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Vantage Point: New Year, New Goals
Here we are in the middle of the holiday season, a time for looking back on the past year and thinking about a new one on the way. Hopefully you read last month's Vantage Point article and are taking Steve's advice on reducing the "fatbergs" in our water systems during this busy cooking season. While this edition of Vantage Point is not as tactical as Steve's, it does offer a chance to reflect on where the Chapter has been and what we plan to do in the coming year.
Over the course of the past year, the Board has seen a few members retire and new members elected to serve. A big thank you to the past leaders for their service and guidance over their tenure. With the current Board now established, one of the areas the Board focused on during recent meetings is on refining and updating the mission statements of the Chapter and the Board as well as the Chapter goals. The missions and goals had been static for a number of years and it was time for an update. The changes reflect the Board's efforts to provide clarity on the focus of Chapter and Board while also incorporating your wealth of experience and connectedness in the national and local levels of critical infrastructure management and protection. We have the distinct advantage of having close proximity to federal and local government, law enforcement, private sector, and academia which has resulted in the Chapter initiating and leading different programs impacting local communities and up to the national level. We want that to continue and the revised mission statements and goals keeps the focus on our strengths and diversity to make this Chapter a leader within the InfraGard community.
Chapter Mission
Our mission is to facilitate, improve and extend information sharing among critical infrastructure stakeholders and the government to assist in protecting infrastructure assets. Through this connect-to-protect approach, stakeholders from the public and private sectors, as well as academia, benefit from relationship building, collaboration, and information sharing focused on physical, human, and cyber-based threats and vulnerabilities. As a result, this exchange provides timely information and intelligence to help move critical infrastructure protection ahead of the threat while also augmenting investigations, strengthening relationships between law enforcement and infrastructure owners/operators, and securing our national security interests.
Board of Directors' Mission
The mission of the InfraGardNCR Board is to enable a platform for chapter members to lead, facilitate, and engage in information sharing and relationship building to protect the nation's critical infrastructure.
InfraGardNCR Goals
Goal #1: Promote information sharing and collaboration
Objectives:
Provide relevant and timely information sharing
Promote mutual learning opportunities
Develop and maintain multiple avenues of sharing between members, the government, and other stakeholders as appropriate
Goal #2: Enable protection of critical infrastructure starting within the area of responsibility (AoR)
Objectives:
Alignment of efforts with current and emerging threat picture in AoR
Increase outreach to and collaboration with other chapters
Engage the SMEs in our AOR to encourage more active participation and to further InfraGardNCR's goals through projects, activities, events
The goals of the Chapter are crafted to be measurable which drives accountability across the Board, Sector Chiefs, Special Interest Groups (SIGs), and members. We will collectively accomplish these goals through active participation in Chapter events, webinars, sector programs, and outreach into the community. Additionally, you will see more cross-Chapter efforts over the coming year as we strive to take a leadership role within our InfraGard region (Southeast). Finally, we will continue to drive connections and relationships between the Chapter and the FBI, other federal, state and local government agencies, private sector, and academia. We are excited about the upcoming year and are thankful for your leadership and participation in all of these endeavors.
I hope you will be able to join us at the annual members meeting coming up on January 23, 2019. We will discuss in more detail the initiatives and programs planned for 2019 as well as learn more about how the team at Capitol One Arena keeps the arena safe at all of their events. Until then, I hope you have a safe, and wonderful, holiday season and a happy new year!
