Homeland Security Not Prepared for Pandemic Internet Congestion

On Monday, October 26 the United States Government Accountability Office reported that the Department of Homeland Security is inadequately prepared to deal with the Internet congestion that may result from an expanding pandemic.

The report, entitled, Influenza Pandemic: Key Securities Market Participants Are Making Progress, but Agencies Could Do More to Address Potential Internet Congestion and Encourage Readiness, is available here. A severe pandemic could see as much as 40 per cent of the workforce working from home. The result would be significant Internet congestion. The congestion would be worse in the 'last mile,' the link between "a user's home and central cable systems," according to Reuters. The report notes that many private sector organizations have already considered this issue and begun to make contingency plans. It goes on to state that, "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is responsible for ensuring that critical telecommunications infrastructure is protected." It continues, "DHS has not developed a strategy to address potential Internet congestion or worked with federal partners to ensure that sufficient authorities to act exist." Therefore, it asserts, the DHS must consider such options as blocking popular social networking sites, reducing residential transmission speeds and allotting more bandwidth to commerce. The report concludes with a series of recommendations.

To better ensure that securities market participants as well as organizations in other critical sectors of the economy will continue to have access to the Internet during a pandemic, the Secretary of Homeland Security should:

* develop a strategy outlining actions that could be taken to address potential Internet congestion.

* coordinate with other relevant federal and private sector entities about actions that could potentially reduce Internet congestion.

* work with other federal partners to determine if sufficient authority exists for one or more relevant agencies to take any contemplated actions to address Internet congestion.

* assess the effectiveness and feasibility, and undertake if warranted, a public education campaign to reduce such congestion.

* ensure that SEC staff take steps to ensure that critical financial market organizations are fully documenting the adequacy of their staffing levels to withstand high absenteeism and have formally developed alternative strategies in the event that congestion limits teleworking effectiveness.