Engineering Commons^™

Homeland Security: Engaging The Frontlines - Symposium Proceedings, George H. Baker, Cheryl J. Elliott

George H Baker

The rise of the American homeland security endeavor under the leadership of the new Department of Homeland Security has been heralded by several major national strategy documents. These documents have served to organize efforts at top levels within the government and industry. However, the national strategy guidance is not getting to many organizations and people at the grass-roots level who can make the most difference in preventing attacks, protecting systems, and recovering from catastrophic events, viz. the general citizenry, private infrastructure owners, and local governments. To better understand grass-roots issues and solutions, James Madison University, in cooperation with the Federal …

Network Security Risk Assessment Modeling Tools For Critical Infrastructure Assessment, George H. Baker, Samuel Redwine, Joseph Blandino

George H Baker

The James Madison University (JMU) CIPP research team is developing Network Security Risk Assessment Modeling (NSRAM) tools that will enable the assessment of both cyber and physical infrastructure security risks. The effort is driven by the need to predict and compute the probability of adverse effects stemming from system attacks and malfunctions, to understand their consequences, and to improve existing systems to minimize these consequences.

The tools are targeted at systems supporting critical infrastructures varying from individual systems to organization-wide systems, to systems covering entire geographical regions. Early work emphasizes computing systems, but systems sharing the network nature of computing …

Applications Of Underground Structures For The Protection Of Critical Infrastructure, George H. Baker, Richard G. Little, Don A. Linger

George H Baker

The U.S. President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection (PCCIP), convened in the wake of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, concluded that the nation’s physical security and economic security depend on our critical energy, communications, and computer infrastructures. While a primary motivating event for the establishment of the commission was the catastrophic physical attack of the Murrah Building, it is ironic that the commission focused its attention primarily on cyber threats. Their rationale was that cyber vulnerabilities posed a new, unaddressed challenge to infrastructure security. This approach was further questioned by the events of September 11, …

Progress In The Development Of Hemp Protection Standards For C3i Facilities, George H. Baker, Clinton R. Gordon

George H Baker

DoD is involved in EMP standards development efforts which culminate 25 years of research. This paper previews an EMP protection standard for fixed, ground-based communication facilities. The standard uses a low-risk hardening approach which depends on an electromagnetic barrier comprised of a conducting shield to prevent harmful transients from reaching communication electronics. The standard is the first of its kind and is being instituted as MIL-STD-188-125.