A Prototype Desktop Simulator for Infrastructure Protection: An Application to Decision Support for Controlling Infectious Disease Outbreaks

The Critical Infrastructure Protection Decision Support System (CIPDSS) project has developed a risk-informed decision support system that provides insights for making critical infrastructure protection decisions by considering many critical infrastructures and their primary interdependencies. Initiated as a proof-of-concept in August 2003, the CIPDSS project completed a prototype model and two case studies in February 2004, using a system dynamics implementation. Since that time the project has demonstrated how the CIPDSS can assist decision makers in making informed choices by functionally representing key critical infrastructures with their interdependencies, and computing human health & safety and economic impacts. The method of delivery to date has involved the conduct of analysis by the project developers and delivery of the results in the form of reports and presentations, often supplemented with face to face interactions with sponsors and decisions makers. This approach benefits from having the analysis conducted by the developers who best understand the underlying models and their limitations. However, this mode of delivery can be said to live more distant from those who might best benefit from being exposed to the analysis and the inherent trade-offs therein. This paper describes the development of a desktop simulation designed to help bridge this gap between the CIPDSS models & analysis and decisions makers. To illustrate the utility of this approach, an application focused on controlling infectious disease outbreaks, such as Pandemic Influenza, has been implemented.