public safety

Communication resiliency is an important aspect of an organization’s mission-critical operations.  Complete end-to-end network resilience is difficult to achieve, but an organization can greatly improve “always available” communications by identifying and mitigating resilience issues through a self-assessment of its local access network.  As such, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Emergency Communications Division (ECD) is pleased to announce the Public Safety Communications Network Resiliency Self-Assessment Guidebook, a comprehensive guide for government and public safety entities that: 

• Offers instructions for how to assess resiliency of a public safety communications network  
• Describes common critical resiliency gaps in public safety networks
• Proposes mitigation solutions for assured communications in stressed network environments
• Demonstrates a proven methodology for data gathering, connectivity mapping, and analysis

CISA ECD recommends use of the Guidebook for organizations performing resiliency self-assessments of their critical facilities. The Guidebook was approved by SAFECOM and National Council of Statewide Interoperability Coordinators (NCSWIC) in July 2018.  It is the companion document to the Public Safety Communications Resiliency – 10 Keys to Obtaining a Resilient Local Access Network.  For an overview of both documents, please visit the Resiliency Fact Sheet.  CISA ECD has been performing resiliency assessments since 2002, and the Guidebook, “10 Keys”, and the Fact Sheet documents were developed by CISA ECD subject matter experts leveraging years of experience helping organizations increase resiliency.

Although the Guidebook focuses on the diversity component of public safety communications resiliency, CISA ECD has found that self-assessments often uncover physical, operational, and cyber risks not associated with routing.  In these instances, CISA ECD recommends that risks be documented and appropriate solutions identified, including those available via DHS’ wide array of mitigation tools and capabilities detailed in the Guidebook.   

For additional information on the Guidebook and other matters related to public safety communications resiliency, please contact CISA ECD at OEC@hq.dhs.gov.

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