President Signs Executive Order on EMPs

On March 26, 2019, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order on Coordinating National Resilience to Electromagnetic Pulses. The Executive Order acknowledges both the mounting, existential threat EMPs pose to the national electric grid and the indispensability of the grid to our country’s critical infrastructure. This Executive Order is the most comprehensive federal response to that threat in the country’s history.

The goal of the Executive Order is “to prepare for the effects of EMPs through targeted approaches that coordinate whole-of-government activites and encourage private-sector engagement.” It authorizes the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, who will work with the National Security Council and the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, to coordinate the actions of the executive branch and to oversee the operations and responsibilities of the Departments of Defense, State, Energy, Homeland Security, Commerce, and the Interior in preventing, preparing for, and mitigating the effects of electromagnetic threats to the US grid.

The vulnerabilities of the national electrical grid have been known for decades, though little federal action had been taken. The EMP Commission, which had been analyzing the national EMP risk since 2000, was shut down in 2017 despite repeatedly demonstrating that the national electrical grid was vulnerable and advocating vociferously for increased preparedness. If fully implemented, the Executive Order will finally produce meaningful advances in the security of the US electrical grid and the society it undergirds.

The Order comes on the heels of California legislation SB-1076, which mandated the state create a plan for reducing the grid’s vulnerability and which passed unanimously in the State Assembly and Senate. The bill was introduced by Senator Robert Hertzberg and supported by former Central Intelligence Agency Director Jim Woolsey, both Helena Members.