A new report claims federal agencies need to better collaborate to prevent the impact of electromagnetic pulse attacks on the nation's power grid.
The Government Accountability Office report looked at how the departments of Homeland Security and Energy, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, work jointly to address the threats that EMP poses to the country's critical infrastructure.
Related: Read the report
EMP — whether caused by a solar storm or explosive device — could cause a significant disruption to the nation's power grid, so much so that the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack issued a 2008 report with 90 recommendations on how to address and recover from such an attack.
The GAO report, released on April 25, found that policies laid down by both DHS and DOE align with many of the recommendations made in the 2008 study, but neither agency has fully identified its risk assessments when it comes to a possible attack.
Among the problems, GAO said that DHS had yet to determine its roles and responsibilities within the agency if an EMP attack were to occur.
"DHS officials did not identify any DHS representatives or offices as having broader designated responsibility for performing key oversight or coordination roles regarding electromagnetic risks within DHS's overall infrastructure protection efforts, including activities intended to help address risks to the electrical grid," the report said.
"Furthermore, industry representatives and other federal officials told us it is not clear who within DHS is responsible for addressing electromagnetic risks.
Neither agency has identified key infrastructure assets that could be at risk of an attack. While DHS components had independently sought to assess the EMP risk, the department has not yet developed a comprehensive evaluation.
The report also claimed that the agencies have yet to coordinate their risk management procedures in case of an EMP incident.
The GAO called for greater collaboration between the agencies on identifying EMP risk and working to mitigate it. The report also recommended the following:
- That the Secretary of Homeland Security designate roles within DHS for assessing EMP risk and sharing the information with federal partners.
- That the secretaries of Homeland Security and Energy collaborate to review FERC’s electrical infrastructure analysis and determine if more risk assessment is needed to identify critical infrastructure assets.
- That the Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate and the Assistant Secretary for the Office of Infrastructure Protection work with federal partners to "analyze key inputs on threat, vulnerability and consequence related to electromagnetic risks."
- That the secretaries of Homeland Security and Energy identify research and development priorities related to EMP protections.
Officials at both DHS and DOE concurred with the recommendations and said they were implementing actions to address them.
