Critical Infrastructure Assessment ment of NATO countries ’ infrastructure . The assessment is twofold : to inform the Commander of the level of criticality of certain elements of NATO national infrastructure that are exposed to threats and to inform the OPP during GRP development . A comprehensive infrastructure assessment involves identifying threats and hazards , how they may affect civilian and military personnel in the Area of Operations ( AOO ) and how best to mitigate the impact based on current capabilities and available resources .
Critical Infrastructure – What does it mean ?
Criticality of infrastructure consists is relative to the consequences of failure or loss of it . Definitions are essential in understanding the importance of infrastructure . What may be important to a nation may not be important to the mission and vice versa . Common agreed definitions are a necessary condition in order to reach interoperability . Therefore clear definitions are vital in understanding the importance of infrastructure to all parties involved in an operation . HQ LANDCOM Directive 080-02 – Infrastructure Assessment for Land Operations sets out the definitions which are as follows :
Mission Specific Definitions
Critical National Infrastructure ( CNI ). Infrastructure assets ( physical or electronic ) identified by the host nation or NATO that are vital to the continued delivery and integrity of the essential services upon which the country relies , the destruction or compromise of which would lead to severe economic or social consequences or loss of life . Such effects may also have a severe impact on the operation or campaign . Some or all designated CNI may also be categorised - according to the designated role in a specific mission - as Mission-Vital Infrastructure or Key Infrastructure .
Mission-Vital Infrastructure ( MVI ). HN , or Force deployable , Infrastructure facilities , systems , sites and networks within the JOA upon which the Force relies for deployed capability and / or the destruction or disruption of which makes the mission untenable .
Key Infrastructure ( KI ) Infrastructure facilities , systems , sites and networks necessary for the functioning of the HN and / or NATO Force , and the delivery of essential services upon which the HN and / or NATO Force depends . The destruction or disruption of which , either singularly or collectively , provides a significant disadvantage to the HN , deployed NATO Forces , TCN or the mission .
The majority of the military community use the catch all of ‘ Critical Infrastructure ’ to cover all infrastructure that has importance within their functional area . In order to delineate those elements that have specific importance to the operation , Mission Vital and Key Infrastructure terms should be used .
Infrastructure Assessment Process
The Question is how to classify infrastructure according with above mentioned classes . The basic process of the infrastructure assessment is conducted by utilizing the intelligence cycle ( Direction , Collection , Processing , Analysis and Dissemination ).
Direction . Once a country or region of interest has been identified , the GENG Division will be tasked as the lead for the infrastructure assessment ( IA ) during the comprehensive preparation of the operational environment ( CPOE ) phase of the planning process . As an example , the following diagram splits national infrastructure into 9 categories and several sub-categories . Other areas can , of course , be added as required , or some could be deleted if is not of importance to be consider into a specific analyse . If the time requirement is short , the priority infrastructure categories that should be included as a minimum in an infrastructure assessment are Water , Energy , Transportation and Communications .
Collect . An Infrastructure Assessment is conducted to enable the understanding of complex environments and is likely to require large quantities of information from a variety of diverse sources . A significant amount of information is readily available from open source material however with the potential volume of information available ; care should be taken to ensure that accurate and suitable information is obtained . Wherever possible , information should be requested from the host nation in order to ensure accuracy .
Processing . Information could vary in reliability and accuracy and should be carefully appraised . Information provided from external agencies will normally be pre-graded . Where this is not the case or information was collected organically , then a judgement based on the assessor ’ s technical and local knowledge , and by comparison with other information sourced must be made . The reliability and credibility of the information will be graded in accord-
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