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CMS Issues New Emergency Preparedness Rule

Survey & Certification- Emergency Preparedness Regulation Guidance

Guidance for Surveyors, Providers and Suppliers Regarding the New Emergency Preparedness (EP) Rule

On September 8, 2016 the Federal Register posted the final rule Emergency Preparedness Requirements for Medicare and Medicaid Participating Providers and Suppliers. The regulation goes into effect on November 16, 2016. Health care providers and suppliers affected by this rule must comply and implement all regulations one year after the effective date, on November 16, 2017.

Full article: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertEmergPrep/Emergency-Prep-Rule.html

Texas Senator Bob Hall Introduces Legislative Bill to Protect the Texas Electrical Grid

Senator Bob Hall of Texas has introduced legislation for the next legislative session to protect the Texas electrical grid.

S.B. No. 83

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to the protection of energy critical instrastructure from electromagnetic, geomagnetic, terrorist, and cyber-attack threats.

 

Text of Texas EMP legislation bill: http://www.legis.state.tx.us/tlodocs/85R/billtext/html/SB00083I.htm

Details on TDOS Attack on 911 system in Maricopa County, AZ

Cyber Attack on 9-1-1 System Leads to Quick Arrest An 18-year-old was arrested last week after carrying out a cyberattack on the Maricopa County 9-1-1 system. The man posted a link in Twitter which supposedly directed people to a site called “Meet Desai.” However, when people clicked the link it would continually call 9-1-1 and not let the caller hang up. Law enforcement found him quickly using the GPS on his phone, arrested him in class, and confiscated his electronics. The accused said he was on the trail of bugs and viruses that he could change and manipulate. Once he manipulated this one, he set it to call 1+911. He claims he created this to basically make a name for himself in the programming and hacker world, and with the hopes Apple would pay him for finding bugs. He said during questioning the bug was meant to be “funny” and claims its release was accidental. He now faces three felony counts of computer tampering. The volume of calls could have shut down the 9-1-1 system but didn’t and Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Cyber Crimes Division was able to shut down the application, ending the threat. For now. With a subsection of hackers potentially looking for bugs, programs, and viruses they can either alter or “piggyback” other applications or programs on to, it is anyone’s guess what the next one will look like. Hopefully this particular bug has been patched by now.

Full article: https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2016/10/27/teen-launches-cyberattack-on-911-system-maricopa-county-cybercrime-unit-makes-quick-arrest/

 

BEST PRACTICES CHECKLIST FOR DENIAL OF SERVICE ATTACKS AGAINST 9-1-1 CENTERS

https://www.nena.org/news/120618/Best-Practices-Checklist-for-Denial-of-Service-Attacks-Against-9-1-1-Centers.htm

 

NICS, A Communication Platform For First Responders, Now Available Worldwide

Release Date: 

August 8, 2016

DHS S&T Press Office, John Verrico, (202) 254-2385

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) has announced the Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS,) an information sharing tool for first responders, is now available worldwide.

NICS is a mobile, web-based communication platform that enables responders on scene at a developing incident to request and receive assistance from remote experts, such as a university researcher or topographic expert, in real time. Conversely, experts can observe an evolving situation and volunteer relevant material or resources.

After successful beta-implementation, NICS has transitioned to the open-source community for wide accessibility, freely available for any interested party.

Full article: https://www.dhs.gov/science-and-technology/news/2016/08/08/news-release-nics-communication-platform-first-responders-now

Texas A&M University Recognized As Leader In Cyber-Defense

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.

Full article: http://today.tamu.edu/2016/06/14/university-recognized-as-leader-in-cyber-defense/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tamuNewsHeadlines+%28www.tamu.edu+News+Headlines%29

Conservative media sustain alarm about a possible electromagnetic-pulse catastrophe

Conservative media sustain alarm about a possible electromagnetic-pulse catastrophe

National Review and others emphasize an “existential threat” in an EMP from a high-altitude nuclear burst—but solar activity stirs the fear too.

 

Conservative media sustain alarm about a possible electromagnetic-pulse catastrophe

Journalists and commentators mainly on the political right, prompted partly by a government report in March, have been seeking to keep public attention on the possibility of a society-devastating electromagnetic pulse, or EMP.  They focus mainly on a nuclear bomb as the cause.

