Banking and Finance

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of the Treasury

The Banking and Finance Sector is the backbone for the world economy, overseeing:

• Deposit, consumer credit, and payment systems.
• Credit and liquidity products.
• Investment products.
• Risk-transfer products (including insurance).

As direct attacks and public statements by terrorist organizations demonstrate, the sector is a high-value and symbolic target. Additionally, large-scale power outages, recent natural disasters, and economic troubles demonstrate the wide range of threats facing the sector. Faced with these threats, financial regulators and private-sector owners and operators work collaboratively to maintain a high degree of resilience.

Chemical

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Homeland Security, Office of Infrastructure Protection

Several hundred thousand facilities in the United States in some manner use, manufacture, store, transport, or deliver chemicals, encompassing everything from petrochemical plants to pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The Chemical Sector can be divided into five main segments, based on the end product produced:

• Basic chemicals.
• Specialty chemicals.
• Agricultural chemicals.
• Pharmaceuticals.
• Consumer products.

Commercial Facilities

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Homeland Security, Office of Infrastructure Protection

The Commercial Facilities Sector includes a wide range of business, commercial, residential, and recreational facilities where large numbers of people congregate.

Commercial facilities allow the general public to move freely without the deterrent of highly visible security barriers.

This sector is diverse in both scope and function, and is divided into eight subsectors: Entertainment and Media, Gaming, Lodging, Outdoor Events, Public Assembly, Real Estate, Retail, and Sports Leagues.

Communications

Sector-Specific Agency:

National Communications System

The Communications Sector is an integral component of the U.S. economy, as it underlies the operations of all businesses, public safety organizations, and government. Over the last 25 years, the Communications Sector has evolved from a predominantly voice-centric monolithic service into a diverse, competitive, and interconnected industry using global, satellite, and wireless transmission systems.

Long-established processes and procedures for network security and rapid response and recovery under all hazards ensure the continued operation of vital communications services. Focused risk management and infrastructure protection are integral to the sector’s business continuity planning and network design processes.

Critical Manufacturing

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Homeland Security, Office of Infrastructure Protection

The Critical Manufacturing Sector is the newest addition to the critical infrastructure sectors identified in the NIPP. The Critical Manufacturing Sector is composed of four broad manufacturing industries, which were not represented in the original critical infrastructure sectors. These industries are:

• Primary metal manufacturing:
• Iron and steel mills and ferro alloy manufacturing.
• Alumina and aluminum production and processing.
• Nonferrous metal (except aluminum) production and processing.
• Machinery manufacturing: engine, turbine, and power transmission equipment manufacturing.
• Electrical equipment, appliance, and component manufacturing.
• Transportation equipment manufacturing:
• Motor vehicle manufacturing.
• Aerospace product and parts manufacturing.
• Railroad rolling stock manufacturing.
• Other transportation equipment manufacturing.

Dams

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Homeland Security, Office of Infrastructure Protection

The Dams Sector comprises the assets, systems, networks, and functions related to dam projects, navigation locks, levees, hurricane barriers, mine tailings and other industrial waste impoundments, and other similar water retention and/or control facilities.

The Dams Sector is a vital and beneficial part of the Nation’s infrastructure and continuously provides a wide range of economic, environmental, and social benefits, including: hydroelectric power, river navigation, water supply, wildlife habitat, waste management, flood control, and recreation.

Defense Industrial Base

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Defense¹

The Defense Industrial Base (DIB) Sector includes hundreds of thousands of domestic and foreign entities and subcontractors that perform work for the Department of Defense (DOD) and other Federal departments and agencies. These entities research, develop, design, produce, deliver, and maintain military weapons systems, subsystems, components, or parts. Defense-related products and services provided by the DIB Sector equip, inform, mobilize, deploy, and sustain forces conducting military operations worldwide.

The size and diversity of the sector results in an extraordinarily large and complex collection of industrial sites and operators across 15 subsectors and more than 90 segments governed by multiple regulations, laws, treaties, and precedents.

Emergency Services

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Homeland Security, Office of Infrastructure Protection

The Emergency Services Sector comprises the assets, systems, networks, and functions that are critical to maintain, protect, and preserve our safety and health in case of a natural or manmade disaster or terrorist incident. By protecting these elements, the sector is better able to support all critical infrastructure, essential governmental missions, and public services. These functions are vital to our Nation’s security, public health and safety, economic vitality, and way of life.

Through public and private-sector partnerships, this sector’s mission is to accomplish the following:

• Save lives;
• Protect property and the environment;
• Assist communities impacted by disasters (natural or manmade); and
• Aid recovery from emergency situations.

Energy

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Energy

The Energy Sector consists of thousands of geographically dispersed electricity, oil, and natural gas assets that are connected by systems and networks. Without a stable energy supply, health and welfare is threatened and the economy of the United States cannot function.

