Information Sharing: DHS Should Take Steps to Encourage More Widespread Use of Its Program to Protect and Share Critical Infrastructure Information
Published: 2006-04-17T00:00:00

Fast Facts:

Highlights:
section_title: Why GAO Did This Study
paragraphs: A wide array of cyber and physical assets is critical to America's national security, economic well-being, and public health and safety. Information related to threats, vulnerabilities, incidents, and security techniques is instrumental to guarding these critical infrastructures against attacks and mitigating the impact of attacks that may occur. The ability to share security-related information can unify the efforts of federal, state, and local government as well as the private sector, as appropriate, in preventing and minimizing terrorist attacks. The Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002 was enacted to encourage nonfederal entities to voluntarily share critical infrastructure information and established protections for it. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has a lead role in implementing the act. GAO was asked to determine (1) the status of DHS's efforts to implement the act and (2) the challenges it faces in carrying out the act.
section_title: What GAO Found
paragraphs: DHS has issued interim operating procedures and created a Program Office to administer the critical infrastructure protection program called for by the Critical Infrastructure Information Act. The interim procedures designate the responsibilities and authority of the Program Manager, and establish requirements related to accepting, protecting, sharing, and using critical infrastructure information as required by the act. The Program Office has begun to accept and safeguard critical infrastructure information submitted voluntarily by infrastructure owners and is sharing it with other DHS entities and, on a limited basis, with other government entities. For example, as of January 2006, the Program Office had received about 290 submissions of critical infrastructure information from various sectors. The Program Office also has initiated outreach efforts to publicize the program to the public and private sectors. In addition, it has trained approximately 750 potential users in DHS and other federal, state, and local government entities how to handle protected critical infrastructure information. This training is a prerequisite to being allowed to view the information. The Program Office has also trained at least 16 federal and state officials how to establish programs in their own entities so they can receive protected critical infrastructure information from DHS and then be authorized to store and share it. DHS faces challenges that impede the private sector's willingness to share sensitive information. Key challenges include defining specific government needs for critical infrastructure information, determining how the information will be used, assuring the private sector that the information will be protected and who will be authorized to have access to the information, and demonstrating to critical infrastructure owners the benefits of sharing the information. If DHS were able to surmount these challenges, it and other government users may begin to overcome the lack of trust that critical infrastructure owners have in the government's ability to use and protect their sensitive information.

section_title: Letter
paragraphs: Information about threats, vulnerabilities, and incidents is a crucial tool in  fighting terrorism and protecting the nation’s critical infrastructures— those cyber and physical assets essential to national security, national  economic security, and national public health and safety. Because the  private sector owns a large percentage of the nation’s critical  infrastructure—such as banking and financial institutions,  telecommunications networks, and energy production and transmission  facilities—public/private partnerships are crucial for successful critical  infrastructure protection. The ability to share security-related information  can unify the efforts of federal, state, and local governments as well as the  private sector, as appropriate, to prevent and minimize terrorist attacks.
We have reported previously on critical success factors and challenges in  the information-sharing relationships between public and private entities  for critical infrastructure protection. In addition, in January 2005, we  designated information sharing to improve homeland security, including  critical infrastructure protection, as a governmentwide high-risk area because, while receiving increased attention, the issue still poses  significant challenges.
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 created the Department of Homeland  Security (DHS) and gave it wide-ranging responsibilities for critical  infrastructure protection. Among other things, the Homeland Security Act  required DHS to develop a comprehensive national plan for securing the  nation’s critical infrastructures; recommend measures to protect key  infrastructures; and access, receive, analyze, and disseminate, as  appropriate, information on terrorist threats to these assets.
The Critical Infrastructure Information (CII) Act of 2002 was enacted into  law as part of the Homeland Security Act. The CII Act required that DHS  establish procedures for the receipt, care, and storage of CII voluntarily  submitted to the government. The act was intended to encourage  infrastructure owners to voluntarily share sensitive information, including  vulnerability assessments and security methods, by providing rigorous  protection mechanisms to ensure that the information would not be  inappropriately released and used. The act authorized the federal  government to use the information to issue advisories, alerts, and warnings  regarding threats to critical infrastructures that the private sector and  others could use to enhance protection measures.
In response to your request, our objectives were to determine (1) the status  of DHS’s efforts to implement the CII Act and (2) the challenges it faces in  carrying out the act. To determine the status of DHS’s efforts, we analyzed  the relevant laws and interim procedures that DHS issued in 2004 laying  out the structure and processes for the program, and public comments on  the interim procedures. We also reviewed related strategies, policies,  procedures, controls, and tools used for the receipt, care, and storage of  CII, and interviewed key DHS officials such as the Protected CII Program  Manager. We compared what was expected under the CII Act with what  had been accomplished by DHS. To determine the challenges in  implementing the act, we analyzed and reviewed reports by private sector  advisory councils and critical infrastructure protection experts and held  interviews with representatives from DHS, federal agencies, state and local  governments, private sector entities, and public interest groups. We also  relied on prior GAO work on information sharing between federal and  nonfederal entities. Appendix I provides additional details on our  objectives, scope, and methodology. Our work was conducted from May  2005 to February 2006 in accordance with generally accepted government  auditing standards.
subsections: section_title: Background
paragraphs: Information sharing is an important part of activities that enhance the  security of our nation’s cyber and physical public and private  infrastructures. Federal law and policy related to critical infrastructure  protection activities recognize the importance of sharing information about  threats, vulnerabilities, and incidents and call for related initiatives.  Federal agencies and the private sector have jointly attempted to  implement these initiatives for a number of years. The CII Act provides a  mechanism to encourage nonfederal entities to voluntarily share sensitive  information pertaining to the security and vulnerabilities of their critical  infrastructure assets with the federal government, and for that information  to be shared with the appropriate federal, state, and local governments for  the purposes of analyzing threats and vulnerabilities and issuing alerts and  warnings.
subsections: section_title: Federal Law and Policy Call for Improved Information Sharing
paragraphs: Since 2002, legislation, national strategies, and executive directives have  specified actions to improve information sharing for homeland security:  The Homeland Security Act of 2002 created DHS and assigned it critical  infrastructure protection responsibilities, including (1) developing a  comprehensive national plan for securing the key resources and critical  infrastructures of the United States; (2) recommending measures to  protect the key resources and critical infrastructures of the United  States in coordination with other groups; (3) accessing, receiving, and  analyzing law enforcement, intelligence, and other threat and incident  information to identify and assess the nature and scope of terrorist  threats; and (4) disseminating, as appropriate, information to assist in  the deterrence, prevention, and preemption of or response to terrorist  attacks. In addition, it included specific mechanisms intended to  improve information sharing, including the CII Act (discussed in the  next section) and the Homeland Security Information Sharing Act.
