Executive Orders Targeting EMPs from Space?

I’ll admit the title is a bit click-baity, but then so is the source article. It is actually not quite as insidious, and arguably, whether or not you believe Executive Orders should exist, is a proper use case for them.

It addresses the proposed national response to “space weather events” (i.e. solar flares, solar energetic particles, and geomagnetic disturbances, etc) which are all things that are included in a number of prepping scenarios. These events would cause havoc in our highly technologically dependent society. You certainly wouldn’t be reading this website for advice if a significant space weather event happened.

The main points are to define the Federal Government must have:

(1) the capability to predict and detect a space weather event,

(2) the plans and programs necessary to alert the public and private sectors to enable mitigating actions for an impending space weather event,

(3) the protection and mitigation plans, protocols, and standards required to reduce risks to critical infrastructure prior to and during a credible threat, and

(4) the ability to respond to and recover from the effects of space weather. Executive departments and agencies (agencies) must coordinate their efforts to prepare for the effects of space weather events.

And agreed, if we are going to have a Federal Government, one of it’s purposes is to provide for the defense and security of the infrastructure of the States. So is using resources to help identify threats and alert the public at large about such threats.

Where I think the Executive Order should have gone was to direct agencies to support preparedness in the population and local communities (opposed to making more of a reliance on government help after the fact). Something more along the lines of the marketing thrust from the CDC that used a zombie apocalypse comic to talk about preparing for disaster.

The one part that is a little loose is the tasking of DHS to “coordinate response and recovery.” It evokes the whole “we are here from the government and we are here to help” obloquy.

Medically, the primary populations at risk are going to be those that are specifically reliant on power for survival (people in ICUs, those on oxygen machines, people that need to keep insulin cool). A significant event would impact EMS as well, interfering with the ability to engage 911 and even for modern transports to get to scene.

So, readers, are “space weather events” something you prepare for? What are your favorite preps? How do you plan for medical emergencies?

You can read more detail about it here: http://www.networkworld.com/article/3130650/security/president-obama-targets-nasty-space-weather-response-with-executive-order.html

The actual order is here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/10/13/executive-order-coordinating-efforts-prepare-nation-space-weather-events

Doc Rader

Tom is a former Navy Corpsman that spent some time bumbling around the deserts of Iraq with a Marine Recon unit, kicking in tent flaps and harassing sheep. Before that, he was a paramedic somewhere in DFW, also doing some Executive Protection work between shifts. Now that those exciting days are behind him, he has embraced his inner “Warrior Hippie,” and assaults 14er in his sandals, and engages in rucking adventure challenges while consuming copious water. To fund these adventures, he writes all manner of content (having also held editor positions at several publications) and teaches wilderness medicine and off-road skills. He hopes that his posts will help you find the gear that will survive whatever you can throw at it (and the training to use it). Learn from his mistakes--he is known (in certain circles) for his curse...ahem, ability...to find the breaking point of anything. You can follow him at https://linktr.ee/docrader.