I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 668 
To amend the Federal Power Act to protect the bulk-power system and 
electric infrastructure critical to the defense and well-being of the United 
States against natural and manmade electromagnetic pulse (‘‘EMP’’) 
threats and vulnerabilities. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 11, 2011 
Mr. FRANKS of Arizona (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. HALL, Mr. 
LAMBORN, Mr. KING of Iowa, Mr. AKIN, Mr. BROUN of Georgia, Mr. 
MARCHANT, Mr. POSEY, Mr. WEST, Mr. LOBIONDO, Mr. BISHOP of 
Utah, Mr. HUNTER, Mr. TERRY, Mr. KLINE, Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN 
of California, Mr. STEARNS, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. TURNER, Ms. 
CLARKE of New York, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas, 
Mr. JOHNSON of Ohio, Mr. JORDAN, and Mr. ROYCE) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Com-
merce, and in addition to the Committee on the Budget, for a period to 
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Federal Power Act to protect the bulk-power 
system and electric infrastructure critical to the defense 
and well-being of the United States against natural and 
manmade electromagnetic pulse (‘‘EMP’’) threats and 
vulnerabilities. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Secure High-voltage 
Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act’’ 
or the ‘‘SHIELD Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) According to the Report of the Commission 
to Assess the Threat to the United States from 
Electromagnetic Pulse Attack (in this Act referred 
to as the ‘‘EMP Commission Report’’), the society 
and economy of the United States are ‘‘critically de-
pendent upon the availability of electricity.’’. 
(2) According to the EMP Commission Report, 
‘‘continued electrical supply is necessary for sus-
taining water supplies, production and distribution 
of food, fuel, communications, and everything else 
that is part of our economy’’. 
(3) According to the EMP Commission Report, 
‘‘contemporary U.S. society is not structured, nor 
does it have the means, to provide for the needs of 
nearly 300 million Americans without electricity.’’. 
(4) According to the EMP Commission Report, 
due to the existing electrical system operating at or 
near its physical capacity, ‘‘a relatively modest upset 
to the system can cause functional collapse.’’. 
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(5) According to the EMP Commission Report, 
electromagnetic pulse (in this Act referred to as 
‘‘EMP’’) is a threat to the overall electrical power 
system. 
(6) According to the EMP Commission Report, 
EMP occurs both naturally, such as geomagnetic 
storms, and via manmade devices. 
(7) According to the EMP Commission Report, 
while the electric infrastructure ‘‘has a degree of du-
rability against . . . the failure of one or a small 
number of [electric] components,’’ the current strat-
egy for recovery leaves the United States ill-prepared 
to respond effectively to an EMP attack that would 
potentially result in damage to vast numbers of com-
ponents nearly simultaneously over an unprece-
dented geographic scale. 
(8) According to the EMP Commission Report, 
EMP ‘‘may couple ultimately unmanageable currents 
and voltages into an electrical system routinely oper-
ated with little margin and cause the collapse of 
large portions of the electrical system.’’. 
(9) According to the EMP Commission Report, 
a collapse of large portions of the electrical system 
will result in significant periods of power-outage and 
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