In 2002 and 2003, the White House’s National Strategy for Homeland  Security and its implementing strategies, the National Strategy to  Secure Cyberspace and the National Strategy for the Physical  Protection of Critical Infrastructures and Key Assets, also highlighted  federal actions to promote two-way information-sharing mechanisms.
Issued in December 2003, Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7  established a national policy for federal departments and agencies to  identify and prioritize U.S. critical infrastructure and key resources and  to protect them from terrorist attack. It defined roles and  responsibilities for DHS and agencies with critical infrastructure  protection responsibilities to coordinate activities and to encourage the  development of information sharing and analysis mechanisms and to  support coordinating mechanisms. It required that DHS (1) produce a  national infrastructure protection plan (NIPP) summarizing initiatives  for sharing information, including providing threat warning data to state  and local governments and the private sector, and (2) establish the  appropriate systems, mechanisms, and procedures to share homeland  security information with other federal departments and agencies, state  and local governments, and the private sector in a timely manner.
In January 2006, the draft NIPP recognized the importance of an  information-sharing network and policies and protocols for vetting and  disseminating information among both government and private sector  partners. It identified 17 critical infrastructure sectors, with sector- specific agencies for each—agriculture and food; public health and  healthcare; drinking water and wastewater treatment systems; energy  (except nuclear power facilities); banking and finance; national  monuments and icons; defense industrial base; chemical; commercial  facilities; dams; emergency services; commercial nuclear reactors,  materials, and waste; information technology; telecommunications;  postal and shipping; transportation systems; and government facilities.  In addition, the draft NIPP stated that a final PCII rule is expected in  2006. It also required that, upon signing the letter of agreement with  DHS regarding critical infrastructure protection responsibilities, sector- specific agencies would commit to protecting critical infrastructure data  according to the Protected Critical Infrastructure Information Program  and to sharing NIPP-related information as appropriate. However, at the  time of our review, DHS was uncertain when the final NIPP would be  released.
section_title: CII Act Establishes Protection for Voluntarily Submitted Critical Infrastructure Information to Encourage Sharing
paragraphs: The CII Act was enacted into law as Title II, Subtitle B, of the Homeland  Security Act. According to the act, CII is information that is related to the  security of critical infrastructure or protected systems and that is not  customarily in the public domain. Such information includes (1) actual,  potential, or threatened interference with, attack on, or incapacitation of  critical infrastructure or protected systems by either physical or computer- based attack; (2) the ability of any critical infrastructure or protected  system to resist such interference, compromise, or incapacitation; or   (3) any planned or past operational problem or solution regarding critical  infrastructure or protected systems. To qualify for protections under the  act, CII must be voluntarily submitted to DHS by an individual, entity, or  information sharing and analysis organization. In addition, CII  submissions must be accompanied by a written or oral “Express  Statement” that states the information is voluntarily submitted in  expectation that it will be protected from disclosure under the act.  Voluntary submissions under the act cannot be an alternative for  compliance with other laws, such as the requirement to submit data on a  facility’s emissions under the Clean Air Act. The CII Act does not apply to  information obtained independently through such other laws or  regulations.
Under the CII Act, voluntarily shared CII that meets the above  requirements receives protections that include  exemption from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information   exemption from disclosure under state and local laws requiring release  of information or records; and  restrictions on sharing and use, such as restricting state officials from  sharing with other state officials or using the information in civil  actions.
The CII Act also imposes penalties for any federal employee who  knowingly and inappropriately discloses CII submissions. The possible  penalties include fines, imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both, and  the loss of office or employment.
Key responsibilities assigned to DHS under the act are as follows: 1. A requirement for the Secretary of DHS to establish, in consultation  with appropriate representatives of the National Security Council and  the Office of Science and Technology Policy, uniform procedures for  the receipt, care, and storage of voluntary CII submissions to the  government. The act also specifies that the procedures include  mechanisms for  acknowledging the receipt of the voluntarily submitted CII;  maintaining the identification of this information as voluntarily  submitted to the government under the act;  caring for and storing such information; and  protecting and maintaining the confidentiality of the identity of the  person or entity that submitted information, or the information itself  if it is proprietary, is business-sensitive, relates specifically to the  submitting person or entity, or is otherwise not appropriately in the  public domain. 2. An authorization for either the President or the Secretary of Homeland  Security to designate a critical infrastructure protection program  within DHS to receive CII. 3. An authorization for DHS to share the information within the federal  government and with state and local governments, and that the federal  government may use the information to issue advisories, alerts, and  warnings using PCII as long as the identity of the source of the  information and proprietary, business-sensitive, or information related  specifically to a submitting entity is protected from disclosure.
section_title: As Required by the CII Act, DHS Has Established Procedures, Organized a Program Office, and Received and Shared Information
paragraphs: In February 2004, DHS issued an interim rule that established procedures,  as required by the CII Act, and created a Program Office to administer the  program. The office has developed and maintained processes for accepting,  protecting, and sharing CII; received about 290 submissions from critical  infrastructure owners; begun some outreach with potential submitters to  increase information flow; shared PCII on a limited basis with users in DHS  and several other federal entities; and trained approximately 750 potential  users at DHS, other federal, state, and local government entities and, at  least 16 state and local officials how to establish their own programs.
subsections: section_title: DHS Has Established Procedures as Required by the CII Act
paragraphs: DHS has issued procedures for the receipt, care, and storage of CII, as  required by the CII Act. In doing so, DHS first issued a proposed rule on  April 15, 2003, and solicited public comment on its provisions. After  consideration of the comments received on the proposed rule, DHS issued  an interim rule that was effective at the time of release on February 20,  2004. In the interim rule, DHS invited additional comments, stating that it  would consider issuing supplemental regulations. DHS received 32 sets of  comments on the interim rule from a wide variety of organizations and  individuals that raised concerns and offered suggestions and  recommendations about various aspects of the program. Currently, the  Program Office is operating under the interim rule.
