Infrastructure guardian working on its own

Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection directorate

The Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate is just getting started on its own information technology infrastructure.

The directorate is the last of the five Homeland Security Department directorates to have an assistant secretary named, and it is only starting to develop a business process. But according to Keith Herrington, who is on detail as its acting chief information officer, that's "perfect timing" to develop the basic IT infrastructure.

The directorate needs information systems robust enough to support the many cybersecurity and critical infrastructure protection organizations that have been folded into it, said Herrington, formerly the chief architect for the Transportation Security Administration. The infrastructure must not only be able to perform risk analyses, but also help the organizations define the consequences if those risks are not mitigated, he said.

This requires the ability to look at a broad range of information and examine it deeply, Herrington said during an interview April 1 at the Secure E-Business Summit in Crystal City, Va.

On March 21, President Bush announced his intention to nominate Frank Libutti, the New York City Police Department's deputy commissioner of counterterrorism, as undersecretary for the directorate.