DHS asset database can't support vaunted infrastructure protection plan
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The Homeland Security Department's database of critical infrastructure and key resources is so faulty that it does not serve as a useful basis for making decisions about how to protect national resources, according to DHS' inspector general.
The Homeland Security Department's database of critical infrastructure and key resources is so faulty that it does not serve as a useful basis for making decisions about how to protect national resources, the department's inspector general said in a new report issued today..
The IG's report noted that flawed data-gathering methods had led state officials to submit irrelevant and even comical assets for inclusion in the critical asset inventory.
The database's alleged shortcomings cast into high relief the department's public claim in late June that DHS had completed the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) to protect physical assets and cyberspace, which in turn relies on the National Asset Database that the report analyzed.
The White House mandated the database in Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7, issued on Dec. 17, 2003. Since then, DHS has been building the risk-management framework needed to support the NIPP. The Preparedness Directorate's Office of Infrastructure Protection is still identifying and collecting data about critical infrastructure and key resources, according to the report.
On June 30, deputy secretary for preparedness George Foresman hailed the release of the infrastructure protection plan, saying in a statement that 'the NIPP formalizes and strengthens existing critical infrastructure partnerships and creates the baseline for how the public and private sectors will work together to build a safer, more secure and resilient America.'
But the IG report cited several deep flaws in the database that underlie the plan, including:
- The database's failure to distinguish the criticality of the approximately 77,000 assets it includes;
- The databases' failure to provide a comprehensive picture of national assets
- The need to develop more sophisticated tools to assess risks associated with various assets
- The need for substantial additional work to complete the database.
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