Putting president Trump’s executive order on electromagnetic pulses (EMP) in context

Last week, President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump: ‘I don’t need a summit’ with Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras New York man arrested for allegedly making death threats against Omar Border fencing labeled first section of Trump’s wall was approved under Obama: report MORE signed an Executive Order on Coordinating National Resilience to Electromagnetic Pulses (EMPs). EMPs are electromagnetic pulses — generated from a nuclear device detonated miles above the surface, or from a celestial event like a solar flare.

The President should be applauded for bringing attention to the potential vulnerability of our Nation’s infrastructure and for calling for a coordinated, comprehensive analysis and approach to protecting our Nation. As I have written in the past, however, we should remain cautious and vigilant against overreaction and overregulation that does not make us safer nor more secure.  There is no golden widget, or solution that will magically wrap our nation’s infrastructure in a protective coating making it impervious to an EMP attack.

The Executive Order tasks the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (APNSA), through National Security…