Into To Security Mangement Diss

Nuclear Critical Infrastructure

Gregorio Marrero

[Institutional Affiliation(s)]

Author Note

Nuclear Critical Infrastructure

The nuclear infrastructure security has always been the top priority of most nations, especially after the post 9/11 terrorism spree. Today, Nuclear security is a many-layered project, usually assigned to the host nation's intelligence agencies, which usually assign the best resources, physical security barriers, and best security officers available for duty. Not only that, the basic nuclear infrastructures are designed to withstand several natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes. The Nuclear Regulatory Committee (NRC) of the United States, who is in charge of the nuclear facilities, cooperates with the Department of Defense and Energy, the FBI, and other intelligence agency apparatus to make sure that the chances of any nuclear accidents are minimized CITATION Uni19 \l 1033 (Commission, 2019). The nuclear facilities that are not used for making weapons have to show their security capabilities in writing. This dossier, called the Design Basis Threat (DBT), outlines a multitude of threats and the facility's capability to handle them. The Security Staff is trained by the best trainers, usually from the Armed Forces. The NRC has imposed a strict fitness criterion when it comes to the appointment of the security forces. This ensures that the security forces on duty remain fit and active on duty. Also, after the post 9/11 period, the security now has an active role in keeping tabs on the people who are working as the core staff, meaning those who have access to the restricted areas of the nuclear plants. But despite that, we have witnessed that many nuclear plants are not equipped well enough for the containment of the cyber threat. Several cyberattacks have happened throughout the world, the latest one being in the last twenty-four hours in Kudankulam, India CITATION Deb19 \l 1033 (Das, 2019). In this attack, the cyberattacks damaged the nation’s largest nuclear powerplant and stole important data. Not only these cyber threats cannot be stopped by isolating the computer networks, but these attacks can cause nuclear fallout, which would endanger the local population adjacent to the facility. In short, we can expect that the states are physically able to defend their nuclear facilities. However, they should evolve quickly to encompass these new cyber threats, because this is where states like North Korea (Lazarus) can cause serious damage to the world.

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Commission, U. S. (2019). Backgrounder on Nuclear Security. Washington DC: US Government.

Das, D. (2019, November 4). An Indian nuclear power plant suffered a cyberattack. Here’s what you need to know. Retrieved from The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/04/an-indian-nuclear-power-plant-suffered-cyberattack-heres-what-you-need-know/