Marcus Yam/Getty Images Flooding along Interstate 10 in Houston as a result of Harvey
A recent study found that FEMA failed to capture 75 percent of flood damages within their flood maps between 1999 and 2009. The FEMA flood maps are the primary source for how the government and insurance companies evaluate flood risk and insurance premiums. There are collectively trillions of dollars worth of property that rely on these maps being accurate.
The technology management program in the College of Education and Human Development has received another boost from the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security. Texas A&M was recently designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) for Cyber Defense both in education and research.
“This helps to put the technology management program on the map as a singularly vital contributor to the cyber education and initiatives at Texas A&M. We have the only undergraduate cybersecurity course that’s offered at the university. It’s coupled with digital ethics and that course helped make this whole thing possible,” explained Dr. Trez Jones, clinical assistant professor who also works half-time at the Cybersecurity Center.
** SPACE IS LIMITED ** CLICK HERE TO REGISTER **
Date & Time: Thursday, June 16, 2016 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm
Venue: Harris County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (TRANSTAR)
Address: 6922 Katy Road, Houston, TX 77024
Topic: Securing the Texas Grid
Speaker: Ron Jacobus, TX Senator Bob Hall’s Office
For over a decade, experts have warned that the U.S. electric grid is vulnerable to physical, cyber and electromagnetic (EMP) threats. However, unlike physical and cyber, the threat from an EMP to the nation’s electric grid has all but been ignored by government and the electric industry. At present, more than eleven comprehensive studies have detailed the seriousness of the EMP threat. Several well-esteemed scientists have detailed both the seriousness of the EMP threat and the relatively low cost to secure our electric grid infrastructure from it. During this period of increased solar storm activity and a growing unpredictability between geopolitical rivals, the U.S. electric power grid's vulnerability to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack and geomagnetic solar storms is a clear and present danger to both the State of Texas and the greater physical, economic, and societal fabric of the United States. However, unlike the other 48 continental states, Texas has the ability to secure its portion of the electric grid from the threat of EMP. That is why Mr. Jacobus decided to host a solutions-based summit aimed at developing a framework from which we can protect the Texas Grid.
In the meantime, while the legislative process continues and the gap between legislation and implementation remains, it is imperative that the State's emergency management planers are prepared to address the unique challenges that first responders would encounter following an EMP event.
A contractor walks through an electrical transmission substation in Ohio. (AP photo)
(CNSNews.com) – Two weeks after North Korea threatened to launch nuclear strikes against the U.S., the Government Accountability Office(GAO) reported that the federal government has still not implemented all of the recommendations made eight years ago to prevent catastrophic blackouts caused by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.
The recommendations were made in 2008 by the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electro-Magnetic Pulse Attack (EMP Commission).
Full article: http://cnsnews.com/news/article/barbara-hollingsworth/gao-report-us-remains-vulnerable-emp-attack
Fuel shortages and heavy traffic snarled the evacuation of all 80,000 residents from the western Canadian city of Fort McMurray on Wednesday as a wildfire raged out of control, destroying much of one neighborhood and badly damaging others.
Firefighters in Fort McMurray, located in the northeastern part of the province of Alberta in the heart of Canada's oil sands region, confronted another tough day as hot, dry weather made it difficult to bring the fire under control.
Full article: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-wildfire-fortmcmurray-idUSKCN0XU2D8
Texas State Senator Bob Hall hosted a summit on electric grid security. State and national experts addressed critical security concerns from high-impact threats that could cause a nationwide critical infrastructure collapse for a month or more. The summit addressed the Texas electric grid’s vulnerability to electromagnetic pulse (EMP), geomagnetic solar storms, and the interplay of cyber-attacks; discuss emergency preparedness and emerging protective technologies; and highlighted state and federal legislative EMP protection and electric grid security efforts.
Link to conference video archives: http://www.senate.state.tx.us/75r/senate/members/dist2/dist2.htm
Day 1 http://tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=11049
Day 2 http://tlcsenate.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?clip_id=11051
Texas A&M University is spending an estimated $150 million to build a 2,000-acre research and education campus just west of its College Station location. Officials released these renderings on May 2, 2017.
Texas A&M will spend $150 million building a 2,000-acre research park and education center on an old air base just west of its main campus between Houston and Austin, college officials announced Monday. University officials are planning to entice private companies specializing in robotics, autonomous vehicles, chemical safety to set up research and development operations in the research park to get new products ready for the commercial marketplace. For example, the research campus hopefully will be a place to test driverless cars, drones and other autonomous vehicles, university officials said.
Full article: http://m.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Texas-A-M-building-research-campus-on-old-air-base-7387778.php
