Thu, 30 Aug 2007 > Download PDF

Donna S. Canestraro, Theresa A. Pardo, and Anna Raup-Kounovsky

In an increasingly interconnected world, neither the public nor the private sector can claim sole stewardship of the critical infrastructure. These interdependencies require new kinds of coordination in a variety of areas, particularly in response to incidents that threaten the stability of the critical infrastructure. Events such as the World Trade Center attacks and Hurricane Katrina have generated new discussions among stakeholders about the coordination necessary to ensure continuity of operation of the critical infrastructure.

In 2006 the New York State Department of Public Service (DPS), as a key actor in the national and regional telecommunications community, began to engage in discussions with other key actors about regional coordination of telecommunications incident response. Encouraged by interest from stakeholders, DPS partnered with the Center for Technology in Government (CTG) to organize a preliminary discussion among members of the regional telecommunications community.

CTG brought together representatives of telecommunications providers, state emergency management agencies, federal communications agencies, state regulatory authorities, state departments of homeland security, state cybersecurity and the financial sector on March 28, 2007 for a one-day workshop. The workshop participants engaged in discussions about the value proposition of coordinated response capability, explored varying perspectives on the current state of affairs, brainstormed strategies for increasing regional response capability, and concluded the session by producing a set of five recommendations for next steps in exploring regional coordination efforts.