Preparedness and Resilience

Preparedness and Resilience is the capacity of critical infrastructure systems to anticipate, prevent, respond to, and recover from cybersecurity threats, natural disasters, and physical attacks while maintaining essential operations. Preparedness encompasses the planning, training, and hardening measures implemented before disruptions occur, while resilience describes infrastructure's ability to absorb shocks and restore services rapidly.

The FY 2027 Administration R&D Budget Memorandum identifies preparedness and resilience as a core national security priority, directing federal agencies to pursue risk-informed approaches across threat domains including cyberattacks, electromagnetic pulse weapons, supply chain vulnerabilities, power grid failures, and severe weather events. For broadband infrastructure funded through the BEAD Program, resilience requirements mandate that subgrantees demonstrate network reliability and service continuity capabilities.

Federal policy specifically calls for leveraging artificial intelligence to enable improved infrastructure resilience—positioning machine learning as a critical tool for predictive threat detection, automated incident response, and continuous infrastructure monitoring that identifies degradation before catastrophic failures occur.