November 17, 2015

The Critical Infrastructure Protection Act of 2015 (H.R. 1073) passed the House on November 17; the bill aims to prepare the nation in the event of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). The bill amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to define an EMP as a geomagnetic disturbance caused by solar storms or other naturally occurring phenomena, and as a pulse caused by intentional means including acts of terrorism. The bill was introduced by Representative Trent Franks (R-AZ) on February 25, 2015.

The bill calls on the Department of Homeland Security to create a national plan in response to an EMP event, and also calls for the DHS to provide education to emergency response providers about EMP events. The bill requests an increase in research regarding the potential infrastructure risks an EMP event would cause as well as in the development of resilience measures. A similar bill, S. 1846, was introduced on the Senate side by Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) this past July.

Sources: congress.gov, eenews