Protecting Our Future: Key Takeaways from the MORS Global Critical Infrastructure Workshop

This past October, I had the privilege of participating in the MORS Global Critical Infrastructure Workshop in Garmisch, Germany. With over 40 participants from across the globe, the energy and collaborative spirit were high. This workshop provided a crucial platform for addressing the increasingly complex challenges facing critical infrastructure today and into the future...

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The workshop was structured around three core focus areas: Development and Modernization, Threats and Vulnerability, and Resilience. I led Focus Area 2: Threats and Vulnerability, where our team delved into the diverse risks impacting critical infrastructure, with a particular emphasis on analyzing both adversarial and natural threats.

The Looming Shadow of Climate Change

A significant portion of our focus centered on the escalating impact of climate change. The undeniable reality is that climate change is amplifying the frequency and intensity of natural disasters, posing a growing threat to critical infrastructure worldwide. We explored strategies for adaptation, including:

• Enhanced Resilience: Designing and constructing infrastructure with robust materials and innovative techniques to withstand extreme weather events.

• Early Warning Systems: Developing sophisticated systems to provide timely alerts, enabling proactive responses and minimizing damage.

• Weather and Maritime Environmental Conditions in Extreme Environments: Research the effects on land, maritime, and air operations in a hostile polar environment that is cold and dark half the year.

Peering into the Future: Prototyping 2040

A highlight of our work was using future prototyping to proactively identify potential vulnerabilities and emerging threats. This powerful technique involves creating plausible future scenarios. For example, we constructed a scenario for the year 2040 that focused on building bases to support air and maritime operations in the Arctic Circle. This scenario highlighted potential challenges such as:

• Receding polar ice opening up new commercial shipping lanes

• Extreme weather events overwhelming existing systems

• Increased reliance on technology leading to more sophisticated cyberattacks

• Adversaries building manmade structures and declaring Economic Exclusion Zones

Through this exercise, we were able to brainstorm mitigation strategies and proactive measures to address these future challenges.

Key Takeaways

Our discussions yielded several crucial takeaways:

• Critical infrastructure faces a complex web of threats, both human-made and natural.

• Climate change is a threat multiplier, exacerbating the risk of natural disasters.

• Future prototyping is an invaluable tool for proactive risk management.

• Further research is urgently needed to understand the long-term impacts of climate change on infrastructure.

• Collaboration between governments, industry, and academia is essential to develop comprehensive solutions.

Focus Area 2 provided a dynamic platform for knowledge sharing and collaboration. I am deeply grateful to all participants for their valuable contributions and to MORS for organizing this impactful workshop. The insights gained will undoubtedly shape future efforts to safeguard our critical infrastructure in an increasingly uncertain world.

The workshop findings will be summarized in a comprehensive paper and presentation, designed to provide senior leaders with key insights generated during the event. To request a copy of the paper or presentation, please email me at wdegrange@canallc.com.

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Walt DeGrange

Walt DeGrange is the Senior Director of Analytics here at CANA. You can contact Walt via email at wdegrange@canallc.com or on Linkedin.