EMPs, whether caused by a bomb or the sun, are an old concern. In 2011, the New York Times’s William Broad reported that former Republican speaker of the house Newt Gingrich had been “ringing alarm bells” about them. In the present venue, a 2014 media report quoted commentators in asking “Could an ‘electric Armageddon’ bring civilization ‘to a cold, dark halt’? Observers in the media consider huge electromagnetic disruptions, both solar and human-caused.” Last September, Physics Today’s David Kramer reported on EMPs.

In recent months, however, conservative media have emphasized them. And though that government report called EMPs a “risk,” reporters and opinion writers have been calling them a “threat.”

In a bland statement about the federal report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) summarized what it called “electromagnetic risks caused by a man-made EMP or a naturally occurring solar weather event.” Either, the GAO said, “could have a significant impact on the nation’s electric grid as well as other infrastructure sectors...such as communications. These risks could lead to power outages over broad geographic areas for extended durations.” Responding to “congressional requesters” and recalling a 2008 report, the GAO called for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “identify internal roles to address electromagnetic risks, and collect additional risk inputs to further inform assessment efforts.” It also called for DHS and the Energy Department to “collaborate to ensure critical electrical infrastructure assets are identified” and to “engage with industry stakeholders to identify and prioritize risk-management activities” including R&D.

 

Full article:http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/magazine/physicstoday/news/10.1063/PT.5.8178

Preparing for Widespread Power Outages: What Local First Responders Need to Know

Preparing for Widespread Power Outages: What Local First Responders Need to Know - In Public Safety

By Dennis Porter, alumnus, Homeland Security, American Military University

On April 21, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee discussed an issue that many states and local governments aren’t addressing: The possibility of a widespread grid power outages that would cause people to be out of electricity for long amounts of time.

According to an article in SC Magazine, the chairman of the committee, Rep. Lou Barletta (R-Penn.), told members that they need to start helping states and local governments prepare for such an event. During the same meeting, Craig Fugate, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said his agency was working with the Department of Energy to develop federal plans to respond to long-term power outages. Part of this operational plan, he said, would address national safety threats caused by long-lasting electrical power outages.

While congressional committee meetings on this subject demonstrate that federal authorities are starting to think about such a disaster, not enough discussion is happening at the state and local level.

 

Full article: http://inpublicsafety.com/2016/05/preparing-for-widespread-power-outages-what-local-first-responders-need-to-know/?utm_source=policemag&utm_medium=email&utm_content=power%20outage&utm_campaign=Public%20Safety%20-%20ET%20-%20AMU

Space Weather - A Historic Shift in Emergency Preparedness

Article Detail - Domestic Preparedness

by Charles (Chuck) Manto

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

Instead of implying that U.S. communities can always count on being rescued from any disaster in four days – requiring three days of food and water to stay comfortable – the implication now is that local communities might not always receive assistance for a much longer period of time. The source of this change is the new Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan, which were released on 29 October 2015 and explained again at an April 2016 Space Weather Workshop.

The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center hosted its annual Space Weather Workshop in Broomfield, Colorado, the week of 27 April 2016. This year was special because of the intimate involvement of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which provided keynote addresses and the 2015 promulgation of the National Space Weather Strategy and Action Plan.

 

 

 

 

Of special interest to the emergency management community is the second of six goals of the strategy that contain the following four elements:

1. “Complete an all-hazards power outage response and recovery plan: for extreme space weather events and the long-term loss of electric power and cascading effects on other critical infrastructure sectors;

2. Other low-frequency, high-impact events are also capable of causing long-term power outages on a regional or national scale.

3. The plan must include the Whole Community and enable the prioritization of core capabilities.

4. Develop and conduct exercises to improve and test Federal, State, regional, local and industry-related space weather response and recovery plans: Exercising plans and capturing lessons learned enables ongoing improvement in event response and recovery capabilities.”

 

 

Full article: http://www.domesticpreparedness.com/First_Responder/Emergency_Management/Space_Weather_-_A_Historic_Shift_in_Emergency_Preparedness/

INMA Joint Conference with ASIS and (ISC)2

 

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/

Joint InfraGard Houston - Public Safety SIG & EMP Meeting

** 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.