Critical Infrastructure: The National Asset Database

Abstract

The Office of Infrastructure Protection (OIP) in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been developing and maintaining a National Asset Database. The Database contains information on over 77,000 individual assets, ranging from dams, hazardous materials sites, and nuclear power plants to local festivals, petting zoos, and sporting good stores. The presence of a large number of entries of the latter type (i.e. assets generally perceived as having more local importance than national importance) has attracted much criticism from the press and from Members of Congress. Many critics of the Database have assumed that it is (or should be) DHS's list of the nation's most critical assets and are concerned that, in its current form, it is being used inappropriately as the basis upon which federal resources, including infrastructure protection grants, are allocated.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 16, 2007
Accession Number
ADA470289

Entities

People

  • John Moteff

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Cyber

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Area Security
  • Congress
  • Databases
  • Department Of Homeland Security
  • Governments
  • Homeland Security
  • Infrastructure
  • Law
  • Materials
  • New York
  • Public Health
  • Risk
  • Risk Analysis
  • Risk Management
  • Situational Awareness
  • United States
  • Urban Areas

Readers

  • Database Systems and Applications
  • Economics
  • Educational Psychology