Author(s)

S. Conway, R. Cameron, S. Hermann & J. P. Nelson

Abstract

Silver Shield is the USA (US) state of Nevada’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Program in compliance with the US Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Infrastructure Protection Plan e.g. US DHS and the Target Capabilities List e.g. US DHS. Silver Shield’s mission is to identify, catalogue, prioritize, and protect critical infrastructure and key resources to support federal, state, local, and tribal readiness, prevention, mitigation, and response efforts. Silver Shield operates in coordination with public and private sector entities to collect, archive, and disseminate information that representatives from fire departments, law enforcement, bomb squads, Special Weapons & Tactics (SWAT) medical response teams, and emergency managers deem vital to the protection of critical infrastructure. This paper details Silver Shield’s process of collecting critical infrastructure information through Phased Site Assessments and the means by which this information is archived, evaluated, disseminated, and utilized via the Nevada Critical Infrastructure Protection System (CIPS), the DHS Automated Critical Infrastructure Protection Systems (ACAMS) and Orator Plus™ Presentations. 1 Introduction Silver Shield is Nevada’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Program with the mission to identify, catalogue, prioritize, and protect critical infrastructure and key resources to support federal, state, local, and tribal readiness, prevention, mitigation, and response efforts. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines critical infrastructure as: \“Systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital that the incapacity or destruction of such may have a debilitating impact on the security, economy, public health or safety, environment, or any

Keywords