The Threat of Radio Frequency Weapons to Critical Infrastructure Facilities
Abstract
Critical infrastructure facilities, as pictured above, support all facets of modern day life in the United States. By definition, they are the ...systems and assets...so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of those matters. [Section 1016 (e), U.S.A. Patriot Act of 2001] Critical infrastructure facilities include electric power facilities, oil refineries, water treatment plants, banking systems, pipelines, transportation systems, and communications facilities. Most critical infrastructure facilities depend on electrical and electronic systems to function. These systems can be susceptible to a little-known, yet significant and growing threat called radio frequency weapons (RFWs). The President of the United States proclaimed it a national goal that the United States shall [achieve] and shall maintain the ability to protect our nation s critical infrastructures from intentional acts that would significantly diminish the abilities of: the Federal Government to perform essential national security missions and to ensure the general public health and safety; state and local governments to maintain order and to deliver minimum essential public services; [and] the private sector to ensure the orderly functioning of the economy and the delivery of essential telecommunications, energy, financial and transportation services. [Presidential Decision Directive / NSC-63, dated May 22, 1998] RFWs have already been used to defeat security systems, commit robberies, disable police communications, induce fires, and disrupt banking computers. Improvised RFWs have been demonstrated to jam satellites, cause a catastrophic failure in a locomotive and damage automobiles.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2005
- Accession Number
- ADA593293
Entities
Organizations
- Naval Surface Warfare Center