Final Report of the Telecommunications Systems Survivability TSS Task Force Telecommunications Systems Survivability Assessment and Future Directions May 2 1989 com-I - COO 0000 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS TELECOMMUNICATIONS SURVIVABILITY BACKGROUND TSS TASK FORCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND VIEWS Recommendation Review and Government Action The EvoTving Status of TSS with Government Programs Areas Requiring Further Study Action NSTAC Responses to Government Requests Studies on New TechnoTogies NEW TECHNOLOGIES ISSUES AND CAPABILITIES TSS TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS 1 0 TELECOMMUNICATIONS SURVIVABILITY In this final report the Telecommunications Systems Survivability TSS Task Force distills its view on the evolving status of TSS in the light of knowlege gained of vulnerabilities and of Government plans and acquisitions to counter those vulnerabilities The report also offers proposals for future actions The Task Force was originally charged to review past survivability activities in support of National Security Emergency Preparedness NSEP telecommunications and identify gaps and overlaps in overall treatment A more recent charge was to study new technologies applicability to NSEP telecommunications survivability The Task Force in assessing NSEP telecommunications survivability overall distinguishes two situations Non-nuclear emergencies The TSS Task Force regards telecommunications as inherently robust in all emergency situations short of nuclear war The industry has had extensive experience in handling loss and damage due to earthquakes fire and flood It is felt in the advent of conventional war-related crises the richness and redundancy of the telecommunications infrastructure would cushion the impact of most losses even assuming coordinated attacks on individual telecommunication sites This is not to say there would be no traffic flow impairment resulting from major congestion in tandem networks and limited geographical impacts would occur if local serving entities are disabled Reconstitution after nuclear attack In the event of nuclear war damage to telecommunications along with many other infrastructure systems would be extensive The Government has embarked on a national level program to fund public switched network PSN enhancements that will assist in reconstitution of an NSEP network following nuclear laydown This investment is reasonable and prudent and should be continued In any event telecommunications appears at least as survivable as other systems critical for life support such as transportation the distribution of food and medical supplies and the like The main vulnerability of the telecommunications system is seen to be its dependence upon commercially available electric power Reduced susceptibility of the networks to both impairments is achievable especially by application of new and emerging technologies The industry focuses on operations in naturally occurring conditions The Government focuses on providing national security preparedness in a range of wartime and other scenarios These two views should be integrated The National Level National Security Emergency Preparedness Telecommunications Program currently includes three elements Commercial SATCOM Interconnectivity CSI Commercial Network Survivability CNS and Nationwide Emergency Telecommunications Service NETS programs 2 0 BACKGROUND In the early 19805 the Government questioned whether in times of emergency such as war damage to public switched networks would deny adequate telecommunications to support vital national security functions This concern was identified in 1982 for the attention of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee NSTAC The NSTAC provides telecommunications industry advice to the President to support the Government s efforts to provide for National Security Emergency Preparedness The NSTAC undertook to address the T85 issue piece by piece Over the years task forces and other groups have studied and made recommendations in specific survivability-related issue areas the survivability of commercial satellite telecommunications and the terrestrial segment of commercial telecommunications the need for national coordination and the requirement for provisioning of commercially available electric power or the distribution of fuel for continuing backup power operations In many cases basing their action on the NSTAC recommendations the Government as well has moved forward in these survivability arenas In early 1986 the Industry Executive Subcommittee IE3 established a TSS Task Force to review the full scope of tele- communications systems survivability-related issues and make further recommendations The Task Force initiated a review that extended to five survivability-related issue areas and developed conclusions and recommendations in interim reports for each issue area as it was addressed The Task Force next addressed all five areas at a more general level and documented results and recommendations in a report endorsed by the NSTAC in July 1988 It subsequently focused more intensively on considering the impact that new and emerging technologies could have on Government planning for survivable NSEP telecommunications 3 0 TSS TASK FORCE ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND VIEWS In fulfilling its charge to review survivability issues besides achieving increasing awareness and a global view of telecommunications systems survivability the T58 Task Force has 0 Elevated to the level of Presidential concern the criticality of power for telecommunications so that the NSTAC in conjunction with the Department of Energy is now addressing the interdependence of telecommunications and energy Review of Government