Sector Outreach and Programs Division

In order to strengthen the capacity of the critical infrastructure stakeholders to achieve their security and resilience mission, the Sector Outreach and Programs Division (SOPD) builds stakeholder capacity and enhances critical infrastructure security and resilience through voluntary partnerships that provide key tools, resources, and partnerships. The division operates the council and stakeholder engagement mechanisms for the critical infrastructure security and resilience community. The division also serves as the sector-specific agency for 6 of the 16 critical infrastructure sectors and collaborates with the other 10.

Mission

To build, align, and leverage national public-private stakeholder partnerships and partnership programs to enhance critical infrastructure security and resilience

Our division’s services for enhancing critical infrastructure security and resilience across the sectors include:

• Serving as the sector-specific agency for 6 of the critical infrastructure sectors
• Coordinating across all 16 critical infrastructure sectors
• Providing expertise in critical infrastructure security and resilience
• Enabling critical infrastructure security partnerships and managing the Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council
• Developing and delivering stakeholder education, training, and exercises
• Facilitating information-sharing and managing the critical infrastructure information sharing environment

Sector-Specific Agency Responsibilities

Sector-specific agencies are the primary federal entities responsible for coordinating critical infrastructure security and resilience efforts within individual sectors. DHS is the sector-specific agency for 10 of the 16 sectors; IP is responsible for 6:

• Chemical Sector
• Commercial Facilities Sector
• Critical Manufacturing Sector
• Dams Sector
• Emergency Services Sector
• Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector

Sector-specific agency activities:

• Facilitate the public-private partnership across critical infrastructure sectors
• Develop strategic goals to mitigate risk and improve resilience
• Provide and promote education, training, information sharing, and outreach support
• Shape sector-specific goals that address physical, human, and cybersecurity risks and drive security and resilience activities and programs
• Provide, support, and facilitate technical assistance and consultations to identify vulnerabilities and mitigate incidents
• Implement the NIPP 2013 framework and guidance tailored to respective sectors 
• Develop sector-specific plans with public and private sector partners

Director

Ms. Linda Solheim

Contact

SOPDExecSec@hq.dhs.gov