Do conversations about critical infrastructure sometimes seem like they are happening in another language? If so, today’s quick, but important, blog post is just for you. To help get your bearings with regard to critical infrastructure concepts and terminology, I hope you’ll check out the EAC’s new critical infrastructure resource, Starting Point: U.S. Election Systems as Critical Infrastructure.
This new EAC white paper explores critical infrastructure and provides a good “starting point” for anyone who wants to learn about the issue. It describes the background and history of the critical infrastructure concept, describes the current state of critical infrastructure across the government, defines key terms, and provides a base of information designed to give the reader what they need to navigate and understand critical infrastructure conversations.
Starting Point is generally focused to provide a good base of understanding, but it uses the elections subsector as examples because we know that’s what affects your life the most. Topics covered include:
- Sectors and how they function
- Sector Specific Agencies and their role
- A comprehensive list of all of the Sectors and their Sector Specific Agencies
- Key terms and their definitions
- Sector Coordinating Councils
- Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISCACs)
- Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAOs)
- Critical infrastructure communication protections.
- The Department of Homeland Security’s role in critical infrastructure
- The U.S. Election Assistance Commission’s plan to help election officials under the new designation
- Laws and documents that govern critical infrastructure
- More
We are working hard here at the EAC to make sure that our stakeholders are represented and informed in the critical infrastructure conversation. It is my hope that this white paper will help everyone on that front. Keep sending us questions and I will do my best to continue answering them here in the CI Scoop blog section.