Fall/Winter 2010 - Technological Leadership Institute - University of ...

Incorporating security as an integral part of the nation’s physical infrastructureSecuring our nation’s infrastructuresVirtually every economic and social function in the United States depends on secure and reliableinfrastructure. These vital lifelines include the transportation networks, pipelines, power lines, into the 21st century, this national infrastructure has become increasingly interconnected and complex.However, we have not significantly changed how we design, maintain, upgrade, and retrofit it.The Technological Leadership Institute (TLI),in partnership with the University of Minnesota’sDepartment of Civil Engineering, has offered a Masterof Science in Infrastructure Systems Engineering(ISE) program since 2000. The ISE program helpscivil engineers, city managers, planners, and othersevaluate and maintain the health, security, andprotection of infrastructure systems.“Our current practice for managing infrastructureis on an item-by-item basis, like treating bridgesseparately from sewer systems,” says Vaughan Voller,Professor and Director of Graduate Studies for ISE.“Instead, infrastructure should be managed on asystems level.”Voller says the ISE program’s objective is to breakmyopic approaches and instead recognize the holisticinterdependencies between civil infrastructures.While a systems approach has many advantages,it can increase vulnerabilities to disturbances,like natural disasters, deliberate attacks, materialfailure, or even overuse. The Critical InfrastructureSecurity and Protection (CISP) course addresses thesevulnerabilities head-on.“The elegance of the CISP course taught by Prof.Massourd Amin is that it shows how to incorporatesecurity in civil infrastructure systems managementand operation without compromising the engineeringfunctionality,” says Voller.However, infrastructure professionals often fearsecurity, says Amin, TLI director and Honeywell/Harold W. Sweatt Chair. “We take that worry and fearand turn it into actionable, positive remedies we canafford.”Layered defenseThe most effective way to prevent or localize adisturbance is a layered defense, similar to what theDepartment of Defense calls “defense in depth,” saysAmin.In the case of terrorism, implementing manycheckpoints minimizes an intruder’s probability ofpenetrating all layers. “It alleviates the old, tiredsaying that we have only one chance to catch thebad guys. With a layered approach, we have multiplechances,” says Amin.14 Technological Leadership