Editorial Features | News / Analysis

"Manufacturing" becomes 18th critical infrastructure sector

Key portions of the U.S. manufacturing industry - namely primary metals, machinery, electrical equipment and transportation equipment – have been identified by the Department of Homeland Security as the core of a newly established critical infrastructure sector that will be known as "Critical Manufacturing".

This newly named sector will join 17 existing areas of the U.S. economy that currently are being safeguarded under the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP).

DHS formally designated Critical Manufacturing as the eighteenth critical sector on March 3.

"Today’s manufacturing environment is integrated into complex, interdependent supply chains," explained a Federal Register notice posted April 30 by Robert Stephan, the Assistant Secretary of DHS in charge of the Office of Infrastructure Protection. "Failure in any part of a supply chain can ripple through manufacturing systems, causing cascading economic impacts."

DHS studied the broad U.S. manufacturing field and identified four specific niches whose failure or disruption could cause a large number of fatalities, a significant economic impact in the first year, mass evacuations causing employee absences of six months or more, or a loss of necessary services for more than one week in several regions or critical infrastructure sectors. The four sub-sectors that met these DHS criteria are:

Primary Metal Manufacturing – iron and steel mills; aluminum production; ferro alloy manufacturing; nonferrous metal production.

Machinery Manufacturing – Engines, turbines, power transmission equipment.

Electrical Equipment, Appliance and Components – Electrical equipment.

Transportation Equipment – Aerospace products and parts; railroad rolling stock, other transportation equipment.

Based on requirements spelled out in Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 (HSPD-7), Stephan’s office will take the lead in establishing the various committees and panels comprised of sector stakeholders, and identifying the federal agency that will play the ongoing leadership role.

The NIPP plays a key role in developing a national policy framework and in doling out federal grants. "The NIPP sets national priorities, goals, and requirements for effective distribution of funding and resources that will help ensure that our government, economy, and public services continue in the event of a terrorist attack or other disaster," said the DHS notice.

Comments to this plan to establish Critical Manufacturing as an eighteenth critical infrastructure sector can be made by visiting www.regulations.gov, citing docket number DHS-2008-0038, by May 10.

• Print
• E-mail
• Add your comment
• trackback url: http://www.gsnmagazine.com/cms/trackback/728-1