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Ron Johnson: “We have done nothing. And we've let perfect be the enemy…”

Featuring: Ron Johnson, Republican | U.S. Senate, Wisconsin

Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing

Published July 23, 2015 | Video Starts at 17:21

And in industry, in commerce, you have competition. So people buy what's most effective. And of course the point of this hearing is to lay bare how ridiculous it is. We have done nothing. And we've let perfect be the enemy, the good. And we've allowed governmental dysfunction to prevent us from even doing the basic first little quick fixes to begin protecting our critical infrastructure. That's purpose hearing. Let me go on. (17:21–20:33)

CLAIM

Asserts that government inaction is due to seeking perfect solutions over practical ones.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Ron Johnson

“Lloyd's of London says that about, on average about $2 billion worth of damage from these G3 types of effects annually.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 02:54-03:03
“It was a fifth of the 1921 event and it shut down all of Canada's electrical grid.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 03:29-03:35
“It's something that has a 10 to 12% probability of happening every decade.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 14:17-14:22
“We escaped something massive by a couple days in 2012.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 14:22-14:27
“Then it was true that in 2012 there was a corona discharge or a solar flare, whatever we want to call it, that was pretty massive.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 04:33-04:43
“We haven't even done that, evaluated which 200 transformers should have $100,000 worth of protection.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 09:57-10:05
“Let's not sit back and go, well, if you can't protect everything, protect nothing, let's start protecting things.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 11:14-11:21
“It was something pretty scary and we didn't want to acknowledge it. So we put our head in the sand and our head's still in the sand, by and…”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 12:17-12:24
“We can protect ourselves against something like the Carrington effect, the 1921 effect, for a relatively low cost.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 14:07-14:13
“We don't even understand the system or network level vulnerabilities including cascading effects.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 15:02-15:07
“We still haven't done that. We're starting, we're kind of evaluating it. Seven years to evaluate a quick fix.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 15:43-15:50
“We will be hit by one of these solar flares with 100% certainty.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 16:04-16:09
“We've known about this publicly since 2004, 2008, these recommendations. Seven years later we have virtually done nothing.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 16:11-16:20
“Would cost a couple $100,000 per transformer.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 16:22-16:27
“We haven't developed national regional restoration plans.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 17:52-17:55
“Government hasn't done anything. So God bless industry. I'm glad you're moving forward.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 18:47-18:52
“Some of these transformers are two years out in terms of lead time, correct?”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 19:09-19:13
“The top priority be protect our electrical infrastructure.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 21:22-21:26
“Pre purchasing some of these replacement transformers is really what we're talking about.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 21:49-21:53
“We don't have to rely on transportation to to put them [replacement transformers] in service.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 21:54-22:00
“We need to start implementing some protections, though, you know, and prioritizing those things.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 24:17-24:23
“Voluntary is not working so good.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 26:53-26:55
“We could have done a lot of protection with just a small little fraction of that [$800 billion stimulus].”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 27:04-27:09
“We are, by the way, going to be introducing a piece of legislation. It's called Critical Infrastructure Protection Act.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 30:07-30:25
“It's going to require DHS to prepare a strategy to protect critical infrastructure against electromagnet threats.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 30:36-30:42
“I think the House said Homeland Security has actually reported out of committee and hopefully the House will pass it.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 31:29-31:39
“I'll amend this bill to Authorize the dollars to do just that.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 32:07-32:11
“What we have not done is pretty jaw dropping and how little it's going to cost to just offer some basic protection.”
Sen. Johnson Questioning Witnesses at HSGAC Hearing | Uploaded July 23, 2015 | 33:46-33:54