Good News From Washington

The House of Representatives has passed H.R. 3410. According to Thomas.gov, on 12/02/2014 the bill was received in the Senate and read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

H.R. 3410 is the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act or CIPA.

Thomas.gov describes the Bill as follows:

Amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to require the Assistant Secretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate to: (1) include in national planning scenarios the threat of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) events; and (2) conduct a campaign to proactively educate owners and operators of critical infrastructure, emergency planners, and emergency responders at all levels of government of the threat of EMP events.

Directs the Under Secretary for Science and Technology to conduct research and development to mitigate the consequences of EMP events, including: (1) an objective scientific analysis of the risks to critical infrastructures from a range of EMP events; (2) determination of the critical national security assets and vital civic utilities and infrastructures that are at risk from EMP events; (3) an evaluation of emergency planning and response technologies that would address the findings and recommendations of experts, including those of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack; (4) an analysis of available technology options to improve the resiliency of critical infrastructure to EMP; and (5) the restoration and recovery capabilities of critical infrastructure under differing levels of damage and disruption from various EMP events.

Includes among the responsibilities of the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) relating to intelligence and analysis and infrastructure protection to prepare and submit to specified congressional committees: (1) a comprehensive plan to protect and prepare the critical infrastructure of the American homeland against EMP events, including from acts of terrorism; and (2) biennial updates of such plan.

This is long overdue. Hopefully the Bill will pass quickly in the Senate–it is desperately needed–not only does EMP constitute a threat to our electrical grid, sunspots can also cause the same sort of disruption. If we protect the electrical grid from an EMP attack, it will also be protected from sunspots.

America’s most vulnerable target is her energy grid. Everything we do revolves around it–the storage and delivery of food, our traffic control, mass transportation, communication, and our medical facilities. We need to protect and secure that grid from natural and man-made attacks.