TRANSPORTATION SECTOR SECURING TRANSPORTATION SECTOR: CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE Running Head: SECURING TRANSPORTATION SECTOR

6 CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE Running Head: SECURING TRANSPORTATION SECTOR SECURING TRANSPORTATION SECTOR: CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE Department of Student Institution Professor Date Introduction Transportation is a critical sector that enables many things to be done smoothly ranging from the movement of goods to movement of people. An example of such threat is the terror attack in Washington and New York in 2001 where a means of transport was used to facilitate the attack (Pedersona, Dudenho

Running Head: SECURING TRANSPORTATION SECTOR
SECURING TRANSPORTATION SECTOR: CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Name of Student
Institution
Professor
Date

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Introduction
Transportation is a critical sector that enables many things to be done smoothly ranging from
the movement of goods to movement of people. However, this is one of the most threatened
sectors. The accident is the common threat resulting from the carelessness of human, natural
calamities, mechanical failures of machines, among others. An example of such threat is the
terror attack in Washington and New York in 2001 where a means of transport was used to
facilitate the attack (Pedersona, Dudenhoeffer, Hartley, and Permann, 2006). Therefore, there
is a necessity to offer protection of transportation sector by all countries, and indeed many of
them have put their own strategies to do the latter. Apart from the threat imposed on
transportation in form of using the same as a method to facilitate the attack, other forms have
also faced numerous challenges including airports, train stations, ferry terminals etc. Some of
them have acted as soft targets for criminals to carry out their criminal activities. Securing the
transportation sector requires very well researched and an elaborate approach that is different
from the traditional method. This is due to its importance and complexity.
Critical Infrastructure refers to that system or asset that is extremely valuable to those
depending on it. Transport is one of the critical infrastructures as having been highlighted in
this introduction that it is the backbone of many processes. For us to look at the critical
infrastructure sector, we have to highlight the fundamental components of transport. The
transportation sector composed of six main components namely aviation, freight, pipeline,
road, maritime, and mass transit. These six categories are essential for the research on critical
infrastructure and they build the foundation of this research.

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National policies on Critical Infrastructure
National policies play an important role in the checking the overall transport sector.
Therefore, before we look at the critical infrastructure in depth, let us look at the overview of
the national governments have put in place to take care of the critical infrastructure. In the
US, the Administration in charge of National security is in charge of providing protection for
this sector. The most important role of any nation is to get rid of terrorism and terrorist
activities by any possible means. The US government through the department of home
security (DHS) provides directives and carries out an assessment that is appropriate to assist
the public to be informed about the transport security. Their findings are used to improve the
sector, impose appropriate regulations and policies, and enhance the overall security of the all
the components of transport. There have been a number of private research firms that have
also carried out studies on the critical infrastructures (CIs) targeting the transport sector. They
have specifically looked at the parameters that touch on transportation and other intelligence
services aiming at restructuring and creating policies that would accommodate the objectives
of the national government. Transportation is an important sector that contributes immensely
to the economy of every country. It is, therefore, necessary to take great care of it at all cost.
The paper investigates the importance of securing this sector, highlighting some of the
policies that the national government should implement. This sector is vulnerable to attacks
from various interested parties. This paper also examines the risks involved when the
transport sector is threatened. Lastly, it proposes further recommendations for critical
infrastructure evaluation.
After the terrorist attack of 2001 in Washington and New York, the government and the
entire world realized that the transport sector, being a critical infrastructure, is vulnerable to
attacks and needs to be highly protected. Although, American realized the vulnerabilities
existing in the aviation sector and their failure to adequately invest in the intelligence, other

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components of transportation are also considered critical infrastructures that also need proper
protection. This is because the entire transportation sector is important to the economy of the
country, the security, and the country at large. Such other components include computer
systems, energy supply etc. In recent days, the government of USA has realized the
importance of inclusion in the fight of terrorism so that this task is not left solely for the
government, but every citizen of America is brought on board in the fight of terrorism. The
government of US has created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to take a lead in
implementing policies set up for curbing insecurity in the country. Therefore, it is important
to note that the security concern is a collective responsibility of every citizen of America and
the DHS is only here to offer a leading hand in helping to deal with policies and strategies.
Generally, the fight against terrorism will mainly be a great concern to the federal
government, local government, and the private sector with an inclusion of everyone on board
because security starts with each individual.
Approaches to the protection of critical infrastructures
After the September 2011 attack, securing critical infrastructure has become one of the most
important strategies for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Critical infrastructures
are defined as those assets and systems, either physical or virtual and are very important to
the government that any attempt to destroy them would result to a negative impact on the
security and the economy of the country (Scottish Executive, 2005). The attack prompted the
government to establish the department of homeland security, which was tasked with the
responsibility of finding the strategies of protecting the critical infrastructures of America.
The inclusion of private sector into this whole effort it was quite important because it helped
the government in ensuring that the security becomes a collective responsibility of everyone.
It was noticed that the terrorists target the most vulnerable and unprotected infrastructure
avoiding those, which are secured. In this case, they are able to find easy targets for their ill

