Risk signal
CIP-014 is not a product checklist. It forces owners to identify critical stations and substations, assess threats, and implement physical-security plans appropriate to system impact.
Preservation 2 treats this as a planning signal, not a claim that every site needs the same solution. The relevant question is whether the consequence of disruption justifies a stronger preservation, hardening, or continuity posture.
Decision frame
| Planning question | Reason to ask it |
|---|---|
| What mission or service is interrupted if the asset fails? | Consequence sets the protection priority. |
| Can resilience be improved without a full replacement project? | Retrofit options may preserve time, budget, and operations. |
| Which threats are credible enough to design against? | The scope should reflect real exposure, not generic fear. |
| Who owns the decision after the assessment? | Security, engineering, operations, and procurement need a common basis. |
Practical actions
- The standard elevates physical security from facility maintenance to enterprise risk management.
- Asset consequence should drive the design basis for barriers, surveillance, access control, and response planning.
- Documentation matters because weak rationale can become a board-level exposure.
- Translate the risk finding into a scope that can be engineered, priced, and procured.
Assessment pathway
A useful assessment should identify the asset class, define the consequence of loss, document current protection gaps, and recommend a practical upgrade path. The strongest result is not a longer report. It is a clearer decision.