Critical Infrastructure Protection
Approaches toward "infrastructure" policy in the United States have evolved over the past century from an initial emphasis on infrastructure adequacy, to a move toward deregulation with the aim of increasing efficiency, to a recent focus on infrastructure "protection." Over the past decade, policy makers, executives, military leaders, and academics have sought effective strategies to guard "critical infrastructures" -- energy, transportation, telecommunication, banking and finance, and health, among others.
Since September 11, 2001, this search has become one of the key elements of the national agenda in the U.S. and abroad.
Research Project Title: Protection of Critical Infrastructure and National Security
PI/Project Contact: Erwann Michel-Kerjan and Howard Kunreuther
Other faculty involved:
Philip Auerswald
Lewis M. Branscomb
Noah Gans
Geoffrey Heal
Paul Kleindorfer
Patrick Lagadec
Todd M. La Porte
Tom Lee
Serguei Netessine
Balaji Padmanabhan
Harvey Rubin
Project description:
While nearly 85% of critical infrastructure is owned or operated by the private sector in the United States, most prior work on "critical infrastructure protection" has focused on the responsibilities of government. Since 2004 we have joined with Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and George Mason's School of Public Policy to undertake research that focuses on the private sector firms that provide most vital services. Our goal is to systematically understand how private decisions affect public vulnerability. This work has resulted in the book Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response (Cambridge University Press, New York, 2006) which describes effective and sustainable approaches -- both business strategies and public policies -- toward ensuring the provision of critical services in the event of disaster.
In parallel to this initiative, the Center's conceptual and applied research is project-oriented by sector (e.g., airline security, postal security, global supply chain security, telecom security) or field (e.g., financial recovery, information sharing, risk perception, crisis management). Each research project is undertaken with one or more industry partners and/or specific federal agencies. The Risk Center has ongoing collaboration with Lockheed Martin, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Transportation, as well as with leading firms in several critical sectors.
Our activities on protection of critical infrastructure and national security builds on research undertaken by the Wharton Risk Center over the past 5 years, as part of the 20 years of experience the Center has had in undertaking research on managing and financing low probability-high consequence events.
Seminar Series on Catastrophic Risk Regulation
New Book: Seeds of Disaster, Roots of Response: How Private Action Can Reduce Public Vulnerability