Critical Infrastructures: Background, Policy, and Implementation

The report provides a background of U.S. policy developments in the area of critical infrastructure protection, starting from the establishment of the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection in 1996 and President Clinton’s Presidential Decision Directive No. 63 in 1998, and including initiatives pursued under the Bush administration following the September 11 attacks. These include Executive Order 13228, establishing the Office of Homeland Security, and Executive Order 13231, stating the Bush Administration’s policy and objectives for protecting the nation’s information infrastructure and establishing the President’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Board. The report also discusses the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security in 2002 and its directorate responsible for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection. The report focuses primarily on cyber related activities and raises such issues as protections for information shared between the government and the private sector, privacy versus protection, costs and the need to set priorities, and whether or not the federal government will need to employ more direct incentives to achieve an adequate level of protection by the private sector.

Moteff, John D., 2003. Critical Infrastructures: Background, Policy, and Implementation. Report for Congress. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service and Library of Congress.

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Critical Infrastructures : Background, Policy, and Implementation