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1 summarizes information included in DHS's response, and with respect to DHS's streamlining
efforts, in each of the five areas outlined in the Senate committee report.
Table 1: DHS's Response to the Mandate in Each of the Five Areas Outlined in the Senate Committee Report
Response provided
Area noted in Senate with respect to
committee report Summary of response streamlining
Coordinating and According to DHS's response, NPPD's Office of No
Executing Plans Infrastructure Protection (NPPD/IP) coordinates and
executes plans with various stakeholders (e.g., CI owners
and operators). DHS stated that the Critical Infrastructure
Risk Management Enhancement Initiative (CIRMEI) seeks to
ensure that activities conducted to meet the requirements of
the NIPP are developed and executed considering
foreseeable risks to critical infrastructure. DHS further
reported that, as part of CIRMEI, DHS intends to develop
short-term and long-term steps that NIPP partners can take
to address certain risks and opportunities related to CI that
are to enhance the coordination and execution of risk-
management plans.
Implementing DHS's response stated that, as part of CIRMEI, outcome- No
Performance Metrics based metrics were developed and implemented to better
assess the current state of critical infrastructure protection
and resilience. DHS highlighted a number of these metrics
and related outcomes, and noted that there is much work to
be done in defining a set of metrics against which all partners
and NPPD/IP can measure progress in critical infrastructure
protection and resilience.
Sustaining Systemic DHS reported that partnership, programmatic, and No
Communication information sharing mechanisms are in place to provide
systemic communication with and among Cl stakeholders. To
demonstrate that these mechanisms are in place, DHS
noted, for example, the number of public and private
members in the NIPP Sector Partnership and the number of
fusion centers that joined the Critical Infrastructure
Information Sharing Environment.
Executing Sector- According to DHS's response, SSAs function through five No
Specific Agency primary program areas: effective planning and activity
Functions integration, education and training, information sharing and
communication, exercises, and assessment and mitigation.
DHS highlighted performance metrics that NPPD uses to
evaluate SSA functions. For example, NPPD maintains a
metric to assess whether stakeholders have an
understanding of critical infrastructure risks and
interdependencies. According to DHS, NPPD analyses found
that stakeholders understand that critical infrastructure risks
and interdependencies exist, but further assessment is
needed to understand the extent of the stakeholders'
understanding.
GAO-14-100R DHS Coordination Streamlining
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