Grid Security Now!

Grid Security Now!

Michael Mabee – Author of The Civil Defense Book

Menu
  • Home
  • Library
    • Grid Security Library
      • Government Documents on Grid Security
      • OE-417 Electric Disturbance Events Database
      • CIP Violation Database
      • Grid Protection Posts
      • Video (EMP and Grid Security)
      • What is the Electric Grid and How is it Regulated?
    • Civil Defense Library
      • The cavalry is not coming
      • Civil Defense Posts
      • Video (Preparedness)
      • Civil Defense Checklists
  • Fund The Fight!
  • Take Action!
  • About Me
    • About Michael
    • My Book
    • Michael in the Press
    • Subscribe to Mike’s Blog
    • Interviews
    • My Friends
    • Contact Me
Menu
FEMA's Response

FEMA’s Response To My Letter: A Blow Off

Posted on June 9, 2019June 11, 2019 by Michael Mabee
Share the knowledge...Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Share on Reddit
Reddit
Email this to someone
email
Print this page
Print


FEMA’s response seems to be a low-level bureaucratic “ignore”

FEMA's ResponseI’m disappointed by FEMA’s response to my March 28, 2019 letter which I posted here. As you may recall, I wrote to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) after not hearing from them on a letter I had sent them on March 7, 2018 – a year previous. When you write to the federal government, disappointment often goes with the territory.

First, let me say that I am a fan of FEMA. I love the agency. Every presentation I do I am pushing FEMA’s strategic plan. (And every presentation I do, I get asked to do more presentations in the communities of people in the audience.)

Well, I received an email from FEMA on May 29, 2019. Part of my disappointment is that FEMA claims to have responded to my March 7, 2018 letter on December 26, 2017. The math simply does not work here. (Actually, their December 26, 2017 letter was in response to another letter I wrote them on December 6, 2017 – see below for links to all of the letters.)

In the first paragraph, FEMA distances themselves from the March 1, 2019 Emergency Management Magazine article and the January 2019 report. However, it actually doesn’t appear that the person who responded (the “Resilience Action Office”) even bothered to read my letter. They certainly didn’t respond to much that I wrote.

A Bad Cut-And-Paste Job:

Notwithstanding the initial date error in FEMA’s response, I was confused that FEMA would claim that they were the lead in protecting the critical infrastructure from EMP and GMD threats. FEMA wrote:

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) serves as the Nation’s risk advisors for critical infrastructure owners and operators. We lead the national effort to secure and protect critical infrastructure from all threats and hazards, to include EMP and GMD. CISA’s primary role in managing EMP and GMD risks is through cross-sector coordination and information sharing, to ensure stakeholders have access to current information on risks and any resources to assist with mitigation efforts. [Emphasis added.]

That is, until I realized that this was a cut-and-paste from the testimony of Brian Harrell, the head of CISA from a February 27, 2019 Senate hearing. In FEMA’s response email, FEMA forgot to change the “we” to “they” when they pasted it in. Here is what Brian Harrell said for comparison:

CISA serves as the Nation’s risk advisors for critical infrastructure owners and operators. We lead the national effort to secure and protect critical infrastructure from all threats and hazards, to include EMP and GMD. CISA’s primary role in managing EMP and GMD risks is through cross-sector coordination and information sharing, to ensure stakeholders have access to current information on risks and any resources to assist with mitigation efforts.

But that is not all that FEMA cut-and-pasted from Brian Harrell’s testimony in their email response to my letter. The next paragraph in FEMA’s response email is:

All critical infrastructure sectors are, to some degree, at risk from EMP and GMD events due to the potential loss of critical functions. However, the precise extent of critical infrastructure vulnerabilities to such events remain uncertain. CISA acknowledge that sectors like energy and communications are of greatest concern due to their vulnerabilities to EMP, however, other sectors are also at risk due to their dependencies on these two sectors. For those reasons, relative to other sectors, there have been a lot of energy and communications sector activities to mitigate EMP and GMD threats.

Coincidentally, Brian Harrell in his testimony says:

All critical infrastructure sectors are, to some degree, at risk from EMP and GMD events due to the potential loss of critical functions. However the precise extent of critical infrastructure vulnerabilities to such events remain uncertain. We acknowledge that sectors like energy and communications are of greatest concern due to their vulnerabilities to EMP, however, other sectors are also at risk due to their dependencies on these two sectors. For those reasons, relative to other sectors, there have been a lot of energy and communications sector activities to mitigate EMP and GMD threats.

