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Full-Text Articles in Engineering

National Infrastructure Protection Priorities For Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse (Emp) And Solar Storm Geomagnetic Disturbance Catastrophes, George H. Baker Iii Jun 2013

National Infrastructure Protection Priorities For Nuclear Electromagnetic Pulse (Emp) And Solar Storm Geomagnetic Disturbance Catastrophes, George H. Baker Iii

George H Baker

The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack has provided a compelling case for protecting civilian infrastructure against the effects of EMP and geomagnetic disturbances (GMD) caused by severe solar storms. Similar to protecting critical infrastructure against any hazard, it will be important to take a risk-based priority approach for these two electromagnetic threats, recognizing that it will be fiscally impracticable to protect everything. In this regard, EMP and GMD are particularly challenging in that they interfere with electrical and electronic data, control, transmission, and communication systems organic to nearly all critical infrastructures, simultaneously, …


Protecting The Electric Power Grid From Electromagnetic Pulse: Legal And Policy Aspects, George H. Baker Iii, William R. Harris, Thomas S. Popik Jun 2013

Protecting The Electric Power Grid From Electromagnetic Pulse: Legal And Policy Aspects, George H. Baker Iii, William R. Harris, Thomas S. Popik

George H Baker

Since the release of the 2004 and 2008 reports of the congressionally-authorized Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack (“EMP Commission”), there has been a growing societal realization that civilian infrastructure is vulnerable to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threats. And among the DHS list of critical infrastructure sectors, the electric power grid is both the most vulnerable, because EMP couples most efficiently to long power lines, and the most critical, because the grid is the keystone infrastructure upon which all other infrastructures depend. Simply put, grid failure is an existential threat to national governance and …