The interim rule includes mechanisms specified by the act regarding  acknowledging to the submitter that the Program Office has received  the voluntarily submitted CII;  maintaining the identification of this information as voluntarily  submitted to the government under the act;  receiving, handling, storing, and properly marking information as PCII,  including reviewing submitted information, determining that it meets  the requirements for protection (a process known as validation), and  protecting it;  safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of the submitter of the  information, but permitting the sharing of the information, as  determined by the Program Manager; and  protecting and maintaining the confidentiality of the information, so as  to permit (1) the sharing of it within the federal government and with  state and local governments and (2) the issuance of notices and  warnings related to the protection of critical infrastructure and  protected systems, in such a manner as to protect from public  disclosure the identity of the submitting person or entity or information  that is proprietary, is business-sensitive, relates specifically to the  submitting person or entity, and is otherwise not appropriately in the  public domain.
To accomplish these requirements, the interim rule established authorities  regarding the sharing of protected information with federal, state, and local  governments. Under the rule, the Program Manager has the authority to  decide what protected information to provide to trained federal, state, or  local government employees for purposes that include analysis, warning,  asset recovery, reconstitution, and studies of the interdependence of  critical infrastructure sectors. For example, the information might be  provided if it is needed to study how the banking and finance sector  depends on the security of the telecommunications sector so that backup  systems can be developed in advance of an incident. In addition, the  interim rule states that the Program Manager can share information for  other purposes, including the identification, analysis, prevention,  preemption, or disruption of terrorist threats to the homeland.
Under the rule, the Program Manager is responsible for administering the  program, including (1) reviewing submissions to determine if they meet the  requirements for protection—referred to as validation, (2) promulgating  directives to operate the program, and (3) preparing training materials as  appropriate for the proper treatment of PCII. The Program Manager is also  required to establish procedures to ensure that any federal, state, or local  entity that wants to use the information appoints one or more employees  fully familiar with the procedures as PCII officers. These officers are  required to oversee the handling, use, secure sharing, and storage of the  information within their respective entity; prevent unauthorized access to  the information; and coordinate with the Program Manager.
section_title: DHS Has Organized a Program Office, as Authorized by the CII Act
paragraphs: In February 2004, DHS established a Program Office to receive CII. During  the course of our review, DHS reorganized and this office is now under the  Preparedness Directorate, Office of Infrastructure Protection, and  Infrastructure Partnership Division. The Program Office is led by the  Program Manager and includes a combination of full-time federal and  contractor employees. It is organized into four branches that, among other  things, (1) develop and maintain applicable processes for information  systems and networks, (2) receive submissions, (3) communicate with  submitters about the status of their submission, (4) train users and entities  that want to establish their own programs for handling the information, and  (5) share PCII.
At the Program Office’s establishment, it published an initial, internal  procedures manual describing the activities to implement the provisions of  the act and the interim rule and providing guidance for administration of  the program. The manual describes the process that (1) the submitters  from the private sector and others are to use to send the information to  DHS and (2) the Program Office is to use to validate that submitted CII  meets the act’s requirements for protection. The manual also describes the  process for sharing PCII with authorized users within DHS, other federal  entities, and state and local governments.
section_title: The Program Office Has Received and Validated Submissions and Initiated Efforts to Increase Submissions
paragraphs: The CII Act specifies that DHS receive all submissions of CII. Once  received by the Program Office, the CII submission enters a validation  process for determining whether it qualifies for protection under the act. If  the qualifications are met, the submission is marked PCII and is to be  provided the protections in the act. If the qualifications are not met, the  submission is rejected and destroyed. Appendix II discusses these  processes in more detail.
As of January 2006, the Program Office had received 289 submissions, of  which 266 were validated as PCII, 8 were in the process of being validated,  14 were rejected, and 1 was withdrawn. The validated submissions include  risk and vulnerability assessments about individual infrastructure assets  from a variety of critical infrastructure sectors, such as the energy,  agriculture and food, banking and finance, and chemical sectors. In  addition, entities have submitted data on their operations and on security  methods used to protect their assets. According to program officials,  submissions were rejected or withdrawn generally because they did not  meet the program’s requirements, such as not being submitted with an  Express Statement or not being CII as defined in the law, even after the  Program Office contacted the submitters for additional information to try  to resolve this problem.
To manage the submissions, the Program Office developed, as directed in  the interim rule, and is using the Protected Critical Infrastructure  Information Management System (PCIIMS)—an electronic database that  tracks the receipt and storage of CII submissions, according to program  officials. For each submission, the system allows reviewing officials to  record the date of receipt, name of the submitter, description of the  information received, manner of acknowledgment, tracking number, and  validation status. Once a submission is validated as PCII, the information is  placed on a secured electronic storage device within the Program Office.  Staff in the Program Office reported that they are also working on an  updated version of the management system that is expected to streamline  and automate the validation process, reducing the time needed to  determine if submissions qualify for protection.
To increase submissions, the Program Office has initiated outreach efforts  to publicize the PCII program to the public and private sectors. As part of  its outreach efforts, the Program Office launched a public Web site in  March 2004, presenting program facts and answers to frequently asked  questions. In addition, the Program Office prepared over 2,300 fact sheets  and about 4,000 brochures that it distributed to public and private  stakeholders. It also activated e-mail and telephone help lines to respond to  inquiries or comments. To promote the PCII program to private industry,  the Program Office has discussed the program in over 30 articles in trade  publications, briefed infrastructure sector representatives and participated  in industry conferences and seminars, and provided presentation kits that  DHS analysts use to explain the program to potential submitters.
In addition, the Program Office implemented an e-submissions process in  August 2005 to make submissions easier. According to the Program Office,  the benefits to e-submissions include increased transaction speed,  improved record-keeping efficiency, increased participation, and improved  security. Submitted files are encrypted in transit to prevent access by  anyone except Program Office staff and are stored in a stand-alone  database maintained at a secure location.
