DCIP: A focus on infrastructure Published Oct. 20, 2006 By Senior Airman Patrice Clarke 39th Air Base Wing Public Affairs INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- Family vacations. They are fun and exciting but can easily be ruined by a lack of planning. What happens if you get lost, run out of gas, or encounter a natural disaster? Every family needs a good plan, and a good backup plan. You never know what's going to happen, and you always have to be prepared for the unexpected. The Department of Defense also believes in backup plans and has come up with a program to check installation backup plans. The Defense Critical Infrastructure Program focuses on the infrastructure of the base and the base's ability to perform its mission when the main infrastructure fails. "The idea is for DCIP to assess the infrastructure and look at the mission capability," said 1st Lt. Patrick McVay, 39th Air Base Wing Antiterrorism and Force Protection office flight chief. Keep in mind that infrastructure includes buildings, utilities, communications and paved areas. This is different from many security programs we are familiar with as the focus is on things, not people. "The main offices affected by this new program are the communications squadron and the civil engineer squadron," said Lieutenant McVay. Each affected office has a set list of standards that must be met in the event that their main system goes down. "The DCIP team assesses whether the backup system still performs at original capacity or at least with enough capacity to complete the mission," said Lieutenant McVay. "The DCIP team would want to know what happens when the backbone fails," said 2nd Lt. Justin Smith, 39th Communications Squadron. "They would also assess how quick and efficient our answer to the problem was." The Communications Squadron is not the only squadron with a vested interest in DCIP. The 39th Civil Engineer Squadron would also have to ensure the buildings, paved areas and utilities are prepared for any situation. "Our questions would be more on the side of what buildings have lost power and water, keeping in mind the work that goes on in the building," said 1st Lt. Je Raley, 39th Civil Engineer Squadron. The CE squadron also would have to worry about paved areas such as the flightline and LRS would be concerned with backups to the fuels distribution system. "The assessors will ask what our backup plan is in the event that the flightline is unusable," said Lieutenant Raley. Assessment isn't the only function of the DCIP team. They will also make suggestions and recommendations on how we can do things better. "When the team comes it is not an inspection," said Lieutenant McVay. "It is strictly an assessment. Many times they will also offer recommendations on how we as a base can keep our infrastructure safe." No plan is a good plan unless it has a backup. DCIP's goal is to ensure Incirlik's backup plan is good enough to keep the mission going.