No need to belabor the point here, but the next paragraph is also a wholesale cut-and-paste. Three paragraphs of FEMA’s response email were cut and pasted from Brian Harrell’s testimony.

Essentially, FEMA’s email is a perfunctory non-response. It is disappointing because I took a great deal of time and effort to write to these letters, and FEMA’s blow-off of my letters could have at least been written by somebody who read them.

I guess FEMA isn’t interested in what I have to say.

###


Here are all my letters to FEMA and their two responses:

  • December 6, 2017 Letter to FEMA
  • December 26, 2017 FEMA Response Letter
  • March 7, 2018 Letter to FEMA
  • March 28, 2019 Letter to FEMA
  • May 29, 2019 FEMA Response Email

Share the knowledge...Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Share on Reddit
Reddit
Email this to someone
email
Print this page
Print

News

  • Testimony of Michael Mabee on SB 1606 – All Hazards Grid Security
  • COVERUP UPDATE: CIP Violation Database and FOIAs
  • Federal Complaint Filed on Texas Grid Collapse
  • We Are Plugged In To Life Support
  • Texas Blackout: The Unacceptable Outcome of a Foreseeable Event
  • Chinese Transformers in the Electric Grid: Lights Out For NYC?
  • Message to Governor Jennifer Granholm and the Department of Energy
  • Chinese Transformers in the Electric Grid
  • The U.S. Has 300 Chinese Large Power Transformers
  • Senator Murkowski Questions Cybersecurity Order Suspension
  • Grid Supply Chain Cybersecurity Order “Suspended”
  • A Billion Reasons We Do Not Have Grid Security
  • Money Talks, Grid Security Walks
  • Critical Infrastructure Attacks Expose Regulatory Failures
  • Lawsuit: The Federal Government Must Secure The Grid
  • Securing America with Frank Gaffney: Threats to the Electric Grid
  • FERC: Who Will Be Responsible For All The Deaths If The Grid Goes Down?
  • Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Lays Down On The Job!
  • EMP Progress Report – A National Disgrace
  • EMP Ignorance Is Bliss – Dr. Peter Vincent Pry
  • China: EMP Threat – A New Report by Dr. Peter Pry
  • FERC Denies Grid Physical Security Complaint, BUT…
  • Secure the Grid Coalition Opposes Senate Bill S.3688
  • Electric Industry Lobbyist’s China Ties Questioned
  • Supply Chain Cybersecurity Complaint Filed with FERC
  • Executive Order 13920: Securing the United States Bulk-Power System
  • Electric Industry Wants to Defer Implementation of Cybersecurity
  • Electric Sector Protests Effective Grid Physical Security
  • Emergency Preparedness: Souhegan and Derry CERT
  • Coronavirus: Don’t Panic, Prepare!

Fund The Fight!


Subjects

Search Website

Subscribe for Updates!

Follow me on Twitter

Tweets by CivilDefenseBK

Click To Get Prepared!

The Civil Defense Book: Emergency Preparedness for a Rural or Suburban Community
The Civil Defense Book Get it now!

Subscribe for updates

Follow Me On Facebook

The Civil Defense Book

14 hours ago

The Civil Defense Book
Testimony of Michael Mabee on Texas SB 1606 – All Hazards Grid Securitymichaelmabee.info/testimony-of-michael-mabee-on-sb-1606-all-hazards-grid-security/ ...

Testimony of Michael Mabee on SB 1606 – All Hazards Grid Security

michaelmabee.info

Testimony of Michael Mabee on SB 1606 – All Hazards Grid Security. After the 2021 Texas blackout, Texas must take action.
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

The Civil Defense Book

2 days ago

The Civil Defense Book
Charles Coolidge, Medal of Honor Recipient Who Fought Boldly in WWII, Dead at 99www.military.com/daily-news/2021/04/08/charles-coolidge-medal-of-honor-recipient-who-fought-boldl... ...

Charles Coolidge, Medal of Honor Recipient Who Fought Boldly in WWII, Dead at 99

www.military.com

Charles Coolidge, one of the nation's most storied World War II veterans and a Medal of Honor recipient, has died at the age of 99.
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Fund The fight!


©2021 Grid Security Now! | Theme by SuperbThemes