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Critical Infrastructure Sectors

Protecting and ensuring the continuity of the critical infrastructure of the United States are essential to the nation's security, public health and safety, economic vitality, and way of life.

Critical infrastructure are the assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, public health or safety, or any combination thereof.

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 (HSPD-7) established U.S. policy for enhancing critical infrastructure protection by establishing a framework for the Department's partners to identify, prioritize, and protect the critical infrastructure in their communities from terrorist attacks. The directive identified 17 critical infrastructure sectors and, for each sector, designated a federal Sector-Specific Agency (SSA) to lead protection and resilience-building programs and activities. HSPD-7 allows for the Department of Homeland Security to identify gaps in existing critical infrastructure sectors and establish new sectors to fill these gaps. Under this authority, the Department established an 18th sector, the Critical Manufacturing Sector, in March 2008.

Each of the Sector-Specific Agencies developed a Sector-Specific Plan that details the application of the NIPP framework to the unique characteristics of their sector.

Critical Infrastructure Sectors

stalk of wheatFood and Agriculture gold coinsBanking and Financechemical vatChemical
commerical buildingCommercial Facilitiescommunication towerCommunications car assembly lineCritical Manufacturing
dam with water rushingDams plane with pilotDefense Industrial Base ambulanceEmergency Services
energy towerEnergy close up of government buildingGovernment Facilities close up of petri dishHealthcare and Public Health
close up of server roomInformation Technology close up of the face of the Statue of LibertyNational Monuments and Icons nuclear towerNuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste
postal worker moving packagePostal and Shipping rows of cars in trafficTransportation Systems drop of waterWater 

Why Is Critical Infrastructure Protection Important?

  • Attacks on critical infrastructure could significantly disrupt the functioning of government and business alike and produce cascading effects far beyond the targeted sector and physical location of the incident.
  • Direct terrorist attacks and natural, manmade, or technological hazards could produce catastrophic losses in terms of human casualties, property destruction, and economic effects, as well as profound damage to public morale and confidence.
  • Attacks using components of the nation's critical infrastructure as weapons of mass destruction could have even more devastating physical and psychological consequences.

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 provides the primary authority for the overall homeland security mission. This act charged the Department of Homeland Security with primary responsibility for developing a comprehensive national plan to secure critical infrastructure and recommend “the measures necessary to protect the key resources and critical infrastructure of the United States.” This comprehensive plan is the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP), published by the Department in June 2006. The NIPP provides the unifying structure that integrates a wide range of protective security efforts into a single national program.

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