HSM318 Week 3 Assignment

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Ashford University *

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Jan 9, 2024

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1 Critical Infrastructure Analysis Bianca Armenta University of Arizona Global Campus HSM318 Emergency Planning Professor Robert Jackson November 27, 2023

2 Critical Infrastructure Analysis The critical infrastructure within the United States stands to be a collective array of networks that allow for our society to function on a normal basis allowing users access to fresh water, electricity, highways, airports, sewage as well as an array of various other amenities. However, these critical infrastructures are continuously attacked by those who wish to cause disruption and terror to the United States and the citizens within. Many of these critical infrastructures are located fairly close to one another and can be easily impacted by the failure of one infrastructure system. As Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security states on slide 6, the National Capitol Region (NCR) includes but is not limited to critical infrastructure systems for Regional Water Supply Emergency Operations Plan, Water Security Monitoring in the NCR, Critical Infrastructure Monitoring and Protection, Critical Infrastructure Resiliency, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) as an alternative Operations Control Center in providing mass transit throughout the Washington, D.C. area (Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, n.d.). The critical infrastructure systems that will be discussed will include the education system in Virginia, specifically the colleges in the state, highways that run through the state which are utilized everyday by millions of drivers and passengers of public transportation systems, and finally the railroad lines in the state which provide transportation for many individuals travelling throughout the state and country. To begin, Virginia houses many schools and colleges throughout the state; however, University of Virginia (UVA), Virginia Tech (VATech), and Old Dominion University (ODU) are three of the largest colleges in the state. These three in state colleges accept thousands of in- state, out-of-state, and foreign students annually thus putting the schools at a great risk of a school shooting like we have seen over the years. While reading the data provided by Virginia

3 infrastructure, it was stated that based on a 2021 assessment of schools in Virginia “determined that 52% of Virginia’s public-school buildings are over 50 years old and estimated renovation costs exceed $24 billion. Virginia is currently faced with aging school infrastructure, shortfalls in funding for repairs/maintenance and operation of existing school facilities, a shrinking tax base in rural areas, and overcrowding in metropolitan areas (Virginia infrastructure, 2023). While the data provided is an eye-opening example of how outdated the schools are that are supposed to be places that the next generations are meant to learn as much as possible to betterment of the future. How can we expect greatness when the circumstances in which the next generation is learning in is less than ideal. In addition to the outdated buildings, COVID-19 has an immeasurable impact on schools due to the “pandemic has exacerbated the situation, making it more difficult for school systems across Virginia to properly maintain, repair, or upgrade school infrastructure” (Virginia infrastructure, 2023). One of the biggest highways running through the state of Virginia is I-95 which runs through a total of fifteen states, going from southern Miami to northern Maine bordering Canada. Interstate 81 is the second longest highway in Virginia, reaching from Tennessee to New Jersey. Due to these two large highways bringing in lots of tourism, traffic, and accidents, the highways should they ever be compromised would be detrimental to the states economical stance supporting small and large businesses. With millions of people use these highways to travel, should they ever be compromised and be inaccessible this could affect many peoples professional and personal lives. By losing access to the roads, this has the possibility of causing mass panic and chaos. Outside of the panic and chaos, it would take much longer to reach destinations further away. This could lead to cities becoming more focused on being walkable and/or bicycle friendly when commuting around the city. Many sections of Virginia roads and

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4 highways are in poor conditions thus making travelling that more dangerous. Highways and motor carriers fall under the Transportation systems Sector in the Critical Infrastructure System, which “encompasses more than 4 million miles of roadway, more than 600,000 bridges, and more than 350 tunnels” (Transportation Systems Sector, n.d.). The Bipartisan Investment and Jobs Act states that “at least $7 billion to improve roads and highways; 2,124 miles of highway in poor condition across the Commonwealth; and $537 million for Virginia bridge replacement and repairs to occur over a five-year span which includes 577 bridges” (Porter, 2023). The final critical infrastructure being discussed is the railroad system which includes the public transportation methods such as Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Virginia Railway Express (VRE). Mass transit and passenger rail fall under the Transportation systems Sector in the Critical Infrastructure System “Public transportation and passenger rail operations provided an estimated 10.8 billion passenger trips” (Transportation Systems Sector, n.d.). The silver line on the WMATA has just added multiple new lines in hopes of growing communities in the Northern Virginia area to go from Falls Church to Dulles Airport International, which now reaches to Ashburn, Virginia (Virginia infrastructure, 2023). The silver line directly affects myself, as I take this form of transportation to commute into Washington, D.C. to report into work. As stated by Virginia Infrastructure regarding the silver line and public transit after COVID-19, “2022 Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (VDRPT) needs assessment shows a 5-year, $208 million gap between projected available funds and what is needed to deliver transit services and modernize the existing system” (Virginia infrastructure, 2023). The Bipartisan Investment and Jobs Act also provides improvements for public transportation in Virginia which is to include $1.2 billion over five years (Porter, 2023). Additionally, the Bipartisan Investment and Jobs Act also provides $66 billion o passenger

