NIAC Transportation Sector Resilience Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
National Infrastructure Advisory Council Transportation Sector Resilience Final Report and Recommendations DRAFT FOR COUNCIL REVIEW June 30, 2015 Working Group Co-Chairs Jack Baylis Glenn S. Gerstell Dr. Beverly Scott Working Group Co-Chair Working Group Co-Chair Working Group Co-Chair President and Chief Executive Partner CEO Officer Milibank, Tweed, Hadley & Beverly Scott Associates, The Baylis Group, LLC McCloy LLP LLC NIAC Pre-Decisional Draft for Council Review – QBM June 30, 2015 About the NIAC The National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) provides the President of the United States with advice on the security and resilience of the critical infrastructure sectors and their functional systems, physical assets, and cyber networks. These critical infrastructure sectors span the U.S. economy and include the chemical; commercial facilities; communications; critical manufacturing; dams; defense industrial base; emergency services; energy; financial services; food and agriculture; government facilities; healthcare and public health; information technology; nuclear reactors, materials, and waste; transportation systems; and water and wastewater systems sectors. The NIAC also advises the lead Federal agencies that have critical infrastructure responsibilities. Specifically, the Council has been charged with making recommendations to: Enhance the partnership of the public and private sectors in securing and enhancing the security and resilience of critical infrastructure and their supporting functional systems, physical assets, and cyber networks, and provide reports on this issue to the President through the Secretary of Homeland Security, as appropriate. Propose and develop ways to encourage private industry to perform periodic risk assessments and implement risk-reduction programs. Monitor the development and operations of critical infrastructure sector coordinating councils and their information sharing mechanisms and provide recommendations to the President through the Secretary of Homeland Security on how these organizations can best foster improved cooperation among the sectors, the Department of Homeland Security, and other Federal government entities. Report to the President through the Secretary of Homeland Security who shall ensure appropriate coordination with the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Advise sector specific agencies with critical infrastructure responsibilities, to include issues pertaining to sector and government coordinating councils and their information sharing mechanisms. NIAC Transportation Sector Resilience ii NIAC Pre-Decisional Draft for Council Review – QBM June 30, 2015 Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................ 1 I. Study Objective and Approach ......................................................................................................... 7 A. Study Charge ............................................................................................................................ 7 B. Study Methodology .................................................................................................................. 8 C. Point of Departure: Recommendations from Prior Assessments ............................................... 9 II. Current Situation: The Intersection of Resilience and Complexity in Transportation ..................... 13 A. The Nation’s Transportation System: Enormous, Complex, and Diverse.................................. 15 B. Status of Federal Policy and Action ......................................................................................... 17 III. Assessment of Transportation Resilience Today............................................................................. 20 A. Transportation Risks ............................................................................................................... 20 B. Infrastructure Investment and Funding .................................................................................. 21 C. Policies and Practices ............................................................................................................. 23 D. Leadership and Coordination ................................................................................................. 24 IV. Findings .......................................................................................................................................... 26 V. Recommendations.......................................................................................................................... 30 Appendix A: Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 39 Appendix B: The Resilience Challenge: Key Aspects of the Problem ..................................................... 43 Appendix C: Infrastructure Investment in Decline ................................................................................ 59 Appendix D: Indicators of Progress ....................................................................................................... 64 Appendix E: Overview of the National Transportation System ............................................................. 71 Appendix F: Federal Transportation Policy and Programs .................................................................... 80 Appendix G: Overview of Transportation Modes and Resilience Practices ........................................... 99 Appendix H: Case Study of Disruption Scenarios – Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach ................... 132 Appendix I: Compendium of Prior NIAC Recommendations Related to Resilience ............................. 162 Appendix J: Compendium of Prior Recommendations from Other Sources ........................................ 174 Appendix K: Consolidated Interview Information Collected by the Working Group ........................... 185 Appendix L: Consolidated Information from Study Group Subject Matter Expert Discussions ........... 201 Appendix M: References and Research Resources .............................................................................. 210 Appendix N: Acronyms ....................................................................................................................... 236 NIAC Transportation Sector Resilience iii NIAC Pre-Decisional Draft for Council Review – QBM June 30, 2015 Executive Summary The Nation’s transportation system is crucial to the U.S. economy and the overall quality of life for Americans from all walks of life. In today’s increasingly complex and connected society, every critical infrastructure sector depends on a resilient transportation system that is safe, secure, reliable and efficient in the movement of people and goods; without it, most critical services cease to function. In recognition of this important role, the President directed the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC) to examine the resilience of the Nation’s transportation sector to determine potential gaps and identify opportunities for the Federal government to improve the sector’s resilience and security. Throughout this study, infrastructure resilience is defined as the ability to reduce the magnitude and/or duration of disruptive events that is accomplished by anticipating, absorbing, adapting to, and/or rapidly recovering from the disruption. In simplest terms, resilient systems can maintain critical functions during a disruption and require less time and fewer resources to recover functions that have degraded. A Critical National Resource at Risk A healthy transportation system is vital to the Nation’s economy, security, and prosperity. Yet our current transportation infrastructure faces a diverse set of emerging risks for which no one Federal entity has full jurisdictional responsibility to address. Extreme weather, rising sea levels, decaying infrastructure, and cyber threats are creating new challenges for public and private owners and operators within the various modes, and among regulators and funding entities in all levels of Federal, state, and local government. Fragmentation of authority and responsibility has resulted in the lack of a national consensus – public and private – on resilience goals and outcomes. Meanwhile, critical infrastructure systems are becoming more tightly intertwined as transportation and other critical sectors integrate their cyber and physical systems to optimize operations and global supply chains. This increases productivity and efficiency but also makes systems more fragile in the event of a major catastrophe. All these factors are exacerbated by – or are a direct result of – decades-long underinvestment in much of the Nation’s transportation infrastructure. The continuity of critical transportation operations is now “The tragic thing is that we’re letting our virtually inseparable from the continuity of other lifeline transportation system crumble at the infrastructures—energy, communications, and water. exact moment we need to build it up.” Greater interdependencies within regional infrastructures increase the likelihood that a localized disruption will cascade Anthony Foxx, Secretary of Transportation across adjacent infrastructures, transportation modes, and jurisdictions. Since this study began, there have been worker slowdowns