The energy infrastructure is divided into three interrelated segments: Electricity, Petroleum, and Natural Gas.

Food and Agriculture

Sector-Specific Agencies:

Department of Agriculture², Department of Health and Human Services³

The Food and Agriculture Sector is vast, comprising the Nation’s agricultural production and food systems from farm to table.

Because of the open nature of many portions of the Food and Agriculture Sector, attacks against the Nation using food or agricultural infrastructure or resources as a means to deliver biological, chemical, or radiological agents could have a devastating impact on public health and the economy.

Government Facilities

Sector-Specific Agencies:

Department of Homeland Security, Federal Protective Service, Department of Education⁴

The Government Facilities Sector includes facilities owned or leased by all levels of government domestically or overseas. Many of these facilities are open to the public, such as courthouses, educational facilities, libraries, and archives. Other facilities not open to the public contain highly sensitive information, materials, processes, and equipment, such as military installations, embassies, and research facilities. These facilities are differentiated from other critical infrastructure sectors because they are uniquely governmental.

The sector also includes the Education Facilities Subsector, which covers prekindergarten through 12th grade (pre-K through 12) schools, institutions of higher education, and business and trade schools. This subsector includes both government-owned facilities and facilities owned by private-sector entities, so it faces some unique challenges.

Healthcare and Public Health

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Health and Human Services

The systems, networks, services, facilities, functions, and roles needed to prevent disease and disability, treat patients, foster public health, and respond to public health emergencies span all levels of government and the private sector, and touch every citizen of the United States.

Ensuring a resilient healthcare and public health system capable of withstanding disruption and poised to protect lives and health during emergencies is vital for the Nation’s safety and security.

Information Technology

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Homeland Security, National Cyber Security Division

National Monuments and Icons

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of the Interior

The assets of the National Monuments and Icons (NMI) Sector are managed and safeguarded by the Department of the Interior, the National Archives and Records Administration, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Department of Defense.

These facilities memorialize or represent significant aspects of our Nation’s heritage, tradition, or values, and serve as points of interest for visitors and educational activities. Many of these sites represent the foundation of the country and as such must be protected from harm either by attack or natural disaster. The primary goal, however, is to preserve public accessibility to national critical assets to the maximum extent possible.

Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Homeland Security, Office of Infrastructure Protection

The Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector (or Nuclear Sector) owns, oversees, and operates commercial nuclear power reactors that provide power to millions of homes and businesses across the country. The sector also includes:

• Nonpower nuclear reactors used for research, training, and radioisotope production.
• Nuclear and radiological materials used in medical, industrial, and academic settings.
• Nuclear fuel-cycle facilities.
• The transportation, storage, and disposal of nuclear and radioactive materials and waste.

The Nuclear Sector is composed of the following primary subsectors: Nuclear Facilities, Nuclear Materials, and Nuclear Waste.

Nuclear critical infrastructure partners continue to build upon the sector’s already high state of preparedness against all hazards, including acts of terrorism.

Postal and Shipping

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration

Transportation

Sector-Specific Agency:

Department of Homeland Security⁵, Transportation Security Administration, and U.S. Coast Guard⁶

The Transportation Systems Sector is a vast, open network of interdependent systems that moves millions of passengers and millions of tons of goods annually.

What is unique about the Transportation Systems Sector is its part in the global transportation network. The Transportation Systems Sector relies on global partners to share critical information that can lead to more informed decisions by identifying and understanding threats, vulnerabilities, and consequences using global threat information and assessments.

The sector is divided into six modes of transportation: Aviation, Maritime, Mass Transit, Highway, Freight Rail, and Pipeline.

Water

Sector-Specific Agency:

Environmental Protection Agency

Safe drinking water and properly treated wastewater are critical to modern life. The former is a prerequisite for all human activity—physical, economic, and cultural. Wastewater treatment is important for preventing disease and protecting the environment. Therefore, from the standpoints of public health and economic impact, it is critical that we protect the Nation’s drinking water and wastewater infrastructures, collectively known as the Water Sector.

There are approximately 160,000 public drinking water systems and more than 16,000 wastewater systems across the United States. More than 84 percent of the U.S. population receives its potable water from these drinking water systems, and more than 75 percent of the U.S. population has its sanitary sewage treated by these wastewater systems.

The Water Sector is a partnership of public and private drinking water and wastewater utilities; national and State associations; State, local, and tribal governments; research foundations; and Federal agencies that together have been ensuring the protection and resilience of water services for decades. Water Sector partners collaborate to be better prepared to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from terrorist attacks and other intentional acts, natural disasters, and other hazards (i.e., the “all-hazards” approach).