Author Description

Our nation faces an increasingly complex set of risks that are interwoven into all facets of our businesses, infrastructures, and communities. The threat of hurricanes, financial instability, pandemics, cyber crime, social unrest, terrorism, and other disruptive events that flow from our participation in a global economy has become a part of our everyday lives. While we continue to work toward a safer and more secure world, the reality is that we must address emerging risks with diligence, commitment, and the understanding that we cannot reroute hurricanes, intercept every cyber attack, or prevent every disruption. Critical infrastructure risks pose a special problem for the country. The companies that own these infrastructures operate in competitive and regulated environments and must balance risk, investment, and cost to consumers. Although they have a deeply ingrained sense of responsibility to their customers and shareholders, it is neither practical nor possible to safeguard infrastructures from all hazards. For the government, the continuity of these infrastructures, and electric power in particular, is critical to many of its fundamental missions: economic stability and growth, national security, public safety, and quality of life. This book provides an overview of select studies examining national critical infrastructure resilience.