Reference no: EM131747002

Respond to the following discussions from classmates (X4) with approximately 175 words or more each. Include a reference to each response. Be thoughtful and insightful and it must demonstrate critical thinking and analysis.

1. The Public Transit ISAC (PT-ISAC), established by the Department of Transportation and the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), was designated to be the sector coordinator. The purpose of the PT-ISAC is to promote public transportation security further. The APTA serves as the primary contact for bringing the public transportation community together to collectively address information technology (IT) and physical issues.

"The PT-ISAC collects, analyzes, and distributes critical security and threat-related information from government and private information resources" (Radvanovsky & McDougall, 2013, p. 140). The PT-ISAC actually falls under an existing ISAC. The PT-ISAC is supported by the Surface Transportation ISAC (ST-ISAC) and coordinated with the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

Specialists within the PT-ISAC maintain security clearances that allow them access to work at government-cleared facilities and secured communications. Falling under the ST-ISAC, provides the PT-ISAC a more creditable reporting channel and allows them to receive the support needed at a much higher level. Together the PT-ISAC, ST-ISAC, APTA, AAR, and the Transportation Security Administration produce the Transit and Rail Intelligence Awareness Daily Report "focusing on counter-terrorism, suspicious activity reports, and general security awareness" (ST-ISAC, n.d.).

The PT-ISAC also conducts analysis and dissemination of information in regards to physical security, cyber security, and threat information from a variety of public and private organizations. This activity occurs on a 24/7 basis and includes the military, law enforcement, IT vendors, operations centers, and the intelligence community.

"The PT-ISAC has government-experienced analysts with top secret and higher clearances working in government-cleared facilities with secure communications focusing on transit-specific information requirements" (Radvanovsky & McDougall, 2013, p. 140). These specialists allow the PT-ISAC access to information and intelligence that are not available within normal private industries.

Because these individuals have experience in government analysis at higher classification levels, they understand the process of removing the required information and the process to release it to other agencies. This allows for quicker dissemination of critical information that may assist others they work with in the ISAC community.

2. Public transit is something that seems to be overlooked, by the public, when they think of infrastructure and it being attacked by threats. But, there are systems in place to make sure these public transit lines keep running and that they are protected from threats. Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISAC) are established throughout the U.S. and they are in place to provide round the clock threat detection and incident reporting. The PT-ISAC delivers a vital connection between the transit industry, the Transportation Security

Administration, the US Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security, and other important units. Also, it works thoroughly with other recognized ISAC's for other vital sectors, like the surface transportation and information technologies. One of these companies, that I found, was Information and Infrastructure Technologies Inc, or ITT. ITT is a veteran owned company that operates in the public transportation ISAC area.

IIT's fundamental occupational areas consist of Intelligence, Homeland Security, Information Operations, Asymmetric Warfare, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Information Technology, Systems Security Engineering, and Training and Certification. ITT works with both the government and private organizations to make sure that the public transportation sector remains safe for people to use and that it stays free from attacks.

3. The Food and Agriculture ISAC was created in February of 2002 and like many ISACs have a broad range of functions in protecting the nation's food and agriculture industry. Some of the functions, which I will group together to keep short are preventing terrorism, communications (receiving and disseminating), response actions to an attack, working with NIPC and the FBI, and establishing their own repository for members to have to access to. The repository has credible information such as best practices, countermeasures, and many other credible information on terrorism to vetted users.

"The Food and Agriculture Sector was the first infrastructure sector to form an ISAC, and was established before the DHS came into existence", (Radvanosky, 2013). This ISAC has gone through some issues. The ISAC was not receiving any terrorism threat information and therefore, abandoning its information sharing. The former owner Food Marketing Institute (FMI) which hosted the Food ISAC, suspended the program earlier this year (2008) due to lack of activity and information flow", (Straw, J., 2008).

I chose the Surface Transportation ISAC (ST-ISAC) for discussion M6D1. The ST-ISAC and Food and Agriculture ISAC are similar in nature due to their common goal which is to prevent terrorist attacks, criminal, and other negative impacts to the infrastructure that each covers. Both have the functions of collecting and disseminating intelligence. The two ISACs have a repository for their vetted members to utilize. Both ISAC's repository is full of best practices, intelligence information, trends, alerts, historical documentation, situational awareness, and many other important intelligence pieces that are useful to its members. Overall, their purpose and function are quite similar.

The only differences between the ST-ISAC and the Food and Agriculture ISAC are the infrastructure that each covers. Intelligence received and best practices are mainly (not always) specific to their infrastructure. Overall, ISACs represent an excellent way of managing intelligence and helping members have access. Additionally, aiding each infrastructure sector in preparation and reaction from potential threats.

4. Food and agriculture are things that this nation absolutely needs and it is one of our most critical infrastructures, in my opinion. So, having an Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) for the food and agriculture sector would be extremely important. Ensuring the safety and security of our nations food sources is critical.

After doing some reading I found that the food and agriculture sector was the first, of 18 critical infrastructure sectors, to establish an ISAC. It was created in 2002, before the Department of Homeland security (DHS) was even founded. The DHS is what has oversight of the critical infrastructure sectors now. But, in my readings, I found it interesting that the food ISAC was suspended and disbanded.

In 2008, the food ISAC was done away with, because there were no threats of terrorist attacks against it. There were no reports, or intelligence, that any type of attack or threat was posed against the food sector. With the lack of intelligence and threats, the ISAC sector started to lose funding and it was eventually done away with. It seems that the government is now providing its own food sector information sharing web portal. The food ISAC sector seemed to operate the same as the public transportation ISAC sector does.

Both share information about threats and intelligence among stakeholders and the government. The only places that the two seem to really differ is with what sectors the operate in. One dealt with food threats and the other dealt with public transportation threats. In my opinion, just because there is no active threat against the food sector does not mean there should not be an ISAC in place for it. Terrorists look for weaknesses and not having an ISAC for food is a major weakness.