Wiley Handbook of Science and Technology for Homeland Security, 4 Volume Set

SPAIN

MANUEL SUTER AND ELGIN BRUNNER

Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich, Switzerland

1 CRITICAL SECTORS

For a long time, Spain's critical sectors had not been exhaustively defined by the Spanish government. On 7 May 2007, the State Security Secretariat approved the so-called National Plan for the Protection of the Critical Infrastructures (Plan Nacional de Protección de las Infraestructuras Críticas). This plan defines the critical infrastructures as “those installations, networks, services, physical equipment, and information technologies whose interruption or destruction would have a grave impact on the health, security, or economic wellbeing of the citizens or on the efficient functioning of the state institutions and of the public administration”.¹ Moreover, the plan includes a list of 12 strategically critical sectors. These are:²

• Chemical Industry,
• Nuclear Industry,
• Investigative installations,
• Centers of Power,
• Space,
• Energy sector,
• Telecommunications,
• Transportation,
• Water supply,
• Alimentation,
• Financial Sector,
• Public Health.

On 12 June 2007, Congress in a plenary session unanimously urged the government to put together a catalog with an exhaustive list of the national critical infrastructures within six months [1]. This classified catalog was elaborated and now contains 3,500 critical installations all over Spain [2]. Moreover, the catalogue is designated to become the basis of information for the European Program for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP) ...