HR3106-119

What This Bill Does

The Weatherizing Infrastructure in the North and Terrorism Emergency Readiness Act requires DHS to test domestic preparedness for a terrorist attack during extreme cold. DHS, through appropriate offices and components, must develop and conduct a collective response to terrorism exercise that includes cascading effects on critical infrastructure. The scenario must include an extreme cold event such as a polar vortex affecting access to critical services, cascading effects on critical infrastructure, mitigation of a successful terrorist attack by emergency managers, state officials, private-sector stakeholders, and community stakeholders, ways to bolster resilience of affected communities, coordination with federal departments and agencies plus state, local, Tribal, and territorial agencies, and coordination with private-sector and community stakeholders. Within 60 days after completing the exercise, DHS must submit an after-action report to House and Senate homeland security committees, protecting classified information, with initial findings, immediate and longer-term plans to incorporate lessons into DHS operations, and proposed legislative changes informed by the exercise.

Who Benefits and How

Northern communities vulnerable to extreme cold benefit from terrorism preparedness that accounts for polar vortex conditions and critical-service access. Emergency managers benefit from an exercise focused on mitigating cascading infrastructure effects after a terrorist attack. State officials benefit from required coordination in the scenario design and response planning. Critical infrastructure operators benefit from federal planning around cascading failures during extreme cold. Congressional homeland security committees benefit from a 60-day after-action report with findings, operational lessons, and legislative proposals.

Who Bears the Burden and How

DHS must design, conduct, and evaluate the terrorism exercise through appropriate offices and components. State agencies, local agencies, Tribal agencies, and territorial agencies must coordinate with DHS if included in the exercise. Private-sector critical infrastructure stakeholders may need to participate in scenario planning and response evaluation. DHS operational planners must incorporate exercise lessons into immediate and longer-term operations.

Key Provisions

• Requires a DHS terrorism-response exercise involving an extreme cold event such as a polar vortex.
• Requires the exercise to address cascading critical-infrastructure effects and access to critical services.
• Directs coordination with federal, state, local, Tribal, territorial, private-sector, and community stakeholders.
• Requires a classified-information-protected after-action report to Congress within 60 days.
• Requires the report to include findings, operational lessons, longer-term plans, and proposed legislative changes.