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Major power. Great responsibility.

The United States government has enormous influence over the reduction of global catastrophic risk.

Shaping policy in the US Congress and Executive Branch helps position the US, and the world, for a potential catastrophe of any type. US policy is already pioneering for some policy issues related to global catastrophic risk, such as in its risk assessment and in the use of an all-hazards approach to disaster risk management.

We believe that the US government can do more on global catastrophic risk, which will also pave the way for other countries and allies of the US to manage global catastrophic risk better.

The Global Catastrophic Risk Management Act

In 2022, prior to the creation of Global Shield, our co-founder, Jared Brown, led the advocacy effort for the legislation that became the Global Catastrophic Risk Management Act (GCRMA, 6 U.S.C. §821 to §825 ). The GCRMA is the world’s first national law related to global catastrophic risk, calling on the US government to assess and prepare for risks from, for example, “severe global pandemics, nuclear war, asteroid and comet impacts, supervolcanoes, sudden and severe changes to the climate, and intentional or accidental threats arising from the use and development of emerging technologies.” Since its passage, Global Shield has been leading civil-society engagement with the US government to implement the Act, including working with Congress to maintain oversight of the effort, so that the most policy benefit can be gained from this formative law.

Continuity of Operations

While working to implement the GCRMA, Global Shield is also leveraging the legal precedent of the GCRMA to advance related policy improvements in the US government. In particular, we are working to improve “continuity of operations plans” (COOP) in the face of the assessed global catastrophic risk from the GCRMA report.

In lay terms, continuity of operations plans represent the US government’s planning for maintaining core government functions in the aftermath of extreme catastrophes. These plans and facilities (such as so-called “doomsday bunkers” like Raven Rock) were originally crafted for the purpose of surviving a full-scale nuclear war, and now must be adapted for a much wider range of catastrophic threats. However, given the heavily classified nature of these programs, they receive very little oversight and have atrophied in the years since the Cold War.

The Defense Production Act

The Defense Production Act (DPA, 50 U.S.C. §4501 et seq.) provides the President with a broad set of very powerful authorities in the interest of national defense, including to protect against and respond to potential global catastrophes. The DPA is a prime example of an unexpectedly powerful “all-hazards” policy tool for global catastrophic risk reduction. For example, the DPA enabled Operation Warp Speed at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and is the authority that underpins the core AI safety requirements of the Executive Order on the Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence I.

However, given growing political concerns about its use, the DPA may not be reauthorized before it automatically expires on Sept. 30, 2025. We are also concerned that the DPA could be severely curtailed in a way that would be devastating to its current and potential uses for all-hazards global catastrophic risk. Therefore, Global Shield will be leading a major advocacy campaign that will continue until the DPA is safely reauthorized, positioning us as the leading advocate for its reauthorization and improvement.

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