Develop and submit a “briefing book” — in one of the individual urgent study formats described below — that provides a critical infrastructure (CI) overview for one of CISA’s Assistant Directors speaking at — and some of the new members within his Division attending — the upcoming 3rd Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience North America conference in New Orleans, LA on April 28-30, 2020 . Appendix A provides the latest conference agenda.

BACKGROUND:

At the latest CISA Directors/Assistant Directors staff meeting, Director Krebs went around the room asking if there were any last items of business before adjournment. Mr. Brian Harrell, the Assistant Director for CISA’s Infrastructure Security Division, asked for some assistance. Appendix B provides Mr. Harrell’s biography.
Mr. Harrell remarked that he is scheduled to be one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming 3rd Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience North America conference. Mr. Harrell’s primary background is within the private sector, mostly associated with the energy industry. Since Mr. Harrell was somewhat recently sworn into his new position as of December 2018, he feels that a comprehensive overview of the “critical infrastructure” field would benefit not only his opening keynote but also any personal discussions, meetings, etc. he may have as one of the senior CISA leaders attending the conference. In addition, Mr. Harrell is bringing some of the new members within this Division to attend in order to gain a better overall perspective of “critical infrastructure” and believes the EMRAAS Division briefing book would provide beneficial background information to his new team members both prior to the conference and after when performing normal duties in the office.
As a result, Mr. Krebs has assigned a tasker to the CIRRUS Division to provide Mr. Harrell with a “briefing book” insert that will assist Mr. Harrell and his staff in becoming more familiar with the background and latest developments associated with the field of “critical infrastructure.”

As part of your “briefing book” insert, recommend that your contents include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following:
What is critical infrastructure (CI) and why is it important

Describe the different CI sectors
Identify the major stakeholders/players

Differentiate the roles/responsibilities between federal, state, local, and other applicable entities — and how do these correlate to the NIPP 2013 National

Partnership Structure, Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council (CIPAC), Government and Sector Coordinating Councils (GCC and SCC, respectively), and other applicable documents and/or partnering organizations

Identify some of the major CI governing documents, Presidential directives, etc.

Discuss how “complexity” and “interdependency” are considered part of CI

Describe the concepts of CI “security” and “resilience”

Discuss the concept of risk management” — what are its basic elements/framework, how is it integrated within the CI community, etc.
What are some of the more prevalent challenges, threats, and limitations now facing the CI community?

Consider videos or other media as examples within your group presentation format…not required to do so but if used, make sure the links are accurate and hyperlinked (Word document) or embedded (PowerPoint presentation) properly
Anything else you think the Assistant Director and/or his staff needs to know in preparation for his participation in the upcoming Critical Infrastructure Protection and Resilience North America conference

As you develop your urgent study submission, keep in mind the CIRRUS Division’s guiding philosophy of “Heads in the Cloud, Feet on the Ground.” Ensure your urgent study submission represents critical thinking and “out-of-the-box” perspectives yet maintains a realistic picture that’s grounded in a fact-based, non-emotional, logical, and questioning approach.

URGENT STUDY “FINAL” FORMAT:

Each Individual Urgent Study project submission can be formatted in one of two ways.
MS Word written document
Length = at least 8 – 10 pages of text
The following do not “count” towards a written Word document receiving 100% credit for the Length criteria: title page, table of contents (not required), abstract (not required), executive summary (not required), illustrations (tables, figures, graphs, pictures, etc.), or reference list
References = at least one (1) academic or professional reference per written page
Organization by section corresponding to the assignment requirements
Paragraph = 1.5 paragraph spacing … no right-justification
Font = 12-point
Margins = 1-inch
PowerPoint presentation
Length = at least 10 slides
The following do not “count” towards a PowerPoint presentation receiving 100% credit for the Length criteria: title or section slides, table of contents slide (not required), abstract slide (not required), executive summary slide (not required), or reference list slide
Should include “notes” accompanying most – if not all – slides that expand/explain the “bullet points” found on the actual slide itself…these notes should be annotated on each slide using the Notes section option within PowerPoint…these notes should be considered detailed “speaker” notes
Organization by section corresponding to the assignment requirements
References = at least one (1) academic or professional reference per slide
Written papers and presentations must adhere to the requirements as set forth by

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