Terrorism, Insider Threats, and Homeland Security

Week 6: Terrorism, Insider Threats, Homeland Security
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course name & number
Professor
Due date
Week 6: Terrorism, Insider Threats, Homeland Security
Functions of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan and Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience.
The National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) and Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience (CISR) are plans of action to protect and ascertain the continuity of critical infrastructure and resources in the US. The plan achieves this by conducting various functions.
One is setting infrastructure goals and objectives. The NIPP develops broad national goals that ensure critical infrastructure security and resilience. These goals and objectives outline priorities for ensuring critical infrastructure management linked to national goals, objectives, operations, and risk environments (Homeland Security, 2013, pp. 16). Additionally, they are supported through funding and attention by both public and private sectors, thus, getting critical infrastructure within communities at significantly high risk.
Identifying infrastructure is the second function of the NAPP and CISR. To effectively manage critical infrastructure from risks and threats, entities must establish the assets, systems, and networks that are key to the survival and smooth operations of the institutions. NAPP and CISR help identify critical infrastructure within the government, private sectors, and associated independencies to establish essential functions and resources that can affect them and their development (Homeland Security, 2013, pp. 16). Consequently, they can prepare, plan and develop capacity.
Assessing and analyzing risks is another function. Assessing critical infrastructure risks encompasses the evaluation of threats, which can be natural, or artificial, conducted by a group or individual to cause harm to the life, information, and operations of an organization. According to Homeland Security (2013, pp. 17), evaluation of vulnerability assesses attributes that make an entity susceptible to exploitation while consequences outline the effects it poses. Through these plans, entities carry out a risk assessment to identify potential incidents and develop effective plans to mitigate them.
The NAPP implements risk management activities. Risk management activities involve managing the risk based on the critical nature of the infrastructure, the cost of the activities, and a reduction of the imminent risk. The plan facilitates this by identifying, detecting, and preparing the threat, cutting back on the entity’s vulnerabilities, and preventing the consequences (Homeland Security, 2013, pp. 18-19). All the activities are laid out in the NIPP, ensuring the security and resilience of government and private entities.
The NIPP and CISR are also responsible for measuring effectiveness. The critical infrastructure community assesses the effectiveness of efforts to ensure risk management within all the sectors in the country. It does so by developing direct and indirect indicators measurements that support the national goals and objectives (Homeland Security, 2013, pp.19). Through these initiatives, national goals, priorities, outputs, data,...