Nt1310 Unit 9 Final Paper

1. Offer your opinion as to the two critical infrastructure sectors you feel are currently most at risk. Provide reasoning as to why you hold this position and what role the private sector can play in decreasing this risk. In studying critical infrastructure previously, I maintain my belief that the most at risk sector remains food and agriculture. Large farms, processing facilities, and factories are used by the industry with a variety of levels of security. There are often sanitation processes, good manufacturing processes, and hazard identification and control systems in place at processing facilities and factories. Even with these systems and processes in place, the overall facility or a single batch remain vulnerable. The highest risk comes from the employees either intentionally or unintentionally contaminating a batch of food. Testing is supposed to ensure the food is within specific allowances for contaminates, but the laboratory confirmation takes time that perishable items may not have to wait. The most at risk component of this sector is the farms, fields, and ranches themselves. Most have a fence to show the boundary, but are surrounded by open space or more fields. It is unlikely for a farm to be able to secure all access points to their land since many are in rural

PPD 21 focuses on critical infrastructure as a whole and primarily addresses the roles and responsibilities of the federal agencies. Within PPD 21 are references to the partnership between the public and private sectors. This is clearest in the second action for implementation that focusing entirely on evaluating the partnership. Feedback from the private sector on the effectiveness and benefits of the partnership will guide the future interactions and lead to improved