DHS releases strategy to protect United States from electromagnetic threats

A new Strategy for Protecting and Preparing the Homeland against Threats from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) and Geomagnetic Disturbance (GMD) was released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) this week.

The strategy focuses on DHS efforts to counteract threats to critical infrastructure and respond to them accordingly, be they EMP attacks or naturally-occurring GMD situations. These pose a serious threat to the electrical grid, communications equipment, and transportation capabilities, and the new strategy forms a consensus on how the department can react.

An implementation plan for the strategy is still underway. Once released, DHS will begin evaluating their progress toward plugging capability gaps and work on both oversight and resource optimization.

A key measure going forward, however, is going to include collaboration between federal, state, local, tribal and territorial authorities, as well as those elements of the private sector that preside over points critical to the larger infrastructure. This said, the strategy notes this as important, but focuses on intradepartmental efforts.