Article Detail - Domestic Preparedness
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Wed, June 15, 2016 For the first time since the demise of the civil defense program of the Cold War, the federal government has made one of the most significant modifications to its emergency preparedness message. A three-day emergency kit is no longer sufficient to prepare for emerging threats, whether coming from Earth or from space.
Article Detail - Domestic Preparedness
The InfraGard National Members Alliance(INMA) 2016 Annual Congress and Conference will be part of a joint Conference with ASIS International and (ISC)2. In an unprecedented move, InfraGard will co-locate their Congress and first annual Conference with ASIS and (ISC)2 on September 12-15 in Orlando, Florida.
Full release: https://americansecuritytoday.com/11339-2/
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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.
by DR. PETER VINCENT PRY June 2, 2016
Few Americans have heard of Roscoe Bartlett--but all Americans may someday owe him their lives. The former congressman from Maryland's 6th District, who on June 3rd celebrated his 90th birthday, is the modern Paul Revere of electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
It is a safe bet that most or all readers of Family Security Matters now know about the EMP threat. Indeed, more Americans may know about EMP than about Paul Revere, a situation Roscoe would certainly disapprove!
Roscoe Bartlett took EMP out of the classified shadows. There its potentially paralyzing effects on military forces and civilian critical infrastructures were deeply understood only by a small number of nuclear strategists and specialists.
The American people now know about the existential threat that is EMP because of Roscoe Bartlett.
Full article: http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/roscoe-bartlett-american-hero?f=must_reads
Five universities have partnered and collaborated to establish the National Cybersecurity Preparedness Consortium. The consortium is organized around the Community Cyber Security Maturity Model (CCSMM) that emphasizes cyber-security as being the responsibility of the "whole community". The whole community includes the public and private sectors as well as any individual within the community who accesses the internet or a computer network. The consortium members include The Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS) at The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA), The Texas Engineering Extension Service in the Texas A & M University system, U of Memphis, The Criminal Justice Institute (CJI), University of Arkansas System, and Norwich University.
A huge solar superstorm fries hundreds of high-voltage transformers, shutting down the nation’s electrical power grid. A hostile nation or a group of terrorists detonates a nuclear weapon above the U.S. atmosphere, raining gamma rays and causing massive blackouts.
While these sound like sci-fi movie plots, some scientists and government officials think either scenario could actually occur and end up disabling the country’s electrical grid for weeks, months or years, leaving telecommunications and emergency services severely disrupted and affecting the food supply, sanitation and drinking water.
Full article: http://empactamerica.org/states-work-protect-electric-grid-catastrophic-disturbances/
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
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
For the first time, a robust, low-cost and portable technology deployed using drones can be used to monitor and control infectious disease outbreaks in remote locations, says Texas A&M University researcher, Dr. Victor Ugaz, who has built the instrument. By eliminating the need for samples collected in the field to be transported to distant laboratories for analysis by specialized personnel, this instrument can accelerate diagnosis, enable pinpoint delivery of therapeutics and help provide real-time data to better inform decision making.
The lab-on-a-drone technology not only transports medical test kits and samples to and from areas that have limited or no access to a lab infrastructure, it also can perform the diagnostic tests during flight, according to Ugaz, professor, holder of the Charles D. Holland ’53 Professorship and the Thaman Professorship, associate department head in Texas A&M’s Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering.
Full article: http://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2016/04/26/texas-am-develops-smartphone-enabled-lab-on-drone-technology
