Title: Government Facilities
Course: Critical Infrastructure: An Overview > Section: Course Content

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Government Facilities Sector

The Government Facilities Sector is made up of buildings, assets, people (employees, students, and visitors), educational institutions, and monuments and icons. This sector’s Section Specific Agency duties are divided between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the General Services Administration (GSA).

There are many buildings in the United States and overseas that are owned or leased by state, local, tribal or federal government; these buildings are considered to be included in the government facilities sector. These buildings are quite varied in structure, purpose, and contents. Some of these buildings are open to the public while others are not because they hold sensitive materials, information, or house processes that are of a sensitive nature [1]. Some examples of buildings that are considered a part of the government facilities sector are:

- Courthouses
- Embassies
- National Laboratories
- Office Buildings
- Military Installations

[1]

Although this sector contains many buildings, its assets are not limited to only the buildings themselves. There are cyber elements included in the government facilities sector. Access control systems and closed circuit television systems are examples of other assets, as well as the employees who perform essential tasks or who hold tactical, operational, or strategic knowledge.

There are two large subsectors that are very familiar to most Americans.

1. The Education Facilities Subsector (EFS) includes schools that are pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade, higher education institutions, trade schools, and business schools. This subsector and the buildings it contains are not all owned by the government, many are owned by private sector entities.
2. The National Monuments and Icons Subsector (NMI) protects assets, systems, and networks that are considered representations of our national heritage, icons, national monuments, assets listed on the National Register of Historic Places and those listed on the List of National Historic Landmarks. While the physical structure themselves are protected the visitors to these National Monuments and Icons as well as those employed there are also protected from harm [2].

The Government Facilities sector is dependent on other sectors like the transportation, energy, healthcare and public health and emergency services sectors.

Challenges

Size – The government facilities sector is quite large and encompasses many assets, this sector is therefore a difficult sector to protect.

Locations – Given that many government facilities (often embassies) are on foreign soil, additional security risks and concerns are involved in their safekeeping.

Examples of Incidents that continue to pose a threat to the sector:

- Earthquakes
- Hurricanes
- Wildfires
- School Shootings
- Cyber Attacks
- Terrorist Attacks

[3] [2]

The sector works to balance public access, security, and aesthetics [2].