Infrastructure security plan unveiled
Command and control, meet velvet glove. This document, released today by the Department of Homeland Security Public Safety Canada, is long on framework and high-level intent but short on detail, though essentially what it’s saying is that if you work in any of the following sectors – Energy and utilities, Finance, Food, Transportation, Government, Information and communication technology, Health, Water, Safety, or Manufacturing – that is, if you basically do anything in this country, expect an increased Federal presence in your industry. In the often opaque language generated by the civil service, this strategy calls for an entirely new level of bureaucracy, the “sector network”, to monitor and control critical infrastructure. This will be steered by a new national committee: “Partnership through the National Cross-Sector Forum will form the basis for the implementation of the national approach to critical infrastructure resiliency.” We’re further informed, in generalities, that the government will “assist in the coordination of regional [risk] exercise planning across jurisdictions and with critical infrastructure sectors”. Sector networks will be expected to develop new metrics and report in under a web-based “common information sharing protocol”. Partnership with the United States – eg; the DHS – is highlighted. Note that this framework comes to us at a time when the US is pushing NSA monitoring on networks it deems to be critical infrastructure, so the devil will be in the details worked out in committee as industry develops ‘coherence’ with the state and risk mitigation planning is comprehensively nationalized. The Strategy and Action Plan may be viewed here.
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CBC News
May 28, 2010
Public Safety Minister Vic Toews announced a new strategy Friday aimed at protecting Canada’s infrastructure.
The strategy, called the National Safety and Action Plan for Critical Infrastructure, covers food, water, electricity grids, transportation networks, financial systems and telecommunications, among other assets.
The plan will “allow us to respond and recover swiftly when disruptions do occur in any of these important sectors,” Toews said during a media briefing at the control centre of Ottawa Hydro.
He was joined by Saint Boniface MP Shelley Glover, Ontario Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Rick Bartolucci, and Hector Goudreau, Alberta’s minister of municipal affairs.
Toews pointed to the 1998 ice storm that affected large areas of Ontario and Quebec as an example of a situation that left many vital sectors affected.
“The disruption of one sector affected scores of others, interrupting the delivery of important services that Canadians depend upon in their daily lives,” he said. “That is what we want to avoid in the future.”
Source | See also under Militarization: Pentagon: Let us monitor your network or else | Toronto Police to take up to $100-million of G20 security funds | Homegrown terrorist threat to be part of new US National Security Strategy | Toronto police buy four ’sound cannons’ for G20 | North Korea reacts angrily as Seoul’s navy holds military exercises off coast | Toronto and Muskoka G8/20 Summit security costs hit $1.1B | Obama sending 1,200 troops to Mexico border | North Korea to sever ties with South | US appoints first cyber warfare general | Disclosure of apartheid-era warhead negotiations with South Africa tip Israel’s nuclear hand | The Toronto G20 Police State Crackdown | Darpa’s Self-Learning Software Knows Who You Are | Toronto police agree to erase security zone pass info after G20 | Obama starts massive US Air-Sea-Marine build-up opposite Iran | Toronto streets get 77 more surveillance cameras for G20 | Canada’s navy cuts coast patrol fleet in half | NSA head confirmed as chief 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Domestically. | Toronto Star Columnist Fiorito: The cops came and took my gun | Pentagon to Send More Special Forces Troops to Yemen | Military probes beating of Afghan prisoner | Obama’s War for Oil in Colombia | Pentagon calls for ‘Office of Strategic Deception’ | British and US troops to launch new Afghanistan offensive | The War on Terrorism and the Countdown to the 2010 Olympics | General McChrystal indicates talks with Taliban to be discussed | UK police plan to use military-style spy drones | UK: Photographers protest over terror search laws | Texas Schoolkids Tagged With GPS Tracking Devices | No new Taliban crackdowns for 6 months, Pakistan says | Congressman Ron Paul: After ‘CIA coup,’ agency ‘runs military’ | Olympic surveillance cameras causing concern | BATF Notice Bans Private Gun Sales In Texas | Regina police probe RCMP torture claims | War resister released from U.S. prison | Yemen forces ‘kill Al-Qaeda chief’ | UK: Anti-terror stop and search policy ruled illegal by European human rights court | Obama Executive Order Stokes Martial Law Fears | A North American Security Perimeter Coming Into View | North Korea calls for peace treaty with US | ‘No intention’ to invade Yemen: Obama | US Domestic Espionage Alert: Spy Drone Discovered | American cash gives Yemen a reason to join the hunt for al-Qaeda | Canada no longer a haven for war resisters | Ex-Blackwater contractors charged with Afghan killings | Airport security starts in the parking lot | PM Harper downplays detainee torture scandal, prorogation | Suspected US drone ‘kills 12′ in Pakistan | Body scanners coming to Canadian airports | UK: Full-body scanners being ordered for airports, says Gordon Brown | Group slams Chertoff on conflict of interest in scanner promotion | Britain, U.S. to fund Yemen anti-terror unit | For more see The Memory Hole — Militarization
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June 24th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
[...] by Vic Toews. The Department of Public Safety recently announced a plan to create a new body to increase state oversight and control over ‘critical infrastructure’. The common thread here is centralization of power, and the question Canadians need to ask [...]