New National Infrastructure Protection Plan Released

A new version of the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) was released yesterday.

I’ve extracted and attached the full Table of Contents (4 pages) and the Executive Summary (6 pages) as separate documents.  Both are worth reading, if only to identify the parts of the full document you may want to read more closely.  For a super-compact summary, I’ve included a short excerpt from the Preface, and a list of the major sections of the document in this post.

[Update 02/25: DHS Released an "NIPP Consolidated Snapshot" (2 pages), which I've linked to here.]

The Preface to the 2009 NIPP, written by former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, states:

“The NIPP meets the requirements that [President Bush] set forth in Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 7, Critical Infrastructure Identification, Prioritization, and Protection, and provides the overarching approach for integrating the Nation’s many CIKR (Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources) protection initiatives into a single national effort.  It sets forth a comprehensive risk management framework and clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the Department of Homeland Security; Federal Sector-Specific Agencies; and other Federal, State, regional, local, tribal, territorial, and private sector partners implementing the NIPP.”

The NIPP has an Executive Summary, 7 main sections, and 6 appendices:

• Executive Summary
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Authorities, Roles, and Responsibilities
• 3. The Strategy: Managing Risk
• 4. Organizing and Partnering for CIKR Protection
• 5. CIKR Protection as Part of the Homeland Security Mission
• 6. Ensuring an Effective, Efficient Program Over the Long Term
• 7. Providing Resources for the CIKR Protection Program
• Appendix 1: Special Considerations (Cross-Sector Cybersecurity and International CIKR Protection)
• Appendix 2: Summary of Relevant Statutes, Strategies, and Directives
• Appendix 3: The Protection Program
• Appendix 4: Existing Coordination Mechanisms
• Appendix 5: Integrating CIKR Protection as Part of the Homeland Security Mission
• Appendix 6: S&T Plans, Programs, and Research & Development

Event: PS-Prep Public Meeting #2

Sorry for the late notice on this one…  I plan to attend this meeting, and I’ll post an entry after the meeting.

The second of 2 public meetings on PS-Prep, a new DHS voluntary preparedness accreditation and certification program for the private sector, will be held on Monday February 23.  See my original post for more information on PS-Prep.

Date:     Monday, February 23, 2009
Time:     9am - 2:30pm
Location: American Red Cross Ballroom, Hall of Service
          1730 E Street, NW
          Washington, DC 20006
Register: privatesectorpreparedness@hsi.dhs.gov, or
          703-416-8407

• Meeting Announcement in the Federal Register
  
• Original Post
• PS-Prep Announcement in the Federal Register
• PS-Prep comments web site

Event: TSA public meetings on proposed general aviation rules

From Government Security News:

TSA has announced a series of five public meetings across the country at which it will receive comments from the public on the set of proposed rules it unveiled last October that would require many general aviation aircraft operators to implement strict new security measures.

The meetings will all begin at 9am, on the following locations and dates:

• Jan. 6    White Plains, NY
• Jan 16    Atlanta, GA
• Jan 23    Chicago, IL
• Jan 28    Burbank, CA
• Jan 28    Houston, TX

If its new rules are adopted, general aviation operators would be required to take the following security precautions:

• Ensure their flight crews have undergone fingerprint and criminal history checks;
• Conduct watch-list matching through a TSA-approved watch-list matching company;
• Undergo a biennial third-party security audit;
• Comply with the “twelve-five” cargo requirements, if conducting an all-cargo operation;
• Screen all passengers and their accessible property, if their aircraft weighs over 100,300 pounds.

TSA is seeking comments at the hearings on a variety of specific issues, including the appropriate threshold weight of covered aircraft, methods for positively identifying aircraft pilots, the role of watch-list service providers, etc.

Further information is available from the TSA at 571-227-2401.

• Full story
• TSA’s proposed new rules as printed in the Federal Register.
• Public comments submitted so far can be found here.

DHS opens $3B in FY2009 grants with less restrictions

From the Washington Post:

The Department of Homeland Security announced plans yesterday to dole out $3 billion in counterterrorism grants next year to state and local agencies with far-fewer strings attached than in past years.

The DHS move marks a response to criticism from a Democratic Congress and increasingly restive state and local leaders. They have complained that the Bush administration’s domestic security officials have focused on terrorism at the expense of other law enforcement priorities, such as fighting drugs, gangs and violent crime.

Among other changes, DHS loosened rules to allow recipients to spend up to 50 percent of homeland security grants for personnel expenses, up from 25 percent; ease a 25 percent local-match requirement for rail, transit and port security aid; lift a three-year limit on funding for intelligence analysts in law enforcement “fusion” centers, which police chiefs nationwide have requested.

The department also agreed to spread aid for immigration law enforcement to states with international water as well as land borders, and to let grants be used to store — not just purchase — emergency supplies such as prepackaged food, water and medicines.

