On June 12, 2012 AFPC hosted a briefing on electromagnetic pulse and solar storm protection presented by Dr. George Baker, a leading consultant on the subject. The event, which was held on Capitol Hill, was attended by the House Science Committee staffers.
Dr. Baker focused on providing suggestions on how best to harden critical national infrastructure, specifically the electrical grid and communication system, in order to survive an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack or solar storm. The EMP commission’s 2004 and 2008 reports to Congress did an excellent job of outlining the U.S. vulnerability to such events, but did not effectively prioritize how best to guard against the threats. In his talk, he outlined the EMP risk equation which prioritizes electric power, communications and banking/ finance as the top three sectors that need protection.
He explained to the audience that it is necessary to educate the public about the effects of EMP, and stressed that the government should take important steps to begin addressing the potential threats. These included protecting transformers on the national power grid, and ensuring backup generators are located in areas of critical importance: hospitals, water treatment facilities and natural gas plants. Protecting the power grid itself would be a substantial achievement, he said.
Dr. Baker closed the session asking for Congress to provide more support for the Federal Electricity Reliability Corporation (FERC), which sets reliability standards and enforces rules for EMP-proofing.
Note about the speaker: Dr. George Baker is a recently retired professor of Integrated Science and Technology at James Madison University. He currently serves on the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Homeland Security Executive Board and the Virginia Alliance for Secure Computing and Networking.