Many aspects of American life were changed forever on September 11, 2001. Terrorism in the U.S. is now a viable threat that must be addressed. Pipeline SCADA emergency plans need to be reevaluated to address this new reality. This paper presents some ideas on this critical subject. Most pipeline SCADA systems utilize either a single control room controlling the entire pipeline system, or a hierarchical network of control rooms with regional centers controlling local sites and a central site overseeing the regional sites. Hierarchical architectures were often initially designed to minimize the mileage-based costs of data communication lines between the control centers and the pipeline sites, a consideration which is largely outdated.
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