The Program Office is also collaborating with other information sharing  and collection efforts to make submission of CII easier. For example, the  Program Office gave DHS’s National Cyber Security Division (NCSD)  limited authority to receive recurring submissions. At the time of our  review, NCSD had not used the authority; however, according to NCSD  officials, the validation authority is a positive step because it provides a  private sector entity with an additional method to share information with  them. In addition, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition within  the Department of Health and Human Service’s Food and Drug  Administration, is partnering with the Program Office. The center plans to  ask a number of dairy facilities to share CII on the safety of the nation’s  milk supply. The information will be submitted to the Program Office to be  validated and will then be made available to the Food and Drug  Administration for safety analyses. In New York, the Risk Analysis and  Management for Critical Asset Protection program—developed in a  public/private sector partnership for DHS by the American Society of  Mechanical Engineers as a methodology for performing risk assessments— is offering a method to electronically submit CII to the Program Office for  protection. Using the program, infrastructure asset owners will be able to  submit results about the security of their facilities to DHS.
section_title: The Program Office Has Begun to Share PCII, Trained about 750 Users, and Established a Mechanism to Initiate PCII Programs at Other Entities
paragraphs: As the CII Act authorizes, DHS has begun to share PCII with users. For  example, according to NCSD officials, the Program Office received  information that it later shared with them. They said that this information  was important to investigating a cyber-related incident, but it would not  have been provided by the infrastructure owners without CII Act  protections. In addition, the Federal Emergency Management Agency  (FEMA) received one piece of information from the Program Office.  Agency officials said they learned about the information while in  discussions with officials from a state who told them that they would not  share the information unless it could be protected. On the basis of this  requirement, FEMA requested the state to submit the information to the  Program Office and had FEMA officials trained in the use and handling of  PCII. According to a FEMA official, this information led to the development  of generic best practices related to dam security that were presented at a  workshop. Also, a few other federal agencies have used the information.  For example, in February 2005, at the request of NCSD, the National  Security Agency (NSA) became the first non-DHS federal agency to receive  PCII. This information was used to assist in the research of a cyber-related  incident and did not result in any public alerts. In addition, officials from  the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported that they had reviewed one  PCII report.
Prior to allowing federal, state, or local government users access to the  information, the Program Office trains them to ensure that users have a  clear understanding of how to handle and safeguard PCII and how to  access the information on an as-needed basis, according to program  officials. The Program Office began user training sessions in February 2004  and established a Web-based training program in November 2004. At the  time of our review, approximately 650 individuals from within DHS,  including contract personnel, had been trained, along with 110 individuals  from other federal, state, and local agencies.
The Program Office also accredits federal, state, and local agency PCII  programs. Only accredited entities can receive and store this information.  Accreditation ensures that an entity is qualified to manage its own program  for handling, using, sharing, and safeguarding PCII, including applicable  databases and systems. After determining its need for PCII, an entity must  complete the following steps to earn accreditation: (1) appoint a program  officer and at least one deputy program officer, both of whom must  complete a 3-day course about the use and handling of PCII and pass a  certification examination; (2) provide a senior official with the authority to  represent the entity and enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA)  with the Program Office; and (3) pass an accreditation review by the  Program Office.
Since July 2005, when the PCII Accreditation Program began, the Program  Office has trained at least 16 federal and state officials who serve or will  serve as program officers or deputy program officers for their respective  agencies, according to program officials. Not all of the federal and state  entities represented by the 16 officers and deputies have completed the  accreditation process. According to program officials, as of January 2006,  two entities were fully accredited—Maryland and the Food and Drug  Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. In addition,  Arizona, California, and Massachusetts were in the process of being  accredited, and other federal entities and states had initiated discussions  with the Program Office about becoming accredited. Regarding additional  federal agencies, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is participating in the  accreditation process. In addition, according to the Department of  Agriculture’s Director of Homeland Security and information technology  staff, the Department of Agriculture will establish a PCII program, which  will require them to become accredited. (See app. II for a more detailed  description of the accreditation process.)
According to the Program Manager, the Program Office is most interested  in accrediting entities that have lead roles in critical infrastructure  protection—such as the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, and the  Treasury. However, the Program Manager noted that accreditation is  voluntary and some of these agencies may not be interested. In addition,  according to the Program Manager, the Program Office will continue to  accredit other entities, such as states and other federal agencies, that  express an interest in PCII.
Figure 1 summarizes the efforts related to implementation of the CII Act.
section_title: DHS Faces Challenges in Implementing the CII Act
paragraphs: DHS faces challenges in implementing the CII Act through the PCII  program. These challenges include better defining specific government  needs for CII, determining how the information will be used, assuring the  private sector that the information will be protected and who will be  authorized to have access to it, and demonstrating to critical infrastructure  owners the benefits of sharing the information. By overcoming these  challenges, DHS and other users may make strides toward reducing critical  infrastructure owners’ lack of trust in the government’s ability to use and  protect their sensitive information.
Defining specific government needs: The act broadly defines what CII can  be voluntarily submitted to the government for protection, and the interim  rule reiterates the same broad definitions for use by the Program Office in  its implementation of the act. However, DHS has not defined the specific  information—such as industry-specific vulnerabilities and  interdependencies—needed under the program, nor has it  comprehensively worked with other federal agencies with critical  infrastructure responsibilities to find out what they need. The lack of  specificity on the part of DHS in clearly communicating to the private  sector what information is needed has impeded the willingness of potential  submitters to provide their sensitive information to DHS. The Program  Manager and other program officials said that until the potential users of  PCII within DHS and other federal agencies with critical infrastructure  responsibilities have fully identified their information needs, the private  sector will not know what to submit.
An official representing the chemical infrastructure sector agreed that  infrastructure owners need to know what kind of information is required so  they can provide meaningful submissions. In October 2005, the National  Infrastructure Advisory Council also made the point that when requesting  information, the government must clarify why they need the information. In  addition, defining the needs for information requiring protection is what  drives potential users to participate in the program. For example, Maryland  and California initiated the accreditation process because, according to  responsible officials, they had defined specific information needs that  required protection.
