InfraGard is a partnership between private industry and the U.S. government with the goal of facilitating timely and ongoing communication between the groups in regards to counterterrorism, cyber crime, and other major crime programs. Today, the U.S. government component of InfraGard consists of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), local law enforcement, and various academic institutions including NebraskaCYBER.
Private sector members and an FBI field representative form local area InfraGard chapters. These chapters set up their own boards to govern and share information within the membership. Finally, all of the chapters are linked back to the national level through their FBI field representatives.
As stated on the Nebraska InfraGard website, InfraGard's objectives include:
- Increase the level of information sharing and reporting between InfraGard members and the FBI on matters related to counterterrorism, cyber crime and other major crime programs.
- Increase interaction and information sharing among InfraGard members and the FBI regarding threats to the critical infrastructures, vulnerabilities, and interdependencies.
- Provide members value-added threat advisories, alerts, and warnings.
- Promote effective liaison with local, state and federal agencies, to include the Department of Homeland Security.
- Provide members a forum for education and training on counterterrorism, counterintelligence cyber crime and other matters relevant to informed reporting of potential crimes and attacks on the nation and U.S. interests.