Critical infrastructure systems provide services that are essential to both the economy and well-being of nations and their citizens. As documented in a recent report to the U.S. Congress, it is of vital importance that these services not be degraded, whether by willful acts such as terrorism or by natural or random events such as earthquakes, design flaws or human error. Yet infrastructure systems and the organizations that manage them are now recognized as components of highly-coupled systems that increasingly rely on one another in order to deliver key services.
The objective of the research is to improve understanding of and support for the management of interdependent critical infrastructure systems. Infrastructure interdependence occurs when, due to either geographical proximity or shared operations, an impact on one infrastructure system is also an impact on one or more other infrastructure systems. The particular focus of the research is on developing techniques that can be used either to mitigate against or respond to events that have the capability if impacting interdependent critical infrastructure systems and to provide decision makers with means of manipulating these models for purposes of mitigation or response. The models developed in the research will be embedded in computer-based decision aids. Such computer-based decision support is intended to assist decision makers in reducing expected loss of service due to disruption and in restoring service more quickly if loss of service actually occurs.
The broader impacts of the research will improve society's ability to withstand the impact of and respond to events that can disrupt the provision of services that are required for the health, safety and economic well being of the citizenry. Managers of critical infrastructures and emergency response officials will be able to model different event scenarios and assess their impact on the services provided by critical infrastructure systems. With this knowledge, mitigation and preparedness strategies can be formulated and evaluated for their ability to prevent an emergency from escalating into a disaster and, if a disaster does occur, ensure a rapid restoration of critical services.
