The State of Hawaii Office of Homeland Security (OHS) was honored to host more than 75 individuals at Tuesday’s Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience Workshop, held in Kapolei. Key leaders from federal law enforcement, U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, Board of Water Supply, the Hawai‘i State Fusion Center (HSFC), Hawai‘i Emergency Management Agency (HIEMA), and the Hawai‘i State Energy Office (HSEO) were in attendance, in addition to private enterprise representatives from Hawaiian Electric, Hawaiian Airlines, Hawaiian Telcom, Verizon Wireless, Hawai‘i Gas, and AT&T.
The half-day session focused on critical infrastructure vulnerabilities, security, and incident response, with key presentations by OHS Administrator Frank Pace, HSFC Director Kevin Baggs, HSEO Chief Energy Officer Scott Glenn, and OHS Planning and Operations Branch Chief Jimmie Collins. The workshop was opened by State Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara, with closing remarks from Governor David Ige.
“The point of today’s workshop is not a reaction to either global events, or even those locally here in Hawai‘i,” said Pace. “It is the next step in what has been a yearlong process by the Office of Homeland Security, along with our many partners, to make Hawai‘i more resilient, better protected, and collectively more responsive in the face evolving threats against our critical infrastructure.”
Presentations were given to highlight Hawai‘i’s current security landscape, emerging threats, security concerns related current geopolitical tensions, the Hawai‘i Homeland Security Strategy, the statewide Cybersecurity Program, and what future steps are necessary for ensuring the safety of Hawai‘i’s people and critical infrastructure systems.
“The foundation is understanding today what you’re going to do to prevent something one, two years from now,” said Collins.
The workshop closed with a forum, during which stakeholders, partners, and agencies were asked to provide feedback to enable OHS to better understand potential vulnerabilities within the state, identify agencies and individuals that private sector and critical infrastructure stakeholders can contact in the event of an emergency, and how government partners can better assist the private sector in response to threats to and attacks on critical infrastructure components such as energy, communications, transportation, and water.
“What we prepare for now, the relationships and trust we establish, while we are in a relatively blue-sky environment, will dictate the measure of our success we enjoy when a true call to action arrives,” said Pace.
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