Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate launches a joint trends report with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on critical infrastructure

On 18 November 2025, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED), in partnership with the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), launched the “CTED-OSCE Trends Report Update: Physical protection of critical infrastructure against terrorist attacks” The launch event was hosted at the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations and was co-hosted by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In the Trends Report, CTED and OSCE examine trends and developments in international frameworks and national efforts to protect critical infrastructure from terrorist attacks since CTED’s 2017 Report on the same topic.

Welcoming the participants, Ambassador Merete Fjeld Brattested, Permanent Representative of Norway, spoke about the long cooperation between the Government of Norway and CTED, particularly in the area of critical infrastructure protection. Norway received a CTED assessment visit, conducted on behalf of the Counter-Terrorism Committee, in June 2025, which provided an invaluable opportunity to review Norway’s progress in implementing counter-terrorism measures. The visit featured inspections at Oslo Airport Gardermoen and the Port of Oslo to assess practices in border, aviation and maritime security.

Ambassador Kairat Umarov, Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan, echoed the report’s emphasis on the need to strengthen inter-agency and international cooperation in critical infrastructure protection. Ambassador Umarov also outlined his Government’s ongoing work in the area of critical infrastructure protection, including regular practical exercises and attack simulations.

The report’s authors from CTED and OSCE summarized the methodology, key observations and recommendations in the report. They summarized the growing international commitments on critical infrastructure; Counter-Terrorism Committee findings and recommendations on critical infrastructure since 2017; an update on the terrorist threat to critical infrastructure; and value-add approaches for enhancing the physical protection of critical infrastructure.

Representatives from the Ministry of Justice and Public Security of Norway and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan detailed national experiences in protection of critical infrastructure. Their presentations highlighted challenges each nation has faced and some recent progress made in frameworks and policies to protect critical infrastructure against terrorism.

United Nations and OSCE representatives provided an overview of current efforts supporting Member States to protect critical infrastructure. OSCE presented on Project PROTECT on the Protection of Vulnerable Targets from Terrorist Attacks, which is an OSCE programme to enhance national approaches among OSCE participating States. The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism provided an update on the Global Programme on Countering Terrorist Threats Against Vulnerable Targets, as well as a summary of the Global Counter-Terrorism Programme on Autonomous and Remotely Operated Systems, which promotes the integration of unmanned systems in counter-terrorism efforts while preventing their use for terrorism purposes. A representative of the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute spoke about the benefits of and common methods for establishing effective private-public partnerships aimed at critical infrastructure protection.

Event participants included Member State delegates and representatives from capitals who joined online. A representative of the government of Norway closed the event by underscoring the need for strong partnerships, in particular promoting public-private partnerships for critical infrastructure protection from terrorism.

Read the full report here.

The presentation materials for the event are below:

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