OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Department of Homeland Security Appropriation Act, 2014

Floor Speech

Date: June 5, 2013
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security

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Mr. HUDSON. Madam Chair, I rise to bring attention to an issue of critical importance regarding our national security. Our cyber and information warfare doctrines do not pay enough attention to the likelihood that adversaries seeking to cripple United States critical infrastructure could quickly turn to an EMP, electromagnetic pulse, attack.

This Nation's electrical grid is incredibly vulnerable and could be crippled by such an attack. The resulting blackout and EMP damage would quickly move beyond the electric grid. Other systems could collapse, leading to a failure of other critical infrastructures, such as communications, transportation, banking and finance, as well as the transportation of food and water. As I have traveled around my district, I have heard from several constituents and experts that see this threat as ever-present.

While technology has made society more efficient, it has also made us more vulnerable by permeating nearly every aspect of our culture that sustains modern civilization and the lives of millions.

The assessment that the U.S. is vulnerable to an EMP attack is based on the work of the Congressional EMP Commission that analyzed this threat for nearly a decade from 2001 to 2008. The Congressional Strategic Posture Commission and several other U.S. Government studies arrived at similar conclusions and collectively represent a scientific and strategic consensus that nuclear EMP attacks upon the United States are a very real threat.

I applaud Chairman Rogers and the Appropriations Committee for finding ways to prioritize spending so that the National Protection and Programs Directorate, along with similar programs, are able to continue their necessary work. I hope they will continue to engage with academic institutions and private organizations to find better, more cost-effective solutions to protecting this Nation's critical infrastructure and our way of life.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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