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doings. These kinds of attacks on America physical infrastructure is aimed at dismantling the
economic ability of the country, making her waste its finances on building those physical
structures that have been destroyed (Setola, De Porcellinis, and Sforna, 2010). It is important
to note that the American government has strengthened its critical infrastructure security with
an aim to prevent any further attack on its physical structures, and they have even gone ahead
to enhance security in other areas that may be used by terrorists as soft spots. A further step
taken to enhance security is the recent enactment of policies aimed at improving the security
of critical infrastructure, for example, the release of national strategies for securing the
critical infrastructure (Yuan, Chen, LePoire, and Rothman, 2008). This has been seen as a
bold step aimed at coordinating all the stakeholders in security matters, the private sector, and
the public at large, to work together in protecting the country from terrorist attack. As the
technology continues to expand, terrorists are coming up with modern methods of creating
their attacks. Technology on its own has resulted in being a soft target for terrorism. Another
area needs serious protection from imminent terror attacks.
The characteristic of attacks has prompted the government of USA to decentralize the
security sector by allowing the Department of Homeland Security to cooperate with local
security agencies to adequately and combat the crime (Department for Regional
Development, 2006). This was done since the DHS has a wide range of tasks to handle;
making its responsibility to be so complex and expensive to be left on the hand of the federal
government only. Before the September 11 attacks, the federal government used to run the
national security on its own traditional security, but now there is a homeland security, which
brings the security close to the people while allowing everyone to participate in securing the
country (Rinaldi, 2011). The traditional national security is seen to be similar to the homeland
security, but a critical look presents a small difference between the two levels. The traditional

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national security deals with the national police owned by the federal government
encompassing the military instruments and the international engagements. On the other hand,
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is mainly a collective responsibility of
everyone, including the national policies on security. To offer adequate and effective
protection for the security of our people and assets, there is a need for a coordinated approach
by the private stakeholders and the federal government. Several years back the private sector
abandoned withdrew their support for the national security. However, it is known that almost
85% of the critical infrastructure is in the hands of the private sector (Borysiewicz, 2006).
They, therefore, should be on the frontline to be part of the initiative or strategy to counter
terrorism targeting the critical infrastructure. As we continue, a lot can be done to protect
America’s critical infrastructure by first clearly defining the critical infrastructure and
adopting policies that would ensure adequate protection to these critical infrastructures. The
federal government, the private stakeholders, and the American citizens must coordinate and
cooperate to guarantee the security of the critical infrastructures.
Apart from the protection of infrastructures like roads, maritime, and air, the department of
homeland security is tasked with a responsibility to also offer cyber security, as this is
becoming the most vulnerable due to changes in technology (Ted, 2013).. The department of
homeland security, therefore, lays down certain procedures in ensuring that the critical
infrastructures are protected, their goals include, manage security risks to human beings and
infrastructures, employ recovery mechanisms, implementation of processes and effective
collaboration with stakeholders, and ensure that there are proper preparedness and resilience
up to the global standards.
Government and private sector responsibilities in securing the critical infrastructures
After the government of US came up with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),
there have been many concerns about the role played by the private sector on securing the