5 railroads which is to be broken as “$22 billion in grants for Amtrak, $24 billion for Northeast Corridor modernization, $12 billion for intercity rail service including high-speed rail, $5 billion for rail improvements and safety grants, and $3 billion for grade crossing safety improvements” (Porter, 2023). Should there be a natural disaster within the state of Virginia, it would most likely be a hurricane which can shutdown roads due to excessive flooding thus allowing for the transportation sector to fail in the highways and motor carriers. However, the mass transit would also be affected due to people being unable to access hubs and stations due to the highways and roadways being inaccessible due to flooding. Should flooding so extensive that highways are shutdown, mass transit will also be shutdown thus furthering the failure in the transportation sector. Additionally, school would also be closed due to hurricanes as school officials do not want children traveling in unsafe circumstances. A technological attack on schools, highways, and mass transit could lead to mass panic to the public as information would not be easily accessible to be up to date on events. Highways won’t be directly affected by a technological attack except for the digital signage. Schools would be affected by a technological attack because school officials would be unable to inform its students of power being unavailable or whether personal identifying information has been leaked due to a technological attack. Mass transit would be gravely affected by a technological attack due to majority of its riders using their phones to utilize their transit cards. The arrival times would be affected due to being unable to communicate with stations on arrivals and departures which could cause accidents on the tracks. If a terrorist attack were to occur, it would impact all three critical infrastructure sectors. Schools that were not directly affected would be shut down whereas the school(s) that were

6 affected would have extensive damage along with injuries and loss of life. Mass transit would halt completely should a terrorist attack occur as it would need to assess threats to the transit organization, along with access damage that may have occurred during the terrorist attack. Also, should there be a terrorist attack on the mass transit system, it would cause significant loss of life, damages to the facilities, and injury countless standbyers. The last sector being highways would also be affected negatively by a terrorist attack because of the damages caused to the highway thus leading to a highway shutdown to conduct repairs. There would be loss of life and injuries to individuals affected by a terrorist attack on the highway, however, the percentage would be lower than that of a mass public transit terrorist attack. To conclude, the critical infrastructure within the United States stands to be a collective array of networks that allow for our society to function on a normal basis allowing users access to fresh water, electricity, highways, airports, sewage as well as an array of various other amenities. Virginia infrastructure, it was stated that based on a 2021 assessment of schools in Virginia “determined that 52% of Virginia’s public-school buildings are over 50 years old and estimated renovation costs exceed $24 billion. Virginia is currently faced with aging school infrastructure, shortfalls in funding for repairs/maintenance and operation of existing school facilities, a shrinking tax base in rural areas, and overcrowding in metropolitan areas (Virginia infrastructure, 2023). With millions of people use these highways to travel, should they ever be compromised and be inaccessible this could affect many peoples professional and personal lives. By losing access to the roads, this has the possibility of causing mass panic and chaos. Outside of the panic and chaos, it would take much longer to reach destinations further away. This could lead to cities becoming more focused on being walkable and/or bicycle friendly when commuting around the city. Mass transit and passenger rail fall under the Transportation systems

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7 Sector in the Critical Infrastructure System “Public transportation and passenger rail operations provided an estimated 10.8 billion passenger trips” (Transportation Systems Sector, n.d.). Should there be a natural disaster within the state of Virginia, it would most likely be a hurricane which can shutdown roads due to excessive flooding thus allowing for the transportation sector to fail in the highways and motor carriers. A technological attack on schools, highways, and mass transit could lead to mass panic to the public as information would not be easily accessible to be up to date on events. Should a terrorist attack were to occur, it would impact all three critical infrastructure sectors.

8 City Map: Legend: Hospital is located on the upper right side – “H” Major highways are pinned as the vehicles on the yellow lines indicating highways Police Station is pinned as the “P” in the center of the map Local airport is pinned as the aircraft on the lower middle section of the map Local electrical substation is pinned as the light bulb in the bottom left part of the graph Railroad is marked as the black line going directly through the middle of Winchester with the train icon Local sewage plant is the neon green icon on the upper right side of the graph Shenandoah University is also pinned in the middle of the graph Local Park is pinned with the recreation icon of basketball and soccer ball Local golf courses are pinned with the golf clubs My Home is pinned next to the sewage plant

9 State Map: Legend: Major highways are pinned as the vehicles Local airport is pinned as the aircraft Local electrical substation is pinned as the light bulb Railroad is marked as the black train icon Local coal plant is the black icon in Alexandria near Washington, D.C. Colleges are pinned as the black graduation cap

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10 References Haddow, G. D., Bullock, J. A., & Coppola, D. P. (2017). Introduction to Emergency Management (6th ed.). Porter, T. (2023, April 25). The Senate’s $1 Trillion infrastructure bill will help Virginia’s resiliency efforts . Resilient Virginia. https://resilientvirginia.org/publications-and-media/news/the-senates-1-trillion- infrastructure-bill-will-help-virginias-resiliency-efforts/ Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security - secretary of public ... (n.d.). https://www.pshs.virginia.gov/media/governorvirginiagov/secretary-of-public-safety-and- homeland-security/pdf/2022-2023/SCIP.Virginia.2021October26_SIEC_Adopted- signed.pdf Transportation Systems Sector . Transportation Systems Sector | Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA. (n.d.). https://www.cisa.gov/topics/critical-infrastructure-security- and-resilience/critical-infrastructure-sectors/transportation-systems-sector Virginia infrastructure: ASCE’s 2021 infrastructure report card . ASCE’s 2021 Infrastructure Report Card |. (2023, August 4). https://infrastructurereportcard.org/state-item/virginia/

HSM318 Week 3 Assignment

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