• Full story

MI: DHS and Michigan reach agreement on enhanced driver’s license

From HS Daily Wire:

DHS has reached an agreement with the state of Michigan to enhance the security features of the state’s driver’s license, which may serve in the future as an acceptable alternative document for crossing the United States’ land and sea borders.

The Michigan agreement, similar to those reached with Washington, Vermont, Arizona, and New York last year, seeks to create an enhanced driver’s license — which denotes both identity and citizenship — as a compliance option to fulfill Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) requirements. WHTI requires all citizens of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda to have a passport or other accepted document that establishes the bearer’s identity and nationality to enter or depart the United States from within the Western Hemisphere. Beginning 1 June 2009 only WHTI-compliant documents will be accepted at U.S. land and sea ports of entry.

• Full article

Bush sets up council to work on transition to next administration

From TheHill.com:

President Bush on Thursday signed an executive order creating a Presidential Transition Coordinating Council that “will help to coordinate efforts already under way to ensure a seamless presidential transition.”

In the explanation of the order, one of the reasons cited for why this is important is that we are “working to protect ourselves from future terrorist attacks.”

• Full article
• Full text of the order (White House press release)

House Democrats call for hold on new FBI investigation rules

House Democrats are calling on the Bush administration to hold off implementing new rules that broaden the FBI’s investigative authorities until a new administration can approve them next year.

[Update 10/12: The Justice Department, in a nod to concerns that Americans could be investigated in terrorism cases without evidence of wrongdoing, said Tuesday it will tweak still-tentative rules governing FBI national security cases before they are issued. See full article: DOJ tweaking terror probe rules]

“It is not appropriate for the current administration to make such sweeping changes to FBI procedures at this late date, only a month before the election,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., said in a statement. He said they should be provided “as suggestions (for) the new administration to consider early next year.”

• Full article

House lifts DHS restrictions on use of grants for fusion centers

The House last week passed legislation that would force DHS to lift some restrictions on how state and local authorities can use DHS grants to fund state and local intel fusion centers.

The measure would ensure states and local authorities can use up to 50 percent of grant money awarded under two grant programs to pay for personnel costs for terrorism prevention activities such as the fusion centers that share terrorism-related information from federal, local and state sources. The measure would also allow authorities to use those grant funds to pay for intelligence analysts at the centers regardless of whether they are new hires or veteran employees.  The bill overrides limitations DHS placed on use of the funds, based on DHS interpretation of a 2007 law.

• Full Article
• H.R. 6098: Personnel Reimbursement for Intelligence Cooperation and Enhancement of Homeland Security Act of 2008

DOJ Release New F.B.I. Guidelines for Terrorism Investigations

The Justice Department finalized on Friday an overhaul of rules that will give the F.B.I. freer rein to begin investigations into the possibility of terrorism, even without evidence of wrongdoing.  Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and Robert S. Mueller III, director of the F.B.I., said the new guidelines, which will take effect Dec. 1, “provide the F.B.I. with the authority and flexibility it needs to protect the nation from terrorist threats.”

[UPDATE: House Democrats call for the Bush administration to hold off on implementing the new rules, leaving them as recommendations of guidelines for the next administration]

Earlier drafts of the guidelines met with strong criticism from civil liberties groups concerned about the prospect for abuse. This led the Justice Department in its final report to include what it called significant new restrictions on the tactics that agents can use in handling large-scale demonstrations and civil disturbances that could require federal intervention. Instead of broad approval to use any technique considered lawful in such demonstrations and disturbances, the final guidelines spell out the allowed tactics and limit such investigations to 30 days.

Among the most controversial aspects of the guidelines is a section that allows F.B.I. agents to open so-called threat assessments to look into general patterns or suspicions about terrorist activity without any specific evidence of wrongdoing. Justice Department officials say this section of the guidelines, which remains virtually unchanged from earlier drafts, will allow agents to be more aggressive in identifying possible terrorist threats.

• Full Article
• FBI Press Release
• See Also

DOJ tweaking new rules on national security cases

The Justice Department, in a nod to concerns that Americans could be investigated in terrorism cases without evidence of wrongdoing, said Tuesday it will tweak still-tentative rules governing FBI national security cases before they are issued.

The Justice Department says the guidelines will merely streamline existing authorities used in criminal and national security investigations. But critics call them a broad expansion of FBI powers that could result in racial, ethnic or religious profiling without any evidence of a crime.

Not all of the planned changes were outlined during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, but Assistant Attorney General Elisebeth Cook said they would include limits on the length and kinds of investigative activities used in monitoring demonstrations and civil disorders.

The short hearing came as three Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee demanded “bare-minimum” civil rights protections for U.S. citizens and residents as the FBI expands its power to seek out potential terrorists.

• Full article