CXC Insight: State Level Critical Infrastructure Coordination

CXC has begun outreach to many state-level offices in homeland security, critical infrastructure protection, and training and education to gain a better understanding of state capabilities, interests, challenges, and structures and to grow the CXC network at the state and local level. ‍ ‍

Many states have created or begun the creation of offices and teams specifically aimed at supporting critical infrastructure and understanding the interdependencies across infrastructure. While this effort related to emergency response is not new, the focus for many offices seems to have shifted due to the increase in threats to critical infrastructure and the growing interconnectivity of infrastructure. 

Why This Matters to CXC?

CXC is, of course, interested in growing our network at the state and local level and in conducting regional events at these levels, but more so, CXC heard a repeated concern from the states on multi-state and cross-state coordination that is enduring and not regarding singular events or topics. CXC is doubling down on our efforts to connect to state offices in the hopes of supporting convenings for states specifically while also inviting them into the other CXC events and working groups. If you have connections that you are willing to share to help CXC grow in this area, please send to Kelly.Murray@cross-sector.org.

Additionally, these conversations highlighted previous Federal programs and products that had supported state-level critical infrastructure discussions and dependency analysis.  CXC spoke with CISA regarding a project aimed at enhancing their dependency guidance and template as well as the outdated Infrastructure Data Taxonomy (IDT) and learned that neither of these projects appeared to be prioritized for updates or finalization.  As a follow-on, CXC is looking into opportunities to drive priority projects and support infrastructure requirements inclusion both at CISA and DHS S&T.‍ ‍