National Security Memorandum on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience

On April 30, 2024, the White House National Security Council (NSC) published the National Security Memorandum (NSM) on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience. This memo builds on the important work that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and agencies across the federal government have been undertaking in partnership with America’s critical infrastructure communities for more than a decade. It also replaces Presidential Policy Directive 21 (PPD-21) on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience, which was issued more than a decade ago to establish national policy on critical infrastructure security and resilience.

Why Now?

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The threat environment has significantly changed since PPD-21 was issued, shifting from counterterrorism to strategic competition, advances in technology like Artificial Intelligence, malicious cyber activity from nation-state actors, and the need for increased international coordination. This change in the threat landscape, along with increased federal investment in U.S. critical infrastructure, prompted the need to update PPD-21 and issue the new memo.

The NSM will help ensure U.S. critical infrastructure can provide the nation a strong and innovative economy, protect American families, and enhance our collective resilience to disasters before they happen, strengthening the nation for generations to come. This NSM specifically:

• Empowers the Department of Homeland Security to lead a whole-of-government effort to secure U.S. critical infrastructure, with CISA acting as the National Coordinator for the Security and Resilience of U.S. Critical Infrastructure. The Secretary of Homeland Security will be required to submit to the President a biennial National Risk Management Plan that summarizes U.S. government efforts to mitigate risk to the nation’s critical infrastructure.
• Reaffirms the designation of 16 critical infrastructure sectors and establishes a federal department or agency responsible for managing risk within each of these sectors.
• Elevates the importance of minimum security and resilience requirements within and across critical infrastructure sectors, consistent with the National Cyber Strategy, which recognizes the limits of a voluntary approach to risk management in the current threat environment.

PPD-21 pre-dates the establishment of CISA. CISA actively engaged in updating the framework established by PPD-21 to detail how the U.S. government secures and protects critical infrastructure from cyber and physical threats. Three key areas in the NSM that impact CISA: