Infogram

January 15, 2004

NOTE: This INFOGRAM will be distributed weekly to provide members of the emergency management and response sector with information concerning the protection of their critical infrastructures. It has been prepared by NATEK Incorporated for the Emergency Preparedness and Response Directorate. For further information, contact the Emergency Management and Response - Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC) at (301) 447-1325 or by e-mail at emr-isac@dhs.gov.

EMR-ISAC: New Name

The U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) has changed the name of its existing Critical Infrastructure Protection Information Center (CIPIC) to the Emergency Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EMR-ISAC). The new name more accurately reflects the duties of its critical infrastructure protection (CIP) center and conforms to the system of ISACs supported by Homeland Security Presidential Directive-7 of December 17, 2003, to promote the protection of the nation's critical infrastructures.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the major purpose of an ISAC is to serve as an information sharing facilitator for a designated national critical infrastructure sector (e.g., water supply, transportation, telecommunications, emergency management and response, etc.). Specifically, an ISAC is the mechanism for the two-way trusted exchange of information in order to analyze and disseminate actionable intelligence on threats, attacks, vulnerabilities, anomalies, and security best practices involving a particular sector.

Since its creation on October 1, 2000, in response to Presidential Decision Directive-63, the CIPIC has performed the work of an ISAC, while serving the emergency management and response (EMR) sector of the United States. Now, as the EMR-ISAC, it will continue to benefit emergency managers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel (i.e., the EMR sector) by conducting daily research for current CIP issues; receiving and processing threat intelligence; preparing and distributing weekly INFOGRAMs and periodic CIP Bulletins; forwarding Sensitive CIP Information to validated sector key leaders; developing instructional materials; and providing technical assistance to sector members.

To acquire EMR-ISAC materials, sector members should subscribe to the USFA-CIP INFOGRAMs in FEMA's DisasterHelp website at https://disasterhelp.gov. For more information, contact the EMR-ISAC via phone at 301-447-1325, facsimile at 301-447-1034, and by e-mail at a new electronic address: emr-isac@dhs.gov. The former e-mail address (usfacipc@dhs.gov) will remain active until March 31, 2004.

Planning and Training in 2004

After receiving for the first time very specific details of attacks in the United States planned by al Qaeda, the federal government raised the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) to Level ORANGE (High) on 21 December. With the passing of the holidays and the many large gatherings that occurred during that time, Secretary Tom Ridge, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), announced that the HSAS was lowered to Level YELLOW (Elevated) on 9 January.

Secretary Ridge stated that despite the lowering of the HSAS, DHS would work closely with state and local homeland officials to maintain a high level of security awareness. DHS remains concerned about al Qaeda's desire to attack our nation and its critical infrastructures. "We will maintain particular vigilance around some critical resources and locales," he said.

Because there is enough flexibility in the advisory system, DHS has developed plans to concentrate future HSAS level increases and subsequent protective measures on geographic regions or critical infrastructure sectors (e.g., transportation, water supply, emergency management and response, etc.). Rather than issue a blanket alert for the entire country, the system will be applied in a manner that is regionally and/or sector based. Focused threat warnings should help the states, cities, and private industry avoid the high costs associated with heightened levels of alert.

Although transnational terrorists will continue attempts to degrade or destroy critical value American targets, it is not highly likely that they will directly attack the emergency management and response (EMR) sector of the nation (i.e., the fire and emergency medical services as well as emergency managers). However, indirect or secondary attacks are feasible and should be expected. Also, there is a greater possibility of direct attacks on the sector by domestic extremists. Therefore, the EMR-ISAC cautions that an attack on any region or sector of the nation will affect the critical infrastructures of the EMR sector by necessitating the employment and protection of personnel, critical assets, and communication systems. Considering this reality, EMR sector leaders should plan and train accordingly in 2004.

More About Dirty Bombs

"The threat of a radiological attack on the United States is real, and terrorists have a broad palette of [radiological] isotopes to choose from," said a Pentagon-funded study by the Center for Technology and National Security Policy at the National Defense University. "It could cause hundreds of fatalities under the right circumstances, and is essentially certain to cause great panic and enormous economic losses."

The year-long study concluded that a well-executed dirty bomb attack is "unlikely to cause mass casualties, such as would be expected if terrorists detonated a nuclear bomb or unleashed chemical or biological weapons." But it urges leaders of government at all levels and, particularly, emergency response agencies to rethink the widely held assumption that human casualties in a dirty bomb attack would be minimal.

Although a dirty bomb has never been used in an attack, experts say they are attractive to terrorists because "the devices are technologically simple, yet capable of generating widespread fear and economic chaos." The economic impact of such an attack would be devastating the study concluded, mainly because it forces long-term evacuations of homes and businesses for extensive decontamination, saddling property owners with enormous costs not covered by standard home and business insurance.

The study calls on government and emergency response leaders to take steps to prepare for a dirty bomb attack, including stockpiling medicines to treat surviving victims. The experts also encourage first response organizations to acquire and practice the means to immediately determine if there has been a radiological dispersal at or in the vicinity of any suspicious explosion. The study indicates, however, that the most troubling scenarios involve the quiet dispersal of contaminants with no explosions to announce the crime.

Emergency Communication Systems

When emergency communication systems fail, first responders are often prevented from accomplishing mission essential operations on behalf of the citizens they serve. Unfortunately, recent history substantiates that telecommunications seem to fail precisely when the capability is needed most for vital functions and response-ability. This reality sustains the fact that communication networks are the central nervous system of modern American emergency response departments. Such is why communication systems are among the top three critical infrastructures of the EMR sector and, therefore, why telecommunications warrant uninterrupted attention and protection from degradation or destruction.

The Administration's White Paper, "The National Strategy for the Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key Assets," states that "critical infrastructures rely upon a secure and robust telecommunications infrastructure. Redundancy within an infrastructure is critical to ensure that single points of failure in one infrastructure will not adversely impact others." As applied to the EMR sector, this quote simply means that when emergency telecommunications-an EMR critical infrastructure-become non-operational, then a national critical infrastructure-one or more EMR departments-may also become non-operational.

The "National Strategy for Critical Infrastructure and Cyberspace Security" states that progress has been made, but more still needs to be done to achieve redundancy through diverse routing to protect the emergency communication systems infrastructure. Communication specialists recommend the following basic steps to build the communications and sharing network required to deal with man-made and natural disasters:

FAIR USE NOTICE

This INFOGRAM may contain copyrighted material that was not specifically authorized by the copyright owner. EMR-ISAC personnel believe this constitutes "fair use" of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use copyrighted material contained within this document for your own purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Reporting Notice

DHS and the FBI encourage recipients of this document to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to DHS and/or the FBI. The DHS National Operation Center (NOC) can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9685 or by e-mail at NOC.Fusion@dhs.gov.

The FBI regional phone numbers can be found online at www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm

For information affecting the private sector and critical infrastructure, contact the National Infrastructure Coordinating Center (NICC), a sub-element of the NOC. The NICC can be reached by telephone at 202-282-9201 or by e-mail at NICC@dhs.gov.

When available, each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of activity, number of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company or organization, and a designated point of contact.

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