Cascading Infrastructure Failures: Avoidance and Response

No critical infrastructure is self-sufficient. The complexity inherent in the interdependent nature of infrastructure systems complicates planning and preparedness for system failures. Recent wide-scale disruption of infrastructure on the Gulf Coast due to weather, and in the Northeast due to electric power network failures dramatically illustrate the problems associated with mitigating cascading effects and responding to cascading infrastructure failures once they have occurred.

The major challenge associated with preparedness for cascading failures is that they transcend system, corporate, and political boundaries and necessitate coordination among multiple, disparate experts and authorities. The symposium brings together concerned communities including government and industry technical and policy principals with experience in cascading infrastructure failures. The forum is designed to illuminate best practices for avoiding and responding to cascading failure contingencies created by natural, accidental, or malicious infrastructure debilitation.

Download the 2007 Announcement Postcard here.

Download the 2007 Call for Papers request here.

Download the Symposium Brochure here.

Download the Program Booklet. This document includes the event schedule, speaker and panelist bios, and reviews the abstracts submitted for the conference. Full papers will be included in the Proceedings Book.

See the archived Webcast at JMU's website. The archive is segmented into presentations. Please note that the Symposium was webcast live except for General Honore's presentation.

A Proceedings Book of the Symposium with featured speakers, panels, discussions and poster presentations will be available early fall. To reserve your copy, please email us with your request. (Request hardcopy of Proceedings Book).

Download the Proceedings book:

> Intro and Themes Section (includes table of contents, introduction to symposium and hosts, and summarizes the major points by panelists and featured speakers). 2007 Proceedings Intro-Themes.pdf [440KB]

> Panels and Speakers transcriptions (includes event schedule, plus transcripts and selected presentation slides). 2007 Proceedings Panels.pdf [8.7MB]

> Papers (includes papers submitted through the 2007 Call for Papers effort. See Paper Abstracts on pages 102-112; IIIA research efforts on page 113; Full papers begin on page 114). 2007 Proceedings Papers.pdf [7.1MB]

> Appendices (includes the featured research posters , speaker biographies and host information). 2007 Proceedings Appendices.pdf [3.3MB]

Questions? Comments? Please feel free to contact us.

2007 Homeland Security Symposium is co-sponsored by the

The Federal Facilities Council of the National Academies

and

Institute for Infrastructure & Information Assurance
at James Madison University

May 16, 2007

The National Academy of Sciences Building
2100 C Street, NW
Washington, DC