Determining how information will be used: The act broadly defines how  PCII may be shared with other government entities and used to issue  advisories, alerts, and warnings. The interim rule provides procedures on  how information will be shared with other entities for the same broad uses.  However, potential users within DHS have not specified how they will use  the information. In addition, DHS has not yet used the information to issue  any advisories, alerts, or warnings, according to DHS officials. An  Infrastructure Partnership Division official also said that until more  information is submitted under the program, it will be difficult for DHS to  determine how it will use the information.
In October 2005, the National Infrastructure Advisory Council stated that  the private sector might be more willing to share information if “when  requesting information, the government clarified how they will use it.” In  addition, an official representing the chemical infrastructure sector agreed  that entities would be more likely to submit CII if they knew how it would  be used. We have also reported in the past that uncertainty about how the  information would be used and who it would be shared with posed a  barrier to critical infrastructure sectors sharing information with the  government.
The Program Office faces the challenge of building a demand for PCII  among potential users of the information by demonstrating how it will help  users achieve their critical infrastructure missions. Without identifying a  specific use for PCII, entities are often reluctant to commit the necessary  effort toward accreditation. For example, according to an NSA official who  used PCII once, while there was value to having the information his office  had already used, its use did not impact his office’s final conclusions on the  investigation they were conducting or result in any analytical or warning  products being issued. Because the use for the information was considered  an isolated case, NSA does not plan to establish an accredited PCII  program.
In addition, FEMA officials who also used PCII once, noted that PCII they  had received was valuable in developing security-related best practices that  FEMA presented at a workshop. However, they have no current plans to  establish a formally accredited program because they are uncertain how  they will use the information in the future. Also, as previously discussed,  user participation in the PCII program is completely voluntary, even for  agencies that have particular responsibilities for a critical infrastructure  sector. Nonetheless, the Program Office is attempting to train enough users  and help other government entities establish programs so that there is a  critical mass of users to help make the program viable.
Other DHS officials stated that their own use of PCII had been purely  incidental. For example, DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis has not  found PCII to be essential for its operations largely because its emphasis is  on analyzing and responding to immediate threats, while PCII is  information relating to vulnerabilities. At this early stage of the program’s  maturity, an official said PCII is not viewed by the Intelligence and Analysis  analysts as providing better or more relevant information than that which  they receive on a daily basis from the intelligence community and the many  other sources used to identify threats. On the other hand, the Deputy  Director of the Infrastructure Partnership Division stated that analysts  within the division could find PCII very useful to their mission. In addition,  DHS officials believe that as more PCII becomes available, they will use it  in their new Homeland Infrastructure Threat and Risk Analysis Center—a  national center for the integration, analysis, and sharing of information  related to the threat of terrorist attacks on critical infrastructure.
Assuring the private sector that the information will be protected and  who will be authorized to have access to it: To implement the protection  requirements in the act, the interim rule establishes procedures for  marking, safeguarding, and sharing the information. In addition, the  Program Office has established (1) the training program to equip  authorized users with knowledge of how to safeguard the information and  (2) the PCII Accreditation Program to ensure that other organizations have  processes and policies to promote the safeguarding of the information.
However, potential submitters often continue to be reluctant to provide  their sensitive information because they are not certain that their  information will be fully protected. They fear that the information could be  inadequately protected, used for future legal or regulatory action, or  inadvertently released. For example, as follows, specific provisions in the  law and rule impact perceptions that the submitted information will not be  protected, according to DHS, other federal agencies, and the private sector:  Originator control: Under the rule, the Program Manager has the  authority to decide what PCII to provide to federal, state, or local  government employees for approved purposes; the originator of the  critical information cannot control how the submission is shared at the  federal level. According to an official representing a multisector  organization, infrastructure sector entities are hesitant to share  information because of its sensitivity, without having control over who  has access to it. According to the Program Manager, the Program Office  is considering a method that they believe would meet the act’s intent— that is, submitters would identify at the time of submission what users  they believe should or should not be able to receive the information.  Under this method, the Program Office would contact the submitter if a  need arose for another entity to use the information. According to DHS,  this method has been used for some PCII submissions. However, this  method has not yet been instituted.
Direct submissions: To receive protection, all submissions must be  received by DHS directly from the original submitter. For example, the  Department of Defense cannot receive information from members of  the defense industrial base and protect it as PCII or forward it to DHS to  be labeled and protected. However, in commenting on the interim rule,  one federal agency, as well as four infrastructure sector organizations,  expressed interest in being able to directly receive or submit this  information because of existing relationships. For example, an official  representing a multisector organization stated that private and public  critical infrastructure entities have already built relationships with each  other over many years and have sufficient trust to share information  with each other. According to the Program Manager, the issue of direct  submission will have to be addressed at some point; however, at this  early stage in the program, it is not worth the risk of having PCII  inappropriately released by an agency, because any mistake would  undermine the entire effort to build trust.
Legal precedents: According to the Program Manager, there have been  no court cases addressing the CII Act. According to the Program Office  and the Homeland Security Advisory Council report, until the courts  uphold the protections, the private sector will frequently be hesitant to  use the program.
In addition, potential submitters of CII have been hesitant to provide their  sensitive information because they are not certain how information would  be protected under the final rule. As of January 2006, DHS had not issued a  final rule, as planned. DHS had established April 2005, June 2005, and  August 2005 as deadlines for the rule to be issued, but it missed these time  frames. The Program Manager and other program officials reported that  the draft final rule had been undergoing legal review within DHS since the  summer of 2005 and would go to the Office of Management and Budget  (OMB) for interagency review before becoming final. However, they could  not predict when this would occur and did not have any target deadlines  established. In addition, the Program Manager and other program officials  were uncertain what changes, if any, would be made to the rule during legal  and interagency review.
We have reported in the past that the uncertainty about how information  would be protected by federal agencies was a barrier to critical  infrastructure sectors sharing information with the federal government.  For example, in May 2005, we reported that critical infrastructure entities  did not openly share cybersecurity information with DHS, in large part,  because they were concerned that the potential release of sensitive  information could increase the threat to the respective entity. Also, in  April 2004, we testified that the reluctance by information-sharing  organizations to share information had focused on concerns over potential  government release of that information, among other things.
In addition, the Program Office has been challenged to implement a  program that will provide protection to CII consistently across federal,  state, and local government entities while adhering to the scope of the act  and the interim rule. Some of the challenges that DHS, states, and private  sector entities identified were as follows:  Sharing PCII with and among the state and local governments: Under  the act, state officials are not allowed to directly share PCII with  officials in other states, unless the Program Office gets written consent  from the person or entity submitting the information. This is a challenge  that limits sharing when state officials meet and when a state official  knows that information could be useful to another state official to  address a vulnerability or threat. The Program Office is considering  resolving this issue by having submitters grant written approval for this  type of sharing when they submit CII—similar to how the issue of  originator control could be handled.
Penalties for inappropriate disclosure are limited to federal employees:  The act imposes criminal and administrative penalties for federal  employees that disclose PCII; however, those penalties do not apply to  contractors or state and local officials, who could face significantly less  penalty for disclosure. The variation of penalties could impact the level  of protection. For example, contractors are not subject to criminal  penalties and contract termination serves as a deterrent to mishandling  the information. For states, the Program Office has suggested that these  issues can be resolved through a MOA between the state entity and the  Program Office that would stipulate state laws are to be used to  prosecute violators. According to the Program Office, this arrangement  was made under the memorandum signed with Maryland and California.
Demonstrating benefits to critical infrastructure owners of sharing the  information: DHS and other interested federal agencies have not clearly  demonstrated to the potential CII submitters the benefit of sharing their  sensitive information; therefore, potential submitters may not be willing to  take the risk of inappropriate use and release. Federal, state, and private  sector officials stated that some of the benefits that potential submitters  expect to receive include improved reaction by first responders; improved  intelligence and strategic analyses of threat information; and improved  performance of services, such as vulnerability analyses for small entities  unable to afford their own efforts. However, at the time of our review,  DHS’s emphasis was on analyzing and responding to immediate threats,  rather than on combining threat and vulnerability information into strategic  analyses.
Our prior work has shown that the federal government lacks the analytical  processes that would provide the sorts of benefits sought by infrastructure  owners. We reported that further efforts are needed to address the critical  challenges of improving the federal government’s capabilities to analyze  incident, threat, and vulnerability information obtained from numerous  sources. We also reported that improvements are needed in the federal  sharing of appropriate, timely, and useful warnings and other information  concerning cyber and physical threats to federal entities, state and local  governments, and the private sector.
Our prior work has also identified demonstrating benefits as a challenge to  the federal government. In April 2004, we testified that in white papers, the  Information Sharing and Analysis Center Council emphasized that perhaps  the greatest barriers to information sharing stem from practical and  business considerations, and that the benefits of sharing information are  often difficult to discern, while the risks and costs of sharing are direct and  foreseeable. In addition, in May 2005, we reported that even when  organizations within infrastructure sectors shared information with DHS,  the entities did not consistently receive useful information in return.
Overcoming these challenges could help to encourage more submissions,  which in turn would provide the opportunity for the government to provide  benefits back to the private sector submitters, thereby creating a virtuous  cycle that builds on itself until a critical mass of users and submitters is  reached and the program becomes self-sustaining. This would help to  address the lack of trust in the government that the private sector has  consistently identified as a reason to limit information sharing. The  Program Manager and other DHS officials acknowledged the need to  establish trusted relationships between the CII submitters and the  information users in federal, state, and local governments.
section_title: Conclusions
paragraphs: DHS has made progress in implementing the CII Act by establishing  procedures and creating a Program Office to administer the program.  However, DHS is still in the early stages of its efforts to expand the  submission and use of PCII and will have to overcome major challenges for  its program to be viable. This effort includes issuing a final rule, as DHS has  planned to do, so that potential submitters will know how the program will  operate. Further, although DHS has a lead responsibility for federal critical  infrastructure protection efforts, its planning efforts to date have not  articulated what specific information it and other federal agencies with  critical infrastructure responsibilities need and how the information will be  used. Without this knowledge, the private sector will continue to be  hesitant to provide information to DHS. The Program Office is aware of  changes it could make to the program that might increase submissions of  CII and provide incentives to users, such as providing clarity regarding how  the information will be protected, establishing some level of originator  control, allowing direct submissions, and providing a mechanism for state- to-state sharing. However, to date, these options and initiatives have not  been aggressively pursued. If DHS were able to surmount these challenges,  it and other government users may begin to overcome the lack of trust  critical infrastructure owners have in the government’s ability to use and  protect their sensitive information.
section_title: Recommendations for Executive Action
paragraphs: In order for DHS to address the challenges to the PCII program—defining  specific needs, determining how and who uses the information, assuring  submitters that the information will be protected, and demonstrating  benefits to critical infrastructure owners—we recommend that the  Secretary of Homeland Security take the following four actions:  In the short term, establish a specific deadline in the near future for  releasing the final rule to OMB and for interagency review so that  potential submitters have more assurance about how their sensitive  information will be protected.
Concurrently, consistent with other infrastructure planning efforts such   define and communicate to the private sector what CII DHS and  federal entities need to fulfill their critical infrastructure  responsibilities and how federal, state, and local entities are  expected to use the information submitted under the program;  determine whether creating mechanisms, such as providing  originator control and direct submissions to federal agencies other  than DHS, would increase submissions; and  expand efforts to use incentives to encourage more users, such as  mechanisms for state-to-state sharing.
We are not making new recommendations regarding improving the  effectiveness of DHS’s information-sharing efforts at this time because our  previous recommendations, including performance of a national threat  assessment and establishment of a strategic analysis capability for  computer-based threats, have not yet been fully implemented.
section_title: Agency Comments
paragraphs: We received oral comments on a draft of this report. An audit liaison  official from the DHS Departmental GAO/OIG Liaison Office stated that  DHS concurred with our findings and recommendations, based on the  comments received from officials from the Preparedness Directorate,  including the Program Office; the Transportation Security Administration;  DHS’s General Counsel; and others.
