Global catastrophic risks law approved in the United States

By JorgeTorresC, Jaime Sevilla, JuanGarcia, Mónica Ulloa, Claudette Salinas, Roberto Tinoco, Daniela Tiznado @ 2023-03-07T14:28 (+157)

This is a linkpost to https://riesgoscatastroficosglobales.com/articulos/hito-histrico-es-aprobada-una-ley-de-gestin-de-riesgos-catastrficos-globales-en-eeuu

Executive Summary

The enactment of the Global Catastrophic Risk Management Act represents a significant step forward in global catastrophic risk management. It is the first time a nation has undertaken a detailed analysis of these risks.

The law orders the United States government to establish actions for prevention, preparation, and resilience in the face of catastrophic risks.

Specifically, the United States government will be required to: 

  1. Present a global catastrophic risk assessment to the US Congress.
  2. Develop a comprehensive risk mitigation plan involving the collaboration of sixteen designated US national agencies.
  3. ​​Formulate a strategy for risk management under the leadership of the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management of the US.
  4. Conduct a national exercise to test the strategy.
  5. Provide recommendations to the US Congress.

This legislation recognizes as global catastrophic risks: global pandemics, nuclear war, asteroid and comet impacts, supervolcanoes, sudden and severe changes in climate, and threats arising from the use and development of emerging technologies (such as artificial intelligence or engineered pandemics).

Our article presents an overview of the legislation, followed by a comparative discussion of the international legislation of GCRs. Furthermore, we recommend considering similar laws for adoption within the Spanish-speaking context. 


Read more (in Spanish)


Riesgos Catastróficos Globales is a science-advocacy and research organization working on improving the management of global risks in Spanish-Speaking countries. You can support our organization with a donation.


 

Vasco Grilo @ 2023-03-10T09:24 (+8)

Thanks for sharing!

Do you have any thoughts on what was specially important to enact the Global Catastrophic Risk Management Act?

Ramiro @ 2023-03-07T14:56 (+8)

Thanks for this post.
Just one remark though:

The enactment of the Global Catastrophic Risk Management Act 

This links to the original proposal. However, as explained by Matt Boyd, the bill that was passed (with some changes - such as placing responsibility over Homeland Security instead of the President) is part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023  (p. 1290). 

JorgeTorresC @ 2023-03-07T16:51 (+5)

Thanks for the comment Ramiro you are right in reference to point 3 of our summary which was modified, we invite you to read the complete article that we wrote where it is indeed stated that the responsibility now corresponds to the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management of the US, according to the approved law.
 

Nathan Young @ 2023-03-10T02:00 (+5)

Thanks so much to all who were involved!

Ramiro @ 2023-03-13T14:06 (+4)

Btw, I just noticed that the GCR Act is followed by Subsection B - Technological Hazards 
Preparedness and Training that nobody is talking about...

And preceded by Sec. 7201-7211: Intragovernmental Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act and Sec. 7221-7228: Advancing American AI Act

Marcel D @ 2023-05-02T00:33 (+2)

Just to clarify, I don't think that the legislation actually explicitly mentions "artificial intelligence," right? Just "intentional or accidental threats arising from the use and development of emerging technologies."

JuanGarcia @ 2023-05-02T10:03 (+1)

That's correct. Artificial intelligence and engineered pandemics are just given as examples of things that may fall under the category of threats from emerging technologies.