[ALSC-Forum] National Infrastructure protection Centre

[Joanna Lane]

I would be most interested to know what relationship, if any, the ALSC has
had with the US National Infrastructure Protection Centre (NIPC)
<http://www.nipc.gov>, either directly, or indirectly through an ISAC
(private sector Information and Analysis Centre)?


According to the NIPC website ...." Presidential Decision Directive (PDD)
63, no later than 2003 the United States shall have achieved and shall
maintain the ability to protect our nation's critical infrastructures from
acts that would significantly diminish the abilities of:

the federal government to perform essential national security missions and
to ensure the general public and safety; state and local governments to
maintain order and to deliver minimum essential public services; the private
sector to ensure the orderly functioning of the economy and the delivery of
essential telecommunications, energy, financial, and transportation
services; and any interruptions or manipulations of these critical functions
must be brief, infrequent, manageable, geographically isolated, and
minimally detrimental to the welfare of the United States."

It could be argued that increased public participation in control of the DNS
through direct At large membership could have an adverse effect on meeting
NIPC objectives to ensure orderly functioning of the internet, and in turn,
the economy, hence discreet pressure could have been brought to bear upon
ICANN in the national interests of the USA, by the intelligence community,
to reduce the ability of the public to influence policy decisions. This
would be one reason to now be unpicking the At Large committment without
giving any solid reasons. Does this make sense, or am I reading too much
into this?

Regards,
Joanna