different kinds of infrastructures that exist in the United States. Sample Sectors: Financial Services - Information Technology - Communications Exactly what makes an infrastructure critical to a city, county, State or nation? The impact that an infrastructure has on people is the factor that determines how critical it is. Some infrastructures are more critical than others. As a personal example, your bank account is critical to the operation of your daily, weekly and monthly finances. If you cannot access your money from a bank, either online or in-person, then you may experience a ripple effect of problems, which includes into being unable to pay bills or buy food, fuel and supplies for your family. On a larger scale, the same holds true for your city - or even for the nation - depending on how severely the financial sector is damaged or destroyed. These infrastructures are also frequently interconnected. For example, if the United States internet is hacked and disrupted (the IT sector), then online services will be interrupted, to include online banking (the Financial sector). The disruption of one sector may disrupt multiple other sectors simultaneously. 1 Sample Sectors: Water & Wastewater Systems - Healthcare & Public Health Another sector example that is on a personal level is the water supply to your home. Water is critical for the health and welfare of you - and your family. If the water supply to your home is stopped, then sanitation issues may arise when toilets cannot flush away waste products. Disrupting the water supply to an entire city creates even bigger challenges for the health and welfare of the people. If the drinking water supply is contaminated by an act of terrorism, larger public safety and medical issues will manifest. Fresh water must then be trucked in - and those who are injured from a contaminated water supply must be medically treated. The point of this exercise is for you to realize that public safety officials must (1) identify all critical infrastructures that exist in their community and (2) assess potential vulnerabilities and finally (3) propose possible solutions that might strengthen identified weaknesses. Identifying Infrastructural Weaknesses When a public safety official conducts an assessment of existing infrastructural vulnerabilities, the official must temporarily place himself in the mindset of a terrorist i.e., if you were a terrorist, then what is the least protected critical infrastructure that is available to you? Exactly how can it be damaged? Does it have obvious weaknesses? After you answer these critical questions (during your assessment of your community), then it is time to identify possible solutions to safeguard these infrastructures. For example, if an electric substation is not surrounded by a protective fence, then the easiest solution is to install a secure fence line to act as the first line of defense against sabotage. The second static line of defense might be to install lighting to illuminate the substation. Installing electronic cameras that automatically record any physical movement inside the perimeter of the fenced in area is another possible suggestion. Sometimes identifying weak links in critical infrastructures amounts to an application of common sense. As a public safety official, it is your job to be observant during your assessment - for the purpose of identifying potential or obvious weaknesses - and then to propose how those weaknesses can be strengthened or mitigated. 2 All communities are different - and not all communities have all 16 critical infrastructures located in them. For example: • Sample Sector: Food & Agriculture - A rural area might have critical infrastructures that are related to agriculture, ranching and the creation of large water reservoirs where water from rainfall is collected for use by nearby urban centers. Conversely, a large urban city may not have agricultural resources within its boundaries. • Sample Sectors: Critical Manufacturing & Defense Industrial Base - Some regions support mining operations to extract minerals that are critical for the production of weapons for the military, to include minerals that are needed to manufacture electronic components that help military jets to operate. • Sample Sector: Energy - Another critical infrastructure is the Gulf of Mexico, where many oil refineries are located along the coast, to accommodate shipping tankers bringing or exporting refined oil into and out of the United States. Your community is unique and may be different from other communities in the United States. When you evaluate the safety of Dallas Texas community, try to identify which critical infrastructures are prominent and present - and then consider if there are any obvious weaknesses or deficiencies in them, which should be corrected or strengthened. Some infrastructures may be adequately protected, while others are not. It is your job to conduct a critical infrastructural assessment of the situation in your area. Common subsectors of critical infrastructures might include (alphabetized): o Airports (people concentrated & transportation) o Banks & Online Banking (finance) o Cell Towers (communication hub) o Consolidated 911 Centers (communication & public safety) o Fire Departments (medical & public safety) o Government Buildings o Hospitals (medical & public safety) o Interstate Overpasses & Bridges (these are major transportation routes for food, fuel, truckers and first responders) ~ o Malls or shopping areas (people concentr a ted) o Military Bases (national de fense) o Phone Companies (communic ation hub) o Police Departments (public sa f ety) o W a ter Companies & W a ter To wer s o Sports Arenas (concentr a ted people) o Schools (concentr a ted people) o Trucking/Shipping Cen ters & Ports o Major Manufacturing Plants o Grocery Stores & Food Warehouses o Refineries & Fuel Depots

Address the following in a 4-6-page paper:

Look at the critical infrastructure in your local community, and answer the following questions:

What sectors or subsectors seem to be most prevalent in your community? Get top-notch online assignment help now.

In your analysis, what are the 5 most critical sectors or subsectors in your community? Why might they be more important than other sectors?

For each of the selected sectors, explain the possible short-term and long-term effects on the community, if they were to be sabotaged or destroyed.

Be detailed in your responses, and support your arguments with a logical analysis. For example, if one sector is sabotaged, then how or why might it affect other sectors in the community?

Consider the local, state, and national importance of sectors and subsectors that might be in or near your community.
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