In addition, the DHS Departmental GAO/OIG Liaison Office provided  technical corrections that it received from the Preparedness Directorate,  including the Program Office; DHS’s General Counsel; and others. We also  received technical corrections from other officials who were cited in our  report. We have incorporated the DHS and other technical corrections in  this report as appropriate.
As agreed with your offices, unless you publicly announce the contents of  this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days from the  date of this letter. At that time, we will send copies of this report to  interested congressional committees, the Secretary of Homeland Security,  and other interested parties. We will also make copies available to others  upon request. In addition, this report will be available at no charge on the  GAO Web site at http://www.gao.gov.
If you or your staffs have any questions concerning this report, please  contact either Dave Powner at 202-512-9286 or pownerd@gao.gov, or Eileen  Larence at 202-512-6510 or larencee@gao.gov. Contact points for our  Offices of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the  last page of this report. Other GAO staff who contributed to this report are  listed in appendix III.
section_title: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology
paragraphs: In response to your request that we review the implementation of the  Critical Infrastructure Information (CII) Act of 2002, we determined (1) the  status of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) implementation  efforts and (2) the challenges DHS faces in implementing the act.
To assess the current state of CII Act implementation, we analyzed the CII  Act and the Procedures for Handling Critical Infrastructure Information:  Interim Rule, the procedures that DHS issued in February 2004, and  related public comments. In order to understand DHS’s efforts to establish  a Protected Critical Infrastructure Information (PCII) Program to accept  and protect CII, we gathered and analyzed relevant strategies, policies, and  procedures, including the PCII Information Program Management  Directive (draft); the PCII Program Procedures Manual, Configuration  Management Plan, Mission Needs Statement, Concept of Operations for  Management (draft), and Systems Risk Assessment. We held interviews  with key officials from DHS’s Preparedness Directorate and Intelligence  and Analysis Office (formerly, the Information Analysis and Infrastructure  Protection Directorate, which included the Disclosure Office, the  Infrastructure Coordination Division, and the Information Analysis  Division). We observed controls and tools used for the receipt, care, and  storage of PCII, as outlined in the Program Office’s manuals. In addition,  we interviewed officials from the Program Office, including the Program  Manager and representatives from each of the office’s four branches  (Management, Communications, Operations, and Systems). We compared  what was expected under the CII Act with what had been accomplished by  DHS. Further, we interviewed key officials from DHS units in the Federal  Emergency Management Agency and the Transportation Security  Administration. We also held interviews with representatives from entities  that could potentially submit CII, including infrastructure sector entities  and public interest groups, such as the Partnership for Critical  Infrastructure Security, the American Chemistry Council, the American  Petroleum Institute, and the Edison Electric Institute. We also held  interviews with representatives from entities that had used PCII, including  federal, state, and local organizations, such as the Department of Defense,  National Security Agency, Department of Agriculture, Federal Reserve  System, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Maryland Emergency  Management Agency, and California Office of Homeland Security.
To determine the challenges to implementing the CII Act, we analyzed  reports by private sector advisory councils and critical infrastructure  protection experts that have identified related challenges. We also  interviewed officials knowledgeable about public/private information  sharing and about the act from DHS, federal agencies, state and local  governments, private sector entities, and public interest groups. In  addition, we relied on prior GAO work on information sharing between  federal and nonfederal entities.
Our work was conducted from May 2005 to February 2006 in accordance  with generally accepted government auditing standards.
section_title: Procedures for Processing CII and Accrediting Entities
subsections: section_title: Processing CII
paragraphs: The CII Act requires DHS to establish uniform procedures for the receipt,  care, and storage of CII that is voluntarily submitted to DHS. In February  2004, the Program Office implemented a process to review CII and began  accepting voluntarily submitted information to determine if it qualifies for  protection. For this explanation, the process is divided into three steps:  submission, validation, and sharing. Figure 2 summarizes the Program  Office’s process.
subsections: section_title: Step 1: Submission
paragraphs: The CII Act requires all submissions of CII to be submitted to DHS for  protection under the act. Submission to DHS means any voluntary  transmittal of CII to the DHS PCII Program Office. CII that is not submitted  to DHS does not qualify for protection. Based on the Program Office’s  process, the submission requirements include the following:   Sources expected to submit CII to DHS for consideration for protection,  or validation, are those with direct knowledge about the security of a  critical infrastructure element, and include, but are not limited to,  Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations (ISAO), private sector  entities, state and local governments, and foreign governments and  companies.
Federal agencies may not independently submit private sector  information for PCII protection, unless they are working together in  partnership with a private sector entity or the agency is part of an ISAO.
Submissions must be accompanied by an Express Statement and a  Certification Statement before they can be validated as PCII. According  to the CII Act, only those submissions that are accompanied by an  Express Statement will have the presumption of protection under the  act.
An Express Statement indicates that the information is voluntarily  submitted to the federal government with the expectation that it will be  protected under the CII Act. A Certification Statement states that the  information is voluntarily submitted, is required or is not required to be  submitted to the federal government, and is not customarily in the  public domain.
The Program Office accepts submissions electronically through a secure  Internet portal or through physical materials, such as floppy disks, video  tapes, audio tapes, facsimiles, or letters.
section_title: Step 2: Validation
paragraphs: Validation is the process for determining whether a submission with an  Express Statement qualifies for protection under the CII Act and, therefore,  will be protected as provided by the act. The Program Manager will  establish time frames for completing the validation process to ensure  effective, efficient, and timely validation determinations. On the basis of a  review of the information submitted, the Program Manager or designated  representative makes an initial determination regarding whether the  information qualifies for protection.
Program Office procedures require that submissions be acknowledged and  tracked throughout the validation process. If the submission is received  with both an Express Statement and a Certification Statement, it will be  processed without delay.
Information received without an Express Statement will be destroyed  immediately, and the submitter will be asked to resubmit. Submissions  received with an Express Statement, but without a complete Certification  Statement, will be presumed to be CII and will be processed. However, the  submitter will be contacted to provide a Certification Statement.
When information is submitted with an Express Statement, the Protected  Critical Infrastructure Information Management System (PCIIMS) will  assign it a unique tracking number, which will be used in all future  communications with the submitter and for recording the current status of  submitted information.
