Critical Infrastructure

Executive Order 13010, signed by President Clinton in 1996, emphasized eight critical infrastructures whose services are so vital that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on the defense or economic security of the United States. 

Definition of a critical infrastructure  - "Systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, which are so vital that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on security, the economy or public health and safety." 

The critical infrastructures are:

Telecommunications

A critical infrastructure characterized by computing and telecommunications equipment, software, processes, and people that support:

• the processing, storage, and transmission of data and information; 
• the processes and people that convert data into information and information into knowledge; and 
• the data and information themselves. 

Banking and Finance

A critical infrastructure characterized by entities, such as retail and commercial organizations, investment institutions, exchange boards, trading houses, and reserve systems, and associated operational organizations, government operations, and support activities, that are involved in all manner of monetary transactions, including its storage for saving purposes, its investment for income purposes, its exchange for payment purposes, and its disbursement in the form of loan and other financial instruments.

Water Supply Systems

A critical infrastructure characterized by the source of water, reservoirs and holding facilities, aqueducts and other transport systems, the filtration, cleaning and treatment systems, the pipeline, the cooling systems, and other delivery mechanisms that provide for domestic and industrial applications, including systems for dealing with water runoff, waste water, and firefighting.

Transportation

A critical infrastructure characterized by the physical distribution system critical to supporting the national security and economic well-being of this nation, including aviation; the national airspace system; airlines and aircraft; and airports; roads and highways, trucking and personal vehicles and intelligent transportation systems; waterborne commerce; ports and waterways and the vessels operating thereon; mass transit, both rail and bus; pipelines, including natural gas, petroleum, and other hazardous material; freight and long haul passenger rail; and delivery services.

Emergency Services

A critical infrastructure characterized by medical, police, fire, and rescue systems and personnel that are called upon when an individual or community is responding to emergencies. These services are typically provided at the local level (county or metropolitan area). In addition, state and federal response plans define emergency support functions to assist in response and recovery.

Government Operations

Sufficient capabilities at the federal, state and local levels of government are required to meet the needs for essential services to the public.

Electrical Power

A critical infrastructure characterized by generation stations, transmission and distribution networks that create and supply electricity to end-users so that end-users achieve and maintain nominal functionality, including the transportation and storage of fuel essential to that system.

Gas and Oil Storage and Delivery

A critical infrastructure characterized by the production and holding facilities for natural gas, crude and refined petroleum, petroleum-derived fuels, and the refining and processing facilities for these fuels.