A public-private partnership across all levels of

government and the private sector is critical to preparing

for and responding to all types of catastrophic events. The

effects of a pandemic cross all sectors of infrastructure and

government. Effective preparedness and timely response

to and recovery from disasters of this scale necessitate

fundamentally integrated partnerships between Federal,

State, local, and tribal government agencies and private

sector CI/KR owners and operators.

From surviving the temporary loss of more than 40 percent

of your workers to ensuring the delivery of essential

commodities, a pandemic will test the private sector.

DHS, in collaboration with all Federal departments and

especially the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce,

Health and Human Services, State, and Transportation,

is committed to working with the private sector to better

prepare and respond to the potential impacts of a pandemic

on business.

This section of the guide focuses on establishing and

maintaining effective communications both before and

during a pandemic, specifically highlighting the vital

nature of robust partnerships between the private sector

and all levels of government. These trusted partnerships

are valuable vehicles for a reliable, real-time, two-way

exchange of information that assists in the preparation for,

mitigation of, and response to a pandemic.

Given their tremendous stake in sustaining essential

business operations, many businesses in the private sector

have comprehensive emergency management plans

and systems in place. In addition, corporate America is

positioned to lend a hand to the government’s pandemic

response and recovery efforts.

Pandemic containment strategies rely heavily on frontline

private sector defenders—healthcare “first responders”

and the business community—to detect and notify

government officials ofoccurrence of a pandemic, as well

as its operational impacts. DHS’ information sharing

networks, like the Homeland Security Information

Network (HSIN) and the Sector Coordinating Councils

(SCC) and Government Coordinating Councils (GCC),

will be exercised fully for a pandemic allowing for greater

synergy between the private sector and the government.

It is important to recognize that a voluntary two-way

information sharing system between industry and

government requires the government to assist the private

sector overcome barriers that, to date, have limited the

relationship.

Every business is a link in a chain of actions and

reactions with all its partner businesses, as well as all

other businesses, and the community at large. To survive

a pandemic, all businesses must plan to collaborate

with members all along their supply chain network, key

customers, and business competitors. For essential goods

and material, businesses must undertake a complete

exploration of their supply chain relationships, starting

from their internal storage areas and tracking as far as

practicable along the branches of their supply chain

network back to the source of the materials, and up to the

end-user customers. Working with supply chain partners

to uncover potential weaknesses and highlight critical

paths through the network will allow for actionable

planning focused on mitigating any pandemic-related

challenges. Similarly, businesses must investigate and

collaborate with their diverse interrelated local community

and state officials and emergency response partners.

As outlined in Section 5 of this Guide, security planners

must educate themselves on how pandemic influenza

changes the security risks (consequences, threats,

vulnerabilities) they face. To achieve this effect, the

Infrastructure Partnership Division of DHS will undertake

a number of actions, including summarizing the likely

impacts to each of the 17 CI/KR sectors, supporting CI/KR

reviews of specific vulnerabilities, and so on. Much of this