Local Police Liaison Briefing: Critical Infrastructure in Your Community and the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP)

Assignment 1: Local Police Department Liaison Briefing on Local Infrastructure Protection and the NIPP

As your local police department’s liaison to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, prepare a briefing for your Chief of Police before major upcoming special events. Describe your community specifically, then address:

• Critical infrastructure in your community, as defined in Module 1.
• How the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) provides a coordinated approach to critical infrastructure protection.
• The roles and responsibilities of local agencies in relation to NIPP expectations.
• Important laws and regulations applicable to critical infrastructure protection policies.

Original example for study purposes (about 1,100 words). It uses Tampa, Florida, as an example; describe the community where you live or work, and cite your Module 1 resources.

MEMORANDUM
To: Chief of Police
From: [Your Name], DHS Liaison Officer
Date: [Date]
Subject: Critical infrastructure in our community and the National Infrastructure Protection Plan

Purpose

The Department of Homeland Security has requested local cooperation in planning for upcoming major special events, such as the annual Gasparilla Pirate Festival, which the city estimated drew about 300,000 people in 2024 (WUSF, 2024), and events at Raymond James Stadium and Amalie Arena. This briefing identifies our community’s critical infrastructure, explains how the NIPP coordinates protection efforts, outlines local responsibilities and summarizes relevant laws.

1. Critical Infrastructure in Our Community

Critical infrastructure includes the assets, systems and networks, physical or virtual, so vital that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, the economy, public health or safety, or any combination of these. The federal government organizes critical infrastructure into 16 sectors (Humphreys, 2024). Tampa, a large coastal city on Tampa Bay, contains assets in many of them:

• Transportation systems: Port Tampa Bay, a major cargo and cruise port that also receives much of the region’s petroleum fuel; Tampa International Airport; the interstate system and bridges across Tampa Bay; rail lines; and regional transit.
• Energy: power generation plants and the electric grid serving the Tampa Bay region, plus bulk fuel terminals at the port.
• Water and wastewater: the city’s drinking water treatment facility, regional water supply systems and wastewater treatment plants.
• Healthcare and public health: Level I trauma and specialty hospitals that would receive casualties during an event.
• Defense industrial base and government facilities: MacDill Air Force Base, which hosts U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, plus federal, county and city government buildings.
• Commercial facilities: Raymond James Stadium, Amalie Arena, the convention center, hotels, Bayshore Boulevard (the Gasparilla parade route) and the downtown Riverwalk.
• Emergency services, communications and information technology: 911 dispatch, police and fire facilities, cellular networks and the city’s IT systems.
• Chemical, financial services and food and agriculture: chemical storage at industrial sites, bank and data centers and food distribution hubs.

Because of Tampa’s coastal location, these assets also face hurricanes and flooding. During special events, the greatest concerns are mass gatherings at commercial facilities, the transportation systems that move crowds and the hospitals and emergency services that must respond.

2. How the NIPP Provides a Coordinated Approach

The NIPP, last fully updated in 2013 as NIPP 2013: Partnering for Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, is the national framework for how government and the private sector work together to protect critical infrastructure (U.S. Department of Homeland Security [DHS], 2013). It coordinates protection in several ways:

• A shared risk management framework. Partners set goals and objectives, identify infrastructure, assess and analyze risks (threats, vulnerabilities and consequences), implement risk management activities and measure effectiveness, in a continuous cycle.
• A partnership structure. Sector Coordinating Councils (private owners and operators) and Government Coordinating Councils (federal and state agencies) work together for each sector, while a State, Local, Tribal and Territorial Government Coordinating Council and regional consortia give local governments a voice.
• Information sharing. DHS and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) share threat information and best practices through fusion centers, Information Sharing and Analysis Centers and CISA Protective Security Advisors, who can conduct vulnerability assessments of local sites.
• Shared responsibility. Because most critical infrastructure is privately owned, the NIPP relies on voluntary partnership and recognizes that owners and operators, not government alone, implement protective measures.

National policy continues to evolve. National Security Memorandum 22 (2024) replaced Presidential Policy Directive 21, kept the 16 sectors, designated CISA as the national coordinator and called for a new National Infrastructure Risk Management Plan (Humphreys, 2024). In 2025, Executive Order 14239 ordered a review of critical infrastructure policies, including NSM-22, and emphasized that preparedness is most effectively owned at the state and local levels (Exec. Order No. 14239, 2025). For our department, this means local agencies are expected to take a larger role.

3. Roles and Responsibilities of Local Agencies

Under NIPP expectations, local agencies like ours should:

• Identify and prioritize local critical infrastructure, maintaining an inventory of key sites and points of contact.
• Build partnerships with owners and operators, such as the port, airport, utilities, hospitals and venue managers, and participate in regional coordinating bodies and the state fusion center.
• Share information by reporting suspicious activity through established channels and disseminating threat information to partners.
• Assess risk and plan with CISA Protective Security Advisors, conducting site assessments of event venues and planning security perimeters, traffic control and evacuation routes.
• Prepare and respond using the National Incident Management System and Incident Command System, conduct joint exercises with fire, EMS, hospitals, county emergency management and federal partners and maintain continuity of operations.
• Support special event security, including requesting a DHS Special Event Assessment Rating where appropriate, coordinating with federal agencies, managing drone restrictions with the FAA and providing law enforcement presence.
• Support recovery and resilience after incidents and natural disasters.

4. Important Laws and Regulations

• Homeland Security Act of 2002: created DHS and assigned it responsibility for critical infrastructure protection; it also includes the Critical Infrastructure Information Act, which protects voluntarily shared infrastructure information from public disclosure (Protected Critical Infrastructure Information).
• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018: established CISA as the lead federal agency for infrastructure security.
• Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022: requires covered entities to report significant cyber incidents and ransomware payments to CISA once implementing rules take effect.
• Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002: requires security plans for ports and vessels, relevant to Port Tampa Bay and the U.S. Coast Guard.
• Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act: governs federal disaster assistance, important for hurricanes and major incidents.
• SAFETY Act (Support Anti-terrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies Act of 2002): provides liability protections for approved anti-terrorism technologies, often used by stadiums and venues.
• Federal aviation restrictions: temporary flight restrictions over large stadium events and special events limit drones and aircraft.
• Presidential policy: NSM-22 (2024) and EO 14239 (2025) shape current federal expectations, along with Florida state emergency management laws and local ordinances.

Recommendations

1. Update our inventory of critical infrastructure and event venues and request CISA vulnerability assessments for priority sites.
2. Establish a joint planning team with venue operators, the port, airport, hospitals, county emergency management and federal partners for upcoming events.
3. Conduct a tabletop exercise before the next major event, including a cyber and severe-weather scenario.

References

Exec. Order No. 14239. (2025, March 18). Achieving efficiency through state and local preparedness. Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, DCPD-202500374. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/DCPD-202500374/html/DCPD-202500374.htm

Humphreys, B. E. (2024). The 2024 National Security Memorandum on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience (CRS Report No. IF12716). Congressional Research Service. https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/IF12716.html

U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2013). NIPP 2013: Partnering for critical infrastructure security and resilience. https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/cybercommission/-DHS-_National_Infrastructure_Protection_Plan_-NIPP.pdf

WUSF. (2024, January 28). Gasparilla parade attracts an estimated 300,000 revelers on land and sea. https://www.wusf.org/2024-01-28/gasparilla-parade-attracts-an-estimated-300-000-revelers-on-land-and-sea

[Your Module 1 course resources and LibGuides, in APA format.]

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