Rep. Franks Introduces New Bill
“To prevent widespread power failures,” Arizona Republican, Rep. Trent Franks, announced Wednesday that he had introduced the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act. Franks said the bill is essential “in light of several natural disasters that have directly threatened the survivability and functionality of critical United States infrastructure assets.”
The timing coincided with the October 27 airing of the National Geographic Channel’s alarming docu-drama, “American Blackout.” The movie explored the trauma that would sweep the nation as the result of a cyberattack that disrupted the nation’s electric bulk power distribution system for just ten days — bringing to a virtual standstill widespread distribution of food, water, fuel, transportation, medicine, communications and finance.
“The Department of Homeland Security [DHS] has the specific responsibility to secure the key resources and critical infrastructure in the United States, to include power production, generation and distribution systems,” Franks said. “Yet, eleven years after this job description was enacted our nation’s most critical infrastructure — and the systems that more than 300 million Americans depend upon every day for basic activities — are still very vulnerable to large scale blackouts.”
Continuing, Franks said “Anyone who has tried to feed their family or keep their children warm after the power has gone out will understand why this act is so crucially important. The Critical Infrastructure Protection Act will enhance the DHS threat assessments for geomagnetic disturbances and electromagnetic pulse blackouts which will enable practical steps to protect the electric grid that serves the United States and our financial, agricultural, medical and emergency response capabilities.”
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Summary: Rep. Trent Franks, announced that he had introduced the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act.