Maritime Commerce Resiliency Project As part of a major project for the Beyond the Border initiative between the federal governments of Canada and the United States, PNWER, in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard and Transport Canada, has helped to develop information-sharing protocols to swiftly recover from a disaster impacting maritime commerce in order to strengthen the resiliency of our trade dependent regional economy.
A group of regional maritime stakeholders discuss the development of a communications and information sharing framework in Seattle, July 10, 2012.
USCG Rear Admiral Keith Taylor speaks at the Maritime Commerce Resilience Tabletop Exercise in Everett, WA on October 2, 2012.
The exercise series consisted of five separate workshops/conferences (three in British Columbia and two in Washington State) in 2012 to review and validate the concepts outlined in the draft guidelines for communication and information sharing between maritime stakeholders in Canada and the United States. The valuable input of more than 200 regional maritime stakeholders from both the public and private sector at these meetings has helped the federal governments of Canada and the United States move closer toward their goal of implementing the draft communications and information sharing protocols, and identifying specific steps to improve regional maritime resilience. The findings of this pilot project will soon be moved to the Great Lakes and Atlantic regions for further refinement. PNWER would like to thank the U.S. Coast Guard, Transport Canada, the Consulate General of Canada in Seattle, and the Consulate General of the United States in Vancouver for their ongoing help. Additionally, this project would not have been possible without the valuable contribution from numerous members of the regional maritime community. To learn more about this project please visit: www.regionalresilience.org/CurrentInitiatives/MaritimeResilience.aspx
2012 Interdependencies Forum
Emerald Down II The Emerald Down II Cyber Security Exercise was conducted on September 5-6, 2012 in Seattle, Washington. Regional public and private sector critical infrastructure protection and information technology professionals participated in this event to explore cyber event response plans, impacts, and recommendations, and to learn about the growing and changing cyber security threats to our critical infrastructure. Participants agreed that emergency response plans and policies need to include strategies for cyber-based events. The exercise was designed to stimulate discussion and awareness
of the uniquely pervasive aspects of cyber-based disruptions to local and regional infrastructure operations. The scenarios that were reviewed stimulated thoughtful exploration of significant topics that need to be explored in further detail as the region continues to define and refine private and public business continuity and response plans for a largescale cyber attack. At the forefront of those continued discussions will be efforts to improve regional communications and coordination; policies and procedures; and situational awareness in order to promote resiliency and recovery from a regional cyber event.
On January 27, 2012 PNWER hosted a regional Interdependencies Recovery Workshop at the Microsoft Conference Center in Redmond, WA with the goal of improving economic resilience within the Puget Sound region and beyond. The workshop helped to increase regional stakeholders understanding of interdependencies issues related to recovery and restoration of critical infrastructure after a major earthquake. Furthermore, attendees were educated about the impacts of different types of earthquakes to the region and how social media could be used during recovery and restoration. The workshop was sponsored by the WA Homeland Security Region 6 Critical Infrastructure Protection Working Group.
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