Presidential Decision Directive/NSC-63, “Subject: Critical Infrastructure Protection”

The introduction to this directive notes that the U.S. military and economy are “increasingly reliant upon certain critical infrastructures and upon cyber-based information systems.” The remainder of the 18-page directive specifies the President’s intent “to assure the continuity and validity of critical infrastructures” in the face of physical or cyber threats. The directive also articulates a national goal, delineates a public-private partnership to reduce vulnerability, states guidelines, specifies structure and organization, discusses protection of Federal government critical infrastructures, orders a NSC subgroup to produce a schedule for the completion of a variety of tasks, and directs that an annual implementation report be produced. The directive also formally establishes the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC) within the FBI, although the NIPC had been stood up in February 1998 during the SOLAR SUNRISE cyber intrusion investigation.