In January 2021, President Joseph Biden issued an executive order directing the Secretary of Homeland Security to “consider the implications of climate change in the Arctic, along our Nation’s borders, and to National  Critical Functions [NCFs]” (Executive Order  14008, 2021). The 55 NCFs represent vital government and  private-sector functions that are essential for the nation’s security, economic security, public health, and safety.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency  (CISA) asked the Homeland Security Operational Analysis Center (HSOAC), a federally funded research and  development center (FFRDC) operated by the RAND Corporation, to develop a risk management framework  and to assess the risk of climate change to higher-vulnerability NCFs. The risk-assessment framework and  findings are documented in Miro et al., 2022. This report extends the earlier work to identify and evaluate  climate adaptation strategies to address the 25 NCFs identified as at greatest risk from climate change, with  an emphasis on strategies that owner-operators of critical infrastructure might implement, including state,  local, tribal, and territorial governments and private-sector stakeholders. The findings should be of interest  to CISA; multisector groups with a focus on critical infrastructure, such as sector coordinating councils;  and sector risk-management agencies and other federal agencies and partners managing risk to U.S. critical  infrastructure and to policymakers, research analysts, and other stakeholders interested in addressing the  impacts of climate change.

This research was sponsored by CISA and conducted within the Strategy, Policy, and Operations Program  of the HSOAC FFRDC.