Actions in Response to NSTAC-Recommended Initiatives June 1988 Vol I includes revised summary treatment of individual issue areas plus overall findings conclusions and recommend ations Vol II contains the initial reports on specific issue areas Examined the issue of physicai security of teIecommunications' sites assessing an adversary s task to destroy the infrastructure in genera as essentiaTTy impossibTe without resorting to nucTear attack 0 Raised awareness of those Government efforts that enhance the pubTic switched network PSN capabiTity to serve NSEP users 0 Identified areas of concern where more attention by the Government could be given 0 Initiated a series of studies of emerging technoTogies and appIications that provide new capabilities in the PSN and Advised Government on reTated subjects essentiaT Tine service 3 1 Recommendation Review and Government Action The Task Force reviewed reports and recommendations of five NSTAC task forces that had compTeted their work the Commerciai SateITite CSS Task Force the CommerciaT Network CNS Task Force the EIectromagnetic PuIse EMP Task Force the Nationa Coordinating Mechanism Task Force and the Automated Information Processing for teTecommunications support systems Task Force IndividuaI recommendations were reviewed in detaiT and Government responses identified Many NSTAC recommendations were identified as accompiished in progress or being pTanned for impiementation by the Office of the Manager NationaI Communications System OMNCS The Task Force urged certain NSTAC recommended initiatives be reconsidered by the Government or receive more emphasis The ongoing Task Force review stimuTated considerabie Force diaiogue resuIting in some Government activity modifications and GoVernment requests for further advice 3 2 The EvoTvinq Status of TSS with Government Programs In brief the Task Force has the foITowing view of the current status of TSS as it is evoTving aTong with the Government s programmed enhancements ETectric power avaiTabiTity beyond a few days emergency backup is the major issue A joint Government NSTAC effort is addressing this issue 0 EMP effects on network components are under study by the Government and means to counter the effects are being expTored 3 3 Commercial SATCOM Interconnectivity CSI Program augmentations will soon support the linking of broadly separated PSN communication areas that could become disconnected from each other in postulated nuclear laydowns The first set of augmentations telemetry tracking and control units and earth stations to allow for communications and control interoperability among family C-band satellites during emergencies are in the initial stages of deployment Assuming future funding of a corresponding augmentation effort for Ku-band satellites system survivability through interconnectivity will continue as the commercial use of Ku-band expands Government CNS Program terrestrial interconnects and NETS Program call controllers for non-traditional routing in damaged networks are larger efforts and are still in development emergency connectivity to counter nuclear scenario effects will take several years to accomplish The prompt establishment of the National Coordinating Center NCC put into effect a national coordinating mechanism for NSEP telecommunications The current National Telecommunications Management System activities of industry and Government address functional redundancy for the NCC and will eventually lead to regional backup capability Areas Requiring Further Study Action Some areas of concern to the Task Force remain following the Government actions review 0 There is no funding to reconnect end users that have become isolated from the backbone network The eventual funding of CSI Phase II could provide connectivity to both mobile and isolated users and could link OCONUS users into the NETS network Reconstitution and maintenance of the network over days weeks and months will require planning for the survival of automated operational support systems particularly network management systems Due to rapid change in commercial telecommunications the Government must apply new technology more rapidly to minimize the chance for obsolescence at deployment in Government planned telecommunications programs and The Government program focuses on war-related scenarios primarily major nuclear attack Other threats e g regional disaster should be given increased attention 3 4 NSTAC Responses to Government Reguests Increasingly the Task Force and other NSTAC bodies have provided consultation directly to the OMNCS concerning their ongoing activities in NSEP planning In one instance as part of its Government actions review the T38 Task Force recommended among other items expediting consideration of Ku-band commercial satellite interconnectivity Subsequently an OMNCS request that the CSS Task Force be reconvened in order to review the Phase II CSI Architecture was carried out More recently on July 11 1988 the President requested the NSTAC to help the OMNCS develop a coordinated Government-wide policy on Essential Service Protection Sometimes referred to as Essential Line Service or Essential Service List ESL the feature is offered by some local carriers to ensure that a small proportion of lines receive reduced dial tone delay The Task Force assisted the OMNCS with drafts of a policy issuance NCSN 3-1-1 recommending that NCS member organizations obtain ESL if it is offered by their local exchange carrier The issuance was drafted for consideration by the NCS Committee of Representatives ESL has limited availability and typically_is supplied only to local emergency agencies at little or no additional cost In the opinion of the Task Force 1 increased demand may lead to eliminating non-tariffed service 2 if