DHS Holds Third SCC Meeting

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano on Tuesday held the last of a series of three meetings with members of the private sector in an effort to improve security of the nation's critical infrastructure. Leaders from several Sector Coordinating Councils (SCCs) were present, including those from the Information Technology, Communications, Manufacturing, Agriculture and Food, Defense Industrial Base, Dams, and Commercial Facilities Sectors. Secretary Napolitano asked members of the private sector for feedback on ways to improve public-private sector collaboration for the shared responsibility of protecting critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR).

Also on Tuesday, DHS announced that Secretary Napolitano will meet with leaders in New York later this week from the real estate, professional sports, financial, and media industries to discuss ways to jointly protect the nation's critical infrastructure.

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 (HSPD-7), released December 17, 2003, identified seventeen CIKR sectors: Agriculture and Food; Banking and Finance; Chemical; Commercial Facilities; Communications; Dams; Defense Industrial Base; Emergency Services; Energy; Government Facilities; Healthcare and Public Health; Information Technology; National Monuments and Icons; Nuclear Reactors, Materials and Waste; Postal and Shipping; Transportation Systems (including mass transit); and Water. An eighteenth CIKR, Critical Manufacturing, was formally established in 2008 by former DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff. The majority of the eighteen CIKRs are owned and operated by the private sector, creating a need for close collaboration between industry and DHS. SCCs from the CIKRs serve as coordinating entities.