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- Report n°3: Financial protection of critical infrastructure
Report n°3: Financial protection of critical infrastructure
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Table of contents
- Introduction
- The critical infrastructures at issue
- Introduction
The critical infrastructures at issue
The emergence of a broader spectrum of vulnerabilities (terrorism, sabotage, local conflict, natural disaster) and the growing interdependence of economic activities make the large vital networks (water supply, electricity, energy, telecommunications, physical transport, emergency, health, information, banking and financial services, etc.) particularly vulnerable. And yet, these networks are the very backbone of economic and social activity in any country. Since they are increasingly interdependent and they operate on a just-in-time basis, failures can have disastrous consequences for a very large number of people and business concerns.
In Europe, the debate on the protection of large-scale critical infrastructures, aside from purely technological matters, is still in its infancy. In spite of several particularly destabilizing events, optimism still reigns. In France, apart from a few notable exceptions(2), collective action adapted to the new scale of risk is limited. There is cause for concern that the situation will not improve unless there is some call for action at national level.
On the other side of the Atlantic, in the United States, the matter has been at the top of the national agenda since 1996. In 1997, President Clinton set up the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection, with a substantial operating budget. With the public sector and private enterprise working as a team, the goal was to gain more insight into the major vulnerabilities that the country might have to cope with, and to prepare for such situations(3). The movement in favor of new public-private partnerships continued and was recognized as being in the national interest.(4)
In an interview with the newspaper Le Monde in 2003, I had previously made this point when I emphasized that : "September 11 only served to bolster this movement with, for example, the creation of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC). Composed of 24 members, most of them CEOs of private companies (American Airlines, Cisco, Intel, DuPont, Pfizer...), representatives of academia and of the government, this council is an official think-tank on the security of large critical infrastructures. NIAC reports directly to the President of the United States." (5).
(1) A slightly modified version of this article is to appear in the report Incertitude, Précaution et Assurabilité, (Uncertainty, Precaution and Insurability) Services du Premier ministre, Commissariat Général du Plan, 2005 (in coll. with Sophie Chemarin and Claude Henry).
(2) For a collective initiative launched in partnership with 30 countries after the anthrax crisis, see Lagadec and Michel-Kerjan (to be published).
(3) The Clinton Administration's Policy on Critical Infrastructure Protection: Presidential Decision Directive 63. May 22, 1998.
(4) See for example: Office of the President (2003) ; The National Academies (2002), 9/11 Commission (2004). For an analysis of the strategic issues involved in the creation and development of national public-private partnerships in the United States, see Erwann Michel-Kerjan (2003-a).
(5) Erwann Michel-Kerjan (2003), « Aux Etats-Unis, la menace terroriste reste dans tous les esprits » (In the United States, the terrorist threat is still present in everyone's thoughts), Journal Le Monde, June 13.