Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee (CIPC)

Mission Statement

The mission of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Committee (CIPC) is to foster and assist policy initiatives on a wide range of technology issues in protecting our critical infrastructures such as cybersecurity, spyware and information technology. Committee members focus on issues related to critical infrastructure protection and the Department of Homeland Security programs. CIC welcomes IEEE U.S. members who would like to assist the committee in its mission.  Contact Deborah Rudolph at d.rudolph@ieee.org for details.

Priority Issues and Activities

• Develop the IEEE-USA Position Statement, Critical Infrastructure Protection (updated version of the 2002 Position Statement, “Critical Infrastructure Protection and Information Technology.”
• Develop a paper on the framework of critical infrastructure to include a definition and content of directives for the committee.
• Draft a Position Statement on Resiliency.
• Draft a White Paper on Interoperability.
• Draft a White Paper on Metrics for Mitigating Cyber Security Threats to Software Systems.

Position Statements/White Papers

• Not yet available.

Policy Communications

• Letter to the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Defense offering recommendations on ways to augment the President's Executive Order on National Security Professional Development. (September 14.)

CIP-Related Articles

• Taking the Temperature of the U.S. Electric Power Grid
  In an effort to drive critical thinking on the U.S. electric power grid and its well-publicized reliability issues, Luis Kun, Senior Research Professor of Homeland Security at National Defense University in Washington, D.C., and Professor Robert Mathews, Distinguished Senior Research Scholar in National Security Affairs and U.S. Industrial Preparedness at the University of Hawaii, are writing a series of white papers on problems caused by uninteroperability in the nation's critical infrastructures. First up: the electric power grid.

• How Safe Are Our Ports?
  U.S. ports handle more than 2 billion tons of domestic and import/export cargo per year, $1.3 billion worth of goods move in and out of U.S. ports every day. Interference with their function would be disruptive to the U.S. economy. However, terrorist activity could destroy port facilities or use them as a channel to move materials into the United States for other destinations.

• High-Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse: A Threat to Our Way of Life
  A nuclear burst detonated in space over the United States would create a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) that could cause the functional collapse of the electrical power grid. As a result, major infrastructures such as communications, transportation, financial services, emergency services, energy distribution, food and water could also be disrupted or extremely impaired.

Conferences

• The Eighth Annual IEEE Conference on Technologies for Homeland Security is seeking technical papers on next generation technologies capable of deployment within 3 to 5 years. The focus of technical papers will be on applied research, addressing hard problems where breakthroughs are needed. The eadline for abstract submittal is 10 November. Waltham, MA., May 12-13, 2008.

• Luis Kun gave a plenary presentation at the 2007 IEEE-USA co-sponsored conference, "Technologies for Homeland Security: Enhancing Critical Infrastructure Dependability", May 16, 2007 in Boston.

• IEEE-USA's Medical Technology Policy and ad hoc Critical Infrastructure Committees co-sponsored a special symposium on "Critical (Medical) Information Protection: A Privacy/Security Information Assurance Debate", on September 2nd, as part of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference set for August 30-September 3, 2006 in New York City.

Committee Organization

IEEE-USA members are invited to serve on the committee to assist with the activities and mission of CCP.

Meeting Schedule

CIPC holds meeting via teleconferences as needed.  A teleconference meeting was held on Feb. 23, 2007. Additionally, CIPC meetings are scheduled for September 17, November 6 and 30, and December 6, 2007 at the IEEE-USA offices in Washington, D.C. Please contact Deborah Rudolph for future meeting dates and details.

Participation

CIPC invites IEEE U.S. members who have and interest in public policy coupled with expertise in the field of computers, communications, and Internet technology and who are willing to be active contributors to the committee's activities to join the committee as an Internet Corresponding Member. As an ICM, you will be invited to recommend committee activities, comment on draft position statements and testimonies, and otherwise participate in the business of the committee. To become an ICM, please complete and submit the following information:

For more information on CIPC, its activities and meetings, and how you can participate, contact:

Deborah Rudolph
IEEE-USA
1828 L Street, N.W.
Suite 1202
Washington, DC 20036
(Office) 202-785-0017, ext. 8332
(Fax) 202-785-0835
(Email) d.rudolph@ieee.org

Resource Links

• Executive Order on Critical Infrastructure Protection (16 Oct. 2001)
• Critical Infrastructure Threats and Protection (Dept. of Homeland Security)
• National Strategy for Physical Protection of Critical Infrastructure and Key Assets
• National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace
• National Directive on Critical Infrastructure Identification, Prioritization, and Protection (17 Dec. 2003)
• President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection
• Critical Infrastructure Protection Grants Program (NIST)
• National Cyber Security Partnership
• The Infrastructure Security Partnership
• Infrastructure Report Card (ASCE)
• The Critical Infrastructure Protection Program (George Mason/James Madison Univ)
• Critical Infrastructure Protection Resources (EPIC)
• Today's Engineers (Sept. 2007)

GAO Reports

• Risk Management: Further Refinements Needed to Assess Risks and Prioritize Protective Measures at Ports and Other Critical Infrastructure (15 Dec. 2005), GAO-06-91
• Critical Infrastructure Protection:  DHS Faces Challenges in Fulfilling Cybersecurity Responsibilities (May 2005), GAO-05-434
• Technology Assessment:  Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Protection (May 2004), GAO-04-321
• Information Security: Progress Made, But Challenges Remain to Protect Federal Systems and the Nation's Critical Infrastructures (8 April 2003), GAO-03-564T
• Critical Infrastructure Protection: Challenges for Selected Agencies and Industry Sectors (28 Feb. 2003), GAO-03-233
• Critical Infrastructure Protection: Efforts of the Financial Services Sector to Address Cyber Threats (30 Jan. 2003), GAO-03-173

  Last update: 24 June 2008