The National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) provides the unifying structure for the integration of a wide range of efforts designed to enhance the security and resilience of the United States’ critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR). The NIPP lays out a risk management framework and details the processes that critical infrastructure partners can use to more effectively produce coordinated CIKR protection initiatives.
Key aspects and goals of the NIPP include:
Unified Approach: The NIPP establishes the approach for integrating the nation’s many CIKR protection initiatives into a single, unified effort.
Risk Management Framework: The NIPP promotes a risk management framework to guide the development of CIKR protection programs. This includes processes to:
- Identify assets, systems, and networks.
- Assess risks (considering threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences).
- Implement risk-reducing measures.
- Measure effectiveness.
Information Sharing: The NIPP emphasizes the importance of information sharing between and among the public and private sectors. Proper channels and methods for information dissemination are vital for informed decision-making.
Building Partnerships: Given that much of the nation’s critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, the NIPP focuses on building and fostering partnerships across federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments and between the public and private sectors.
Role Definition: The NIPP clarifies the roles and responsibilities across all levels of government, private industry, and other stakeholders, ensuring that everyone involved knows what they should be doing to protect CIKR.
Setting Priorities: It helps prioritize protection initiatives and investments across sectors and within sectors.
Measuring Effectiveness: The NIPP provides metrics and criteria that can be used to gauge the effectiveness of CIKR protection efforts and ensure they deliver the desired outcomes.
Public Awareness and Reporting: One of the goals of the NIPP is to foster public awareness about the importance of protecting critical infrastructure and the role everyone can play.
Continuous Improvement: The plan emphasizes the iterative nature of the risk management process and underscores the importance of continuously reassessing and updating CIKR protection strategies as the environment evolves.
Sector-Specific Plans (SSPs): The NIPP is complemented by Sector-Specific Plans that detail the application of the NIPP’s framework to each of the CIKR sectors, tailored to the unique characteristics and risk landscapes of each sector.
The NIPP, through its risk management framework, provides a clear path to enhance national unity of effort, ensuring that all stakeholders work together effectively to secure the nation’s critical infrastructures.