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critical infrastructures in the country (Department of Transport, 2007). There have been
arguments that allowing the private sector to participate in protecting the critical
infrastructure is a wrong decision. However, giving the private sector mandate to participate
in protecting the critical infrastructure is in good faith. It is believed that the response of
private sector when a crime occurs would be quicker than the national response to the same.
The traditional national security deals with the national police owned by the federal
government encompassing the military instruments and the international engagements. On
the other hand, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is mainly a collective
responsibility of everyone, including the national policies on security (European Council,
2008). To offer adequate and effective protection for the security of our people and assets,
there is a need for a coordinated approach by the private stakeholders and the federal
government. Several years back the private sector abandoned withdrew their support for the
national security. They, therefore, should be on the frontline to be part of the initiative or
strategy to counter terrorism targeting the critical infrastructure.
It is a good practice and in good faith when the government involves interested parties to help
them fight terrorism, except some critical areas like provision of information on imminent
attacks should be left to them because they have all the required machinery for carrying out
effective investigations on the same. Much of the information regarding imminent attacks by
terrorists may lack accuracy and some interested parties can use this to fight the government
politically. Talking of politics, this has a direct connection to the protecting the country
including critical infrastructures. It may have the most felt effects on the security sector. For
instance, Somalia as a country has been polarised because of political instability that has been
experienced for several years. This makes it hard to build critical infrastructures because they
are constantly destroyed by terrorist’s attacks.

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Improving the communication of security information
The communication of security information plays an important role in ensuring the critical
infrastructure is secure. It is important to note that communication is very vital when it comes
to ensuring that the security of critical infrastructures is meaningful and adequate. Since the
private sector owns most critical infrastructures in the country there should be a well-
structured communication, a process that would bring both the federal government and the
private sector to collaborate in offering protection for the critical infrastructures
(Transportation Security Administration, 2007). The federal government is expected to enact
policies with the help of department of home security that will go a long way in ensuring that
the security of the country’s critical infrastructure is a collective responsibility of every
stakeholder. This way, the duo will work hand due to effective communication between them.
It has been observed that majority of private stakeholders are reluctant to share information
on the imminent security threat with the public fearing that this may result to the conflict
between them and the federal government (Government Accountability Office, 2009).
Revealing terror threat information by the private sectors may be seen as the function of the
federal government. Therefore, involving themselves in such activity may be unhealthy to the
government because the federal government is to blame if the things fail to work out as
expected.
Collaboration with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
Even though the private sector will play a role in ensuring the critical infrastructure is more
secure, the newly formed Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will be in the frontline to
ensure coordination for all the stakeholders (Government Accountability Office, 2009). The
DHS main mandate is to provide and align proper communication with the rest of the
stakeholders in ensuring that they get the required information regarding the security of
critical infrastructures. The federal government has opted to integrate the critical

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infrastructure protection and the intelligence unit under one secretary is done with an
intention of offering a more concrete and valid approach towards protecting critical
infrastructures of the US. As time goes, the DHS is becoming more experienced in dealing
challenges brought about by threats of insecurity. However, it is important to mention that
improving the security level after the terror attack of September 2011 was not a one-day
affair (Theoharidou, Kotzanikolaou, and Gritzalis, 2009). It has been a long journey that
involved critical stakeholders coming together to chat the way forward to find the solutions to
the problem. It took America several years to restructure the security systems and the
department of homeland security should take the initiative to further carry out elaborate
protection programs in order to assist the nation combat terrorism with a defeating agenda
(Brunner and Suter, 2008). However, still terrorist would not allow the security agencies to
settle their mind; they would strike without notice. Therefore, the department of homeland
security should be completely set up and given the full mandate to carry out its duties with
the help of private stakeholders.
Already the fruits of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been realized
because of the reduced terror attacks on the critical infrastructures of America. The security
concern has threatened the economy of the country making the nation’s administration to
invest adequately in establishing the department of homeland security. The DHS has been
involved in assessments and research to develop effective programs that will give a platform
aimed at helping the public be part of the fight against insecurity. In fact, the DHS will give a
well-coordinated program to help the public and the private sector cooperate to fight against
insecurity within the critical infrastructures.

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Recommendations
The critical infrastructures are a key area of concern for the government and all the necessary
strategies must be put in place to ensure that the citizens are safe in their endeavors. It is,
therefore, a great mandate for the department of homeland security to consider all the
necessary efforts to keep critical infrastructure safe in and outside the country. Simply
allowing the DHS to assess all the relevant information regarding national security cannot be
a complete sure of safety. Therefore, it is important to bring all the stakeholders on board
including individuals to assist in making the environment safe, and the critical infrastructures
observed to prevent the repeat of a terror attack like that of 9/11.
Conclusion
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is mainly a collective responsibility of
everyone, including the national policies on security (European Council, 2008). To offer
adequate and effective protection for the security of our people and assets, there is a need for
a coordinated approach by the private stakeholders and the federal government. Several years
back the private sector abandoned withdrew their support for the national security. They,
therefore, should be on the frontline to be part of the initiative or strategy to counter terrorism
targeting the critical infrastructure.
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