Lesson Overview

As you learned earlier, one of the objectives of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) is building partnerships to share information and implement critical infrastructure protection and resilience programs.

Upon completing this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain the sector partnership model and the framework for partnerships as presented in the NIPP.
Describe other partnership resources available to critical infrastructure partners.

This lesson also provides a summary of the key points presented in this course.

Critical Infrastructure Sectors

Each critical infrastructure sector is a logical collection of assets, systems, and networks that provides a common function to the economy, government, or society.

Each sector develops its own Sector-Specific Plan for implementing critical infrastructure protection and resilience programs and activities.

Descriptions of the critical infrastructure sectors are accessible on the following screen.

Critical Infrastructure Sector Descriptions

An overview of each of the critical infrastructure sectors and the Sector-Specific Agency (SSA) that is responsible for coordinating NIPP implementation within the sector are provided below.


Sector and Sector-Specific Agency	Overview
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	The Information Technology (IT) Sector is central to our Nation’s security, economy, public health, and safety. IT systems enable the Nation’s economic activity, which is essential to maintaining homeland and national security. Many other critical infrastructure sectors rely on the IT Sector for products and services, including the reliable operation of networks and systems, and the movement and storage of critical data.
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	The Postal and Shipping Sector’s collection, transportation, and distribution assets include complex intermodal networks linking millions of delivery points across the country and the globe. Given the sector’s vast networks of facilities, transportation assets, and cyber systems, achieving 100 percent security is not economically or technologically feasible. However, the sector envisions a resilient infrastructure in which threats can be quickly detected, consequences localized, and operational disruptions minimized. A key component of this vision is the United States Postal Inspection Service, one of the country's oldest Federal law enforcement agencies, which fights criminals who attack our Nation’s postal system and misuse it to threaten the American public.
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).

Nothing in the National Infrastructure Protection Plan impairs or otherwise affects the authority of the Secretary of Defense over the Department of Defense (DOD), including the chain of command for military forces from the President as Commander in Chief, to the Secretary of Defense, to the commander of military forces, or military command and control procedures.
The Department of Agriculture is responsible for agriculture and food (meat, poultry, and egg products).
The Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for food other than meat, poultry, and egg products.
The Department of Education is the SSA for the Education Facilities Subsector of the Government Facilities Sector.
As stated in HSPD-7, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security will collaborate on all matters relating to transportation security and transportation infrastructure protection.
The U.S. Coast Guard is the SSA for the maritime transportation mode.

Understanding the Sector Partnership Model

The National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) relies on a sector partnership model to coordinate the Nation’s critical infrastructure mission.

The sector partnership model provides a structure for coordination and collaboration across all sectors. It links partners horizontally across sectors as well as vertically across all levels of government and the private sector.

National Infrastructure Protection Plan Sector Partnership Model

Sector Partnership Model
Sector Partnership Coordination
Sector Coordinating Councils (SCCs)
Government Coordinating Councils (GCCs)
Critical Infrastructure Cross-Sector Council
Federal Senior Leadership Council (FSLC)
State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council (SLTTGCC)
Regional Consortium Coordinating Council (RC3)
Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC)
International Coordination

Sector Partnership Model: To be effective, the NIPP must be implemented using organizational structures and partnerships committed to sharing and protecting the information needed to achieve the NIPP goal and supporting objectives. DHS, in close collaboration with the Sector-Specific Agencies, is responsible for overall coordination of the NIPP partnership framework and information sharing network. The coordination mechanisms establish linkages among critical infrastructure protection efforts at the Federal, State, regional, local, tribal, territorial, and international levels as well as between public- and private-sector partners.

In addition to direct coordination between partners, the structures described below provide a national framework that fosters relationships and facilitates coordination within and across critical infrastructure sectors.

Sector Partnership Coordination: The Critical Infrastructure Cross-Sector Council, the Government Cross-Sector Council (made up of two subcouncils: the NIPP Federal Senior Leadership Council and the State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordinating Council), the Regional Consortium Coordinating Council, and individual Sector Coordinating Councils and Government Coordinating Councils create a structure through which government and the private sector can collaborate and develop consensus approaches to critical infrastructure protection.

Sector Coordinating Councils (SCCs): The sector partnership model encourages critical infrastructure owners and operators to create or identify a Sector Coordinating Council as the principal private sector entity for coordinating with the government on a wide range of critical infrastructure protection activities and issues. Specific membership will vary by sector, reflecting each sector’s unique composition; however, membership should be representative of a broad base of owners, operators, associations, and other entities within a sector.

Government Coordinating Councils (GCCs): A Government Coordinating Council is formed as the government counterpart to the State Coordinating Council to enable interagency and cross-jurisdictional coordination. A Government Coordinating Council is comprised of representatives across various levels of government (Federal, State, local, tribal, and territorial) as appropriate to the security landscape of each sector.

Critical Infrastructure Cross-Sector Council: The Critical Infrastructure Cross-Sector Council serves as a forum where cross-sector issues and interdependencies are addressed. The Council is comprised of the leadership of the Sector Coordinating Councils. This representation for the Cross-Sector Council is provided through the Partnership for Critical Infrastructure Security, which supports the critical infrastructure mission by identifying and raising awareness of relevant legislative issues.

Federal Senior Leadership Council (FSLC): The objective of the NIPP Federal Senior Leadership Council is to drive enhanced communications and coordination among Federal departments and agencies that have a role in implementing the NIPP and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7, “Critical Infrastructure Identification, Prioritization, and Protection.” The members of the Federal Senior Leadership Council include the Sector-Specific Agencies for each of the critical infrastructure sectors as well as several additional agencies named in the Directive.

State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordination Council (SLTTGCC): The State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Government Coordination Council ensures that State, local, and tribal homeland security partners are fully integrated as active participants in national critical infrastructure protection efforts, and provides an organizational structure to coordinate across jurisdictions on State and local government-level critical infrastructure protection guidance, strategies, and programs. This council provides the State, local, tribal, or territorial perspective or feedback on a wide variety of critical infrastructure issues and provides liaison representatives to each Government Coordinating Council.

Regional Consortium Coordinating Council (RC3): The Regional Consortium Coordinating Council brings together representatives of regional partnerships, groupings, and governance bodies to enable critical infrastructure protection coordination among partners within and across geographical areas and sectors.

Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC): The Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council directly supports the sector partnership model by providing a legal framework for members of the State Coordinating Councils and Government Coordinating Councils to engage in joint critical infrastructure protection-related activities. The Critical Infrastructure and Partnership Advisory Council serves as a forum where government and private sector partners are able to engage in a broad spectrum of activities including: planning, coordination, implementation, and operational issues; implementation of programs; operational activities related to critical infrastructure protection, response, and recovery; and development and support of national plans, including the NIPP and Sector-Specific Plans.

International Coordination: The United States-Canada-Mexico Security and Prosperity Partnership, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Senior Civil Emergency Planning Committee, certain government councils such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, and consensus-based nongovernmental or public-private organizations enable a range of critical infrastructure protection coordination activities associated with established international agreements.

Making the Sector Partnership Model Work For You

The sector partnership model framework is designed to promote information sharing and effective practices. Annual reports from each sector highlight accomplishments within the sector. This information can provide a starting point for initiatives in critical infrastructure protection efforts.

Some jurisdictions have elected to model the sector partnership model framework in their own infrastructure protection plans.

Many others employ a cross-sector approach or work through, or partner with, already established organizations or alliances. You should find the most effective way to interact with your partners.

Protective Security Advisors

The Department of Homeland Security works closely with critical infrastructure partners at the State, local, and regional levels through the Office of Infrastructure Protection's Protective Security Advisor (PSA) program.

PSAs work with private-sector partners and State and local governments to reduce risk to the Nation’s critical infrastructure by:

Promoting relevant training programs.
Coordinating vulnerability assessments.
Assisting with critical infrastructure coordination during incident management.
Facilitating information sharing among all levels of government and the private sector.

PSAs ensure that critical infrastructure protection programs and services are delivered to State, local, territorial, and tribal stakeholders and critical infrastructure owners and operators.

Lesson Summary

In this lesson, you learned that:

Partnerships are critical to successfully protect critical infrastructure.
There are specific questions to ask and strategies to follow when starting or joining a partnership.
A successful partnership addresses a critical infrastructure need, increases individual partner capabilities, and protects our Nation’s infrastructure.