there are large demands on single local serving entities conflict could arise or service effectiveress could be reduced and 3 there may be an access problem for Federal NSEP users wno may be largely served by PBXs and Centrex Advising the OMNCS of these problems the Task Force also sought to assure that the Government understood that ESL priority dial tone would not provide priority treatment end to end The latter capabilities for NSEP users could be addressed with new technology applications 3 5 Studies on New Technology The Task Force at the direction of the IES in February 1987 began a series of new technology investigations The intent was to assess the impact of new and emerging technologies on the Government s ability to meet its NSEP telecommunications requirements This assessment would give the Government the opportunity to influence the development of NSEP-related features in the evolving PSN The first study of the series focusing on the capability of network management to provide priority treatment of NSEP traffic was completed in June A second study focusing on intelligent networks virtual networks is under way The Task Force network management report was approved at the September 1988 NSTAC meeting This report recommended a series of Telecommunications Svstems Survivability TSS Network Management June 21 1988 specific actions by Government and industry to meet the Government s needs for priority treatment of NSEP traffic end to end Included was a recommendation that Government should contract with industry to form a joint industry Government network management group to develop such an approach Features to enable special handling of NSEP calls were identified in the report including priority dial tone identification of NSEP calls increased routing alternatives and controls to prevent abuse The report further recommended that when the Government accepted the recommendation for a joint group NSTAC would establish an interim network management subgroup to advise the Government on its development of the network management effort until the joint group is established To date the OMNCS has identified several concerns that need resolution before the Government can proceed further Meanwhile the study of intelligent networks and virtual networks has begun with the intent to identify benefits and risks to NSEP telecommunications objectives inherent in this technology One objective of the study is to focus on how intelligent networks could meet the Government s NSEP needs An intelligent network is in general structured to allow the development and introduction of new and innovative services into the PSN It would be an appropriate platform to provide among other things end to end priority treatment for NSEP traffic To date an extensive literature search has been undertaken and briefings have been given to the task force by a half dozen companies 4 0 NEW TECHNOLOGY ISSUES AND CAPABILITIES As mentioned above the Government should maintain awareness of ongoing technology changes in order to avoid obsolescence of Government program assets at deployment The NSTAC can be of major assistance in helping to provide this awareness Moreover NSTAC can help the Government identify potential new technology applications to serve the developing objectives of the Government The commercial telecommunications industry responds primarily to demonstrated market demand It will not develop NSEP features in telecommunications technology or services unless and until requirements for such features or services are put forward by the Government If the Government knows what is increasingly technologically feasible it can call for NSEP-related features to be developed Clearly features of value for NSEP application such as those in the T55 Network Management report can be supported by recent develOpments in technology With increasingly capable intelligent networks in the offing still more features and services will be possible The conversion to Signalling System No 7 makes possible the use of stored intelligence in central or centralizable data centers Upon activation of customized trigger mechanisms specialized treatment of NSEP traffic could be implemented for instance Also as the customer can have limited control over the information stored in those data centers it will be possible for example to control private network configurations Recognizing the distinction between network management technique and management of the network both Government and industry should include NSEP considerations in all implementation plans The Government has not yet formally stated the feature set required to support NSEP telecommunications When a specific set of NSEP feature requirements is promulgated industry can respond by developing Specialized equipment software The proper technological environment for such development already exists 5 0 TSS TASK FORCE RECOMMENDATIONS The work begun by the T55 Task Force should transition to the new IES structure Two dimensions have emerged in past Task Force activities assessing TSS as a whole and advising the Government on past ongoing efforts and looking toward a future changing PSN The Task Force urges the IES in implementing its new structure continue by 1 providing advice to Government on NSEP telecommunications planning that is being implemented in ongoing Government programs particularly those of the Office of the Manager and 2 providing information on new and emerging technologies that can impact NSEP telecommunications systems survivability both negatively and positively In this arena the study of intelligent networks should continue Moreover the T58 Task Force recommends that 3 the IES report to the NSTAC periodically on the status of the general survivability of the telecommunications system