According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) it might. Read the following memo from DHS and decide for yourself. Virtually any enthusiast: planespotter, railfan, landscape or cityscape photographer, night photographer, street photographer, etc. falls under these broad definitions.
Even tourists and casual photographers are not safe -see a pretty building or scene and snap an innocent picture and all of a sudden you are surrounded by police, DHS and FBI. It happens daily even though there are NO LAWS against photography.
August 3, 2004
SUBJECT: Suspicious Activity Reporting Criteria for Infrastructure Owners and Operators
FOR: Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs), State Homeland Security
Advisors, Government First Responders, Security Managers, and Facility OperatorsDHS and FBI encourage recipients of this memorandum to report information concerning
suspicious or criminal activity to their local FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) – the
regional phone numbers can be found online at http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm – and
the Homeland Security Operations Center (HSOC) or the National Infrastructure
Coordination Center (NICC), a sub-element of the HSOC in support of the private sector
and critical infrastructures. The HSOC can be reached via telephone at 202-282-8101 or
by email at HSCenter@dhs.gov; and the NICC/HSOC can be reached via telephone at 202-282-9201 or via email at NICC@dhs.gov.Each report submitted should include the date, time, location, type of surveillance, number
of people and type of equipment used for the activity, the name of the submitting company
and a designated point of contact (POC).Overview
DHS and FBI request that the owners and operators of the nation’s critical infrastructure/key
resource facilities (see Appendix), provide reporting to the above offices on the following types
of suspicious activities potentially indicative of pre-operational terrorist planning:Surveillance/Probing Activity
• Report attempts to test or conduct reconnaissance of security operations at critical
infrastructure/key resource facilities, high profile venues or sector-specific events.• Report any persons showing uncommon interest in security measures or personnel, entry
points or access controls, or perimeter barriers such as fences or walls.• Report any persons showing uncommon interest in critical infrastructure/key resource
facilities, networks, or systems (e.g. photographing or videotaping assets).• Report any theft of or missing official company identification documents, uniforms,
credentials, or vehicles necessary for accessing critical infrastructure/key resource
facilities or sector-specific events.• Report all suspicious attempts to recruit employees or persons knowledgeable about key
personnel or critical infrastructure/key resource facilities, networks, or systems.• Report any theft, purchase, or suspicious means of obtaining plans, blueprints, alarm
system schematics, or similar physical security-related or sensitive information related to
a facility with critical infrastructure/key resource facilities and systems.• Report any discovery of documents (particularly foreign language products) containing
pictures or drawings of critical infrastructure/key resource facilities or systems.• Report any persons near critical infrastructure/key resource facilities who do not fit the
surrounding environment, such as individuals wearing improper attire for conditions or
not normally present in the area (such as, homeless persons, street vendors,
demonstrators, or street sweepers).• Report pedestrian surveillance near critical infrastructure/key resource facilities involving
any surveillance activity of sensitive operations, including photography, videotaping, or
extensive note-taking/use of audio recorder (regardless of the number of individuals
involved), or mobile surveillance by cars, trucks, motorcycles, boats or small aircraft.Threats/Warnings
• Report all threats/warnings that could affect the reliability and operation of the nation’s
critical infrastructures/key resources.• Report discoveries of website postings which make violent threats specific to critical
infrastructures or sector specific events.For comments or questions related to the content or dissemination of this memorandum,
please contact the DHS/Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection Directorate’s
Requirements Division at DHS.IAIP@DHS.GOV.APPENDIX
CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURES AND KEY RESOURCE FACILITIES1
Critical Infrastructures
• Banking and Finance
• Chemical
• Defense Industrial Base
• Electric Power
• Emergency Services
• Food/Agriculture
• Information Technology
• National Monuments and Icons
• Oil and Natural Gas
• Postal and Shipping
• Public Health
• Telecommunications
• Transportation (Rail/Mass Transit, Maritime, Aviation, Highway)
• WaterKey Resource Facilities
• Commercial Facilities
• Dams
• Government Facilities
• Nuclear Reactors/Materials1 Under the Homeland Security Act, which references the definition in the USA PATRIOT Act, the term “critical infrastructure”
means “systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such
systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or
any combination of those matters.” The Act defines ‘key resources” as “publicly or privately controlled resources essential to the
minimal operations of the economy and government.”
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