Hearing of the House Armed Services Committee - Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)

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REP. HANK JOHNSON (D-GA): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Graham, I would ask you to give us your opinion on what would be the level of knowledge generally of state and local law enforcement agencies about the EMP phenomenon.

MR. GRAHAM: It varies over a wide range of knowledge, from no familiarity at all to a few states that have taken this very seriously and are making plans of their own. In particular, the state of Maryland and the state of Alaska have worked with their National Guard units, their Adjutants General in the states, their legislatures and their government to begin implementing plans to -- to understand the effects of an EMP attack and to integrate it into the states' emergency planning functions. And we're trying to work with other states with the Adjutants General and others to extend this state knowledge.

And let me ask General Lawson who's here if he has any other comments on the state related activities.

REP. JOHNSON: And if you could perhaps speak into the microphone, that would be --

REP. : Yeah, would he use the microphone, please?

GEN. LAWSON: I think we have discussed --

REP. : Pull your chair up so you can get comfortable.

GEN. LAWSON: -- in front of the Adjutants Generals and the other state emergency action officers in some detail the kinds of activities that should be included in the emergency actions training programs for state police, for state firemen, for other emergency participants.

We've presented three times to the Homeland Security our thoughts on some of these preparation activities. And quite candidly, I would hope that they get as much publicity as possible, because that's a part of what many of the commissioners think is a vital portion of our response to this threat, and that being a clear understanding that we, as a nation, are attempting to develop responses that will minimize the capability itself. We haven't been as successful in getting that prioritized as highly as it should be amongst not only all of the states but even at the national level.

I think one other action, and it's not a part of the question, but one other action that is appropriate to mention, we've had a continuing dialogue with the utilities and with the Federal Emergency Regulatory Commission on developing a set of procedures that would begin to look at the phase out of certain portions of the electrical grid and their timely phase out to bring in new equipments at those scheduled phase outs that are more protected to this emergency.

I think, from your standpoint, the one thing that I would mention that's important for the Armed Services Committee is to understand that all of your bases and all of your military forces, all of them have a great amount of their power that comes through the National Grid. That there are -- all of them have emergency backups, but those backups are very short-lived.

And so what happens to that National Grid vitally influences all of our armed forces. And that overlap between Homeland Security and the Defense Department needs to be examined very carefully in this particular area. And that's an area where the committee could put a little pressure on both sides of that coin to improve that emergency capability for the armed forces.

REP. JOHNSON: Thank you, and I'll yield back. Thank you.

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