In May 1998 Presidential Decision Directive/NSC-63 (PDD-63), Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) was issued, which calls for a national effort to assure the security of the increasingly vulnerable and interconnected infrastructure of the United States. The DON CIO was assigned the additional role of DON Critical Infrastructure Assurance Officer (CIAO) in August 1999. The DON CIAO is responsible for developing a plan for protecting the Department's critical cyber and physical infrastructure and to coordinate remediation efforts. Federal departments and agencies, DoD, Regional and Functional Commanders-in-Chiefs, and the Services, have begun the process of identifying and securing their critical, operationally relevant, assets and related infrastructure components that they depend on to fulfill their responsibility of ensuring national security.
One of my first objectives as DON CIAO was to develop a tool to assist installation commanders, others involved with installation security, and the DON family in general, in understanding CIP and their roles in mission assurance. After months of prototyping and field-testing, we have begun distributing the DON CIP Self-Assessment Tool and Reference Guide (Version 1) on CD-ROM. The tool contains a wide range of relevant and complementary information on virtually all areas of security of DON missions and assets.
The development of the compact disc was a highly collaborative effort. Content providers include: the Federal Computer Incident Response Center; Fleet Information Warfare Center; Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; University of Virginia Center for Risk Management of Engineering Systems; Naval Criminal Investigative Service; Office of the Chief of Naval Operations; Office of the Commandant of the Marine Corps; National Infrastructure Protection Center; Carnegie Mellon University; National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Vredenburg. A DON CIP Working Group provided initial product testing and acceptance.
The Self-Assessment Tool was initially distributed at the May 2001 Connecting Technology Symposium and Exhibition held in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We are preparing for distribution to all DON major commands and claimants.
The CIP Self-Assessment Tool is another method by which we strengthen our mission here at the DON CIO of putting information to work for our people.