Homeland Security Presidential Directive - 7 (HSPD-7) issued in December 2003 established the policy of the United States to enhance the protection of national critical infrastructures against terrorist acts that would significantly diminish the responsibility of federal, state, and local governments to perform essential security missions and to ensure the general public health and safety. The USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 defines critical infrastructures as "those physical and cyber-based systems so vital to the operations of the United States that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on national defense, economic security, or public safety." More specifically, critical infrastructures are those people, things, or systems that must be intact and operational in order to make daily living and working possible.

The term "critical infrastructure protection" (CIP) pertains to the proactive activities for protecting critical infrastructures: the people, physical assets, and communication/cyber systems that are indispensably necessary for national security, economic stability, and public safety. Plainly stated, CIP is about protecting those invaluable assets that make life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness a national reality.

The North Dakota Division of Homeland Security (ND DHS) is committed in providing security to our state's infrastructure.

The ND Terrorism Protective Measures Resource Guides provide an overview of terrorist threats facing key assets within our state and measures we can take to protect them. The ND Division of Homeland Security works with North Dakota communities with a common goal of protecting our citizens, critical infrastructures, and the assets they control. These guides are intended to give information and assist in determining areas within these critical facilities that are vulnerable to possible terrorist attacks and ways in which to protect them.

The ND Division of Homeland Security works in coordination with the ND Fusion Center to provide on site vulnerability assessments. Results of the assessment are confidential and protected by ND Century Code. The results are provided only to the respective site.

Protective measures are employed in order to:

• Increase awareness among site managers and law enforcement.
  
• Reduce vulnerabilities of sites and their respective critical assets, and/or
  
• Enhance the defense against and response to an attack.