Critical Infrastructure Protection: Significant Challenges Need to Be Addressed Page: 2 of 64
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United States General Accounting Office July 24, 2002
GAO
Accountability* Integrity* Reliability
HighlightsA
Highlights of GAO-02-961T, testimony before the Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial
Management and Intergovernmental Relations, House Committee on Government Reform.Why GAO Did This Study
The explosion in computer
interconnectivity, while
providing great benefits, also
poses enormous risks. Terrorists
or hostile foreign states could
launch computer-based attacks
on critical systems to severely
damage or disrupt national
defense or other critical
operations.
Presidential Decision Directive
63 and Executive Order 13231,
issued in 1998 and 2001,
respectively, call for various
actions to improve our nation's
critical infrastructure protection
(CIP), including establishing
partnerships between the
government and the private
sector. CIP involves activities
that enhance the security of our
nation's cyber and physical
public and private infrastructure
that are essential to national
security, national economic
security, and/or national public
health and safety.
The President's national strategy
for homeland security, issued last
week, identifies protecting
critical infrastructures and
intelligence and warning, a
critical CIP component, as two of
six mission areas and expands
our nation's approach to cover
additional sectors of our
economy (see graphic). At the
subcommittee's request, GAO
discussed challenges the nation
faces in protecting our critical
infrastructures and addressing
federal information security.What GAO Found
Prior GAO work has identified and made recommendations concerning
several CIP challenges that need to be addressed:
* Developing a national critical infrastructure protection strategy. A
more complete strategy is needed to define specific roles,
responsibilities, and relationships for all CIP organizations and to
establish objectives, timeframes, and performance measures. The
President's national strategy calls for more detailed CIP plans.
* Improving analytical and warning capabilities. More robust analytical
and warning capabilities are still needed to identify threats and
provide timely warnings, including an effective methodology for
strategic analysis and framework for collecting needed threat and
vulnerability information.
* Improving information sharing. Information sharing needs to be
enhanced both within the government and between the federal
government and the private sector.
* Addressingpervasive weaknesses in federal information security. A
comprehensive strategy for improving federal information security is
needed, in which roles and responsibilities are clearly delineated,
appropriate guidance is given, regular monitoring is undertaken, and
security information and expertise are shared to maximize their
value.
Infrastructure Additional Sectors Identified by the
Sectors Identified by PDD 63 President's National Strategy for
Homeland Security
Information and communication
Banking and finance Food
Aviation, highway, mass transit, pipelines, Agriculture
rail, waterborne commerce
Chemical industry and hazardous
Water supply materials
Emergency law enforcement
Defense industrial base
Emergency fire services,
continuity of government
Postal and shipping
Electric power, oil and gas
production and storage
National monuments and icons
Public health servicesCRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION
Significant Challenges Need to Be
AddressedThis is a test for developing highlights for a GAO report. The full testimony, including GAO's objectives, scope, methodology, and analysis, is
available at www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-02-961T For additional information about this testimony, contact Robert F. Dacey (202-512-3317). To
provide comments on this test highlights, contact Keith Fultz (202-512-3200) or E-mail HighlightsTest@gao.govJuly 24, 2002
United States General Accounting Office
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United States. General Accounting Office. Critical Infrastructure Protection: Significant Challenges Need to Be Addressed, text, July 24, 2002; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc290076/m1/2/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.