The Program Office must acknowledge receipt of submitted information in  writing within 30 calendar days of its receipt. Acknowledgment of receipt  means only that the information has been received by the Program Office  and is accompanied by an Express Statement.
If the submission is accompanied by both an Express Statement and a  Certification Statement, and the Program Office determines that the  information meets the definition of CII, then  the information will be validated as PCII;  the PCIIMS will be updated to indicate that the information qualifies for  protection under the CII Act;  the submitter will be notified of the decision, and  the validated PCII will be made available to authorized users.
If the initial review determines that the information submitted does not  meet the requirements for protection under the CII Act, the Program Office  must  inform the submitter that the initial determination is that the submission  does not meet the requirements to be PCII;  request the submitter to provide a complete Certification Statement  and/or provide additional information within 30 days of the submitter’s  receipt of the Program Office’s request;  give the submitter the opportunity to withdraw the submission before   consider any additional information provided in making the final  validation determination; whenever possible, the final review will be  performed by the same staff member who performed the initial review.
Newly validated PCII is added to the PCII Submissions Catalog, which is a  list of all available PCII information prepared in a non-PCII format so that it  can be easily shared. For each submission, the PCII Submissions Catalog  contains its tracking number, date of submission, description of  submission, and number of pages.
section_title: Step 3: Sharing
paragraphs: A copy of the PCII Submission Catalog is provided to all PCII officers for  distribution at their discretion to users and analysts for their review. If after  reviewing the catalog the users want to request PCII, they may do so  through their entity’s PCII officer.
The Program Office is authorized to provide access to PCII when it  determines that this access supports a lawful and authorized government  purpose as specified in the CII Act. The Program Office may provide PCII  to federal government departments and agencies and to state and local  government entities that have executed the standard memorandum of  agreement (MOA) with the Program Manager and have met the  requirements of the PCII Accreditation Program.
Before accessing and storing PCII, organizations or entities must be  accredited and have a PCII officer to supervise strict compliance with  procedures. Before individual users can access PCII, they must be trained  in the proper use, handling, and safeguarding of PCII. Authorized users can  request access to PCII on a need-to-know basis. However, users outside of  DHS do not have the authority to store PCII until their agency is accredited.  In cases where the user is from an entity that is not accredited, the Program  Office and the user make arrangements for the user to access the  information at the Program Office.
If access is granted, the information is downloaded from the Program  Office’s secure storage to a paper copy or compact disk. It is then either  hand delivered to the user or loaded to another secure system and accessed  by the user through a controlled folder on the secure system.
The Program Office is responsible for tracking PCII to the state or local  government entity to which it was initially provided. The officially  designated PCII officer of each government entity is responsible for sharing  and tracking PCII under their control.
Federal government entities may share PCII in their possession provided  they verify that the recipient entity has been accredited by the Program  Office to receive PCII and will maintain a tracking mechanism that  provides a record of what PCII they provided to whom and when they  provided it.
State and local governments receiving PCII are not authorized to share PCII  with entities external to their governmental entity, unless they obtain the  express approval of Program Manager and the explicit written consent of  the submitter.
Authorized recipients may use PCII for  securing the critical infrastructure and protected systems;  analysis of potential threats and vulnerabilities;  warning of imminent attack;  studying the interdependency between critical infrastructure sectors;  recovery and reconstitution of damaged infrastructures; or  another information purpose, including, without limitation, the  identification, analysis, prevention, preemption, and/or disruption of  terrorist threats to our homeland.
section_title: Accrediting Entities to Receive PCII
paragraphs: Before federal, state, or local government entities can access and store  PCII, they must have executed a MOA with the Program Office and have  met the requirements of the PCII Accreditation Program. At the time of our  review, the Program Office was updating its February 2004 procedures  manual with guidance on its accreditation process. The accreditation  process was established to ensure that each entity and user has a clear  understanding of how to initiate and manage their entities’ program and  adequate policies, procedures, secure systems, and databases for handling,  using, sharing, and safeguarding PCII. The Program Office’s Operations  Branch is responsible for managing the process, and the Communications  Branch is responsible for outreach and training activities in support of the  process. Figure 3 outlines the key steps in the accreditation process.
The following are key steps in the accreditation process.
After a government entity or other accreditation candidate determines  its need for PCII, the entity requests an application from the Program  Office and nominates a PCII officer and deputy. Any nonfederal  government employee who is nominated to be a PCII officer or deputy  must sign a nondisclosure agreement concerning PCII.
The Program Office appoints the nominated PCII officer and deputy for  the candidate entity after they complete a 3-day training course and pass  a certification examination.
A senior official with the authority to represent the candidate entity  enters into a MOA with DHS. The MOA (1) constitutes an entitywide  obligation and an executive-level commitment to achieving and  maintaining PCII accreditation and (2) sets forth the responsibilities and  obligations of the PCII officer and deputy as well as the requirements for  handling, using, sharing, and safeguarding PCII throughout the federal,  state, or local entity.
The PCII officer completes a self-assessment of how well the entity’s  policies, procedures, and oversight measures comply with the minimum  requirements and procedures set forth in the accreditation guide. The  Program Office reviews the self-assessment and works with the  accreditation candidate’s PCII officer to address any needs for further  development activities.
Once the PCII officer has submitted a self-assessment and addresses  any immediate issue, a site assessment team visits the offices and  facilities of the accreditation candidate to determine its ability to  comply with the requirements set forth in the PCII procedures manual.
The Program Office accredits the government entity after all needs  identified by the assessments are addressed. The PCII officer must  submit an annual report to the Program Office to keep the office  appraised of any developments in the participant’s PCII program. A fully  accredited entity must be reaccredited every 3 years. In addition, the  Program Office may also elect to conduct a site visit of an accredited  entity at any time to ensure that the minimum requirements are  continually being met or to respond to requests for consultation or  guidance from the entity.
section_title: GAO Contacts and Staff Acknowledgments
subsections: section_title: GAO Contacts
section_title: Staff Acknowledgments
paragraphs: In addition to the persons named above, R. Rochelle Burns, Neil Doherty,  Michael Gilmore, Steve Gosewehr, Barbarol James, Victoria Miller, Susan  Quinlan, Nik Rapelje, and Amos Tevelow made key contributions to this  report.