Evaluating Space as the Next Critical Infrastructure Sector
2 . History of Critical Infrastructure ?
The critical infrastructure theory states identified structures are systems the American people depends on for daily life sustaining or improving services . Incapacitating or paralyzing any CI system either individually or in aggregate function could seriously damage the homeland through degrading national security , the U . S . economy , or public health . These parameters have changed over the years so David Reidman ’ s clarifying work to assess fourteen different policy documents since 1986 uncovers common terms across multiple documents ( Reidman , 2016 ). Although CI protection has been relatively common recently , the first federal usage for CI occurred less than 25 years ago . Reidman ’ s search looked for key words including “ nationally significant ,” “ provide vital service ,” “ interdependent system ,” “ debilitating impact ,” and “ safety of public .” While these terms are useful during an assessment , this paper uses the definition for CI from the 2001 Patriot Act , Title X , Sec 1016 H , “ systems and assets , whether physical or virtual , so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security , national economic security , national public health or safety , or any combination of those matters ” ( Congress , 2001 ). This definition was selected as it also forms the basis for the DHS mission as a governmental agency . One can see the slight language variance from Reidman ’ s study although the only major difference lies only in the term ,” interdependent .”
Interdependence normally refers to the international relations viewpoint advocated by Joseph Nye and Robert Keohane ( Keohane & Nye , 1997 ). The concept builds from when organizations demonstrate multiple connections , show a lack of hierarchy among those connections , and deemphasize military force . When applying interdependence to CI , one can use all three qualifications from a slightly different perspective . Critical infrastructure components offer a backbone to societal processes through multiple connections at various hierarchical levels . As an example , a recent Department of Treasury memo lists essential financial services as all those who process financial transactions and services , insurance services , financial operations , security and all underlying third-party providers ( Mnuchin , 2020 ). The volume of included personnel demonstrates the multiple connections , and at the same time , the lack of hierarchy in which aspects work with which other connections and when . The memo reinforces the third point through the absence of any Department of Defense resource references .
Advocating for change to existing governmental processes like the DHS ’ s Critical Infrastructure and Key Resource ( CIKR ) listing requires first discussing how previous changes occurred . Many believe Federal CI protection begins with the Patriot Act and 9 / 11 attacks , but the first attempts to protect U . S . infrastructure began five years earlier during the Clinton Administration .
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