Library
Videos, primary source documents, federal advisories, and reference materials — organized by topic. Everything here is open-source and independently verifiable. FIR does not ask you to take our word for it. We ask you to check our sources.
FIR Video Library
Presentations, briefings, and threat overviews produced by FIR or featuring FIR leadership.
Videos will be added here as they are produced. If you have video of a FIR presentation or briefing, contact fir.foundation.
Primary Source Documents
The federal advisories, intelligence assessments, and technical reports that underpin FIR’s analysis. These are the Tier 1 and Tier 2 sources that FIR trains practitioners to find, read, and evaluate independently. Listed by topic.
Cyber Threat — Volt Typhoon, Salt Typhoon, CyberAv3ngers
CISA-NSA-FBI Advisory AA24-038A — Volt Typhoon
PRC state-sponsored actors pre-positioning in U.S. critical infrastructure for disruptive or destructive cyberattacks. The foundational advisory confirming the most significant infrastructure threat in U.S. history.
CISA-FBI-NSA Advisory AA23-335A — CyberAv3ngers
IRGC-affiliated actors exploiting PLCs in multiple sectors. Confirmed operational control of U.S. water treatment infrastructure using default passwords.
Dragos 2025 OT Cybersecurity Year in Review
Confirms Volt Typhoon (tracked as Voltzite) progressed from IT access to inside operational control loops at strategic American utilities. Assesses many water utilities will never reach the sophistication needed to detect these implants.
FBI Director Wray Congressional Testimony (January 2024)
Testified that Chinese hackers are “positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc” during a future conflict.
Physical Attack, EMP & Geomagnetic Disturbance
DOE OE-417 Incident Reports — Physical Attacks on Grid
919+ documented physical attacks on U.S. electric grid infrastructure since 2010. The raw data behind the physical vector threat assessment.
EMP Commission Reports (2004, 2008, 2017)
Congressional commission assessments of electromagnetic pulse vulnerability. Assessed a nationwide HEMP grid outage could require years for full recovery. The foundational documents for the EMP/GMD vector.
FERC Order 830 — GIC Monitoring
Minimum geomagnetically induced current monitoring requirements for the bulk power system. The regulatory baseline for GMD protection — and the gap between what is required and what is needed.
DOE Large Power Transformer Study (2012, updated 2014)
Manufacturing lead times, import dependency, lack of strategic reserve. The engineering basis for the 18–36 month replacement timeline that drives BSE duration estimates.
National Academy of Sciences — Severe Space Weather Events (2008)
Assessed a severe geomagnetic storm could leave 130 million Americans without power for months to years. The scientific basis for the GMD threat.
Intelligence Community & Threat Assessments
ODNI 2026 Annual Threat Assessment
The Intelligence Community’s annual assessment confirming selective cooperation among China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. Confirms Volt Typhoon as conflict preparation. Confirms North Korean revenue at highest levels since before sanctions.
NCTC Director Kent Testimony (December 2025)
Testified that approximately 18,000 known or suspected terrorists with jihadist ties entered the country during the prior administration.
Heritage Foundation — Defending Taiwan: Interceptor Stockpile Analysis (January 2026)
Established that U.S. high-end interceptor inventories were critically deficient before the Iran war began. The munitions depletion data that drives the China strategic architect thesis.
Cascading Failure & Infrastructure Vulnerability
Idaho National Laboratory — Aurora Vulnerability (2007)
Demonstrated that a cyberattack can physically destroy generators by manipulating circuit breakers. Affects every generator, motor, and transformer connected to the grid. Virtually unmitigated after 18 years.
NERC Long-Term Reliability Assessment
Annual assessment of grid reliability risks including generation adequacy, transmission constraints, and emerging threats. The regulatory data behind grid vulnerability assessments.
Iberian Peninsula Blackout (April 2025)
Cascading grid failure affecting 60 million people across Spain, Portugal, and southern France. Validated FIR’s cascading failure timeline at continental scale: communications degradation in minutes, transportation paralysis in hours, water pressure decline in 24–48 hours.
Critical Infrastructure Sector Assessments
Sector-by-sector analysis of critical infrastructure impacts during an extended grid outage. Each document assesses dependencies, cascading failure pathways, and Days of Supply for a single CI sector. Produced by FIR using federal source data.
All Sectors — Master Document
Comprehensive assessment covering all 16 critical infrastructure sectors. Start here for the complete picture.
Appendix A: Energy — Oil and Natural Gas
Commercial Facilities
Critical Manufacturing
Defense Industrial Base
Emergency Services
Financial Services
Food and Agriculture
Government Facilities
Information Technology
Water and Wastewater
APPENDIX A- Energy: Oil & Natural Gas (ONG)
Communications Infrastructure Hardening Guide
EMP, GMD & Nuclear Threat
Technical references on electromagnetic pulse, geomagnetically induced current, and nuclear detonation effects on infrastructure. Includes congressional testimony, military studies, and planning guides.
EMP: A Brief Tutorial — Dr. George Baker
Senate Roundtable Testimony — George H. Baker (2019)
Dr. Baker Letter re HEMP Ignorance Within the U.S.
Protecting the U.S. Electric Grid from EMP (DoD, 2020)
The Long Sunday — Dr. Peter Pry
FEMA Nuclear Detonation Planning Guide
Additional EMP/GMD References
DHS: Protecting the Homeland Against EMP & GMD
DHS: EMP Shielding Mitigations Best Practices
Executive Order 13865: Coordinating National Resilience to EMPs (2019)
NIAC Catastrophic Power Outage Study
AFPC Strategic Primer on Electromagnetic Threats
NGA: Preparing States for Extreme Grid Outages
Household & Individual Readiness
Practical guides for household-level BSE preparedness. Get Home Bags, family plans, water and food security, medical preparedness, and emergency checklists. Start here if you’ve completed BSE 099.
FIR Get Home Bag — Then What… Be Ready at Home
Get Home Bag Fundamentals
Family Disaster Plan
Family Checklist
Food and Water Guide
Medical Q&A
Efficiency through Local Preparedness
Cold Weather Critical Sectors Impacts
Additional Household Readiness Resources
- Nature Reliance School
- FEMA: How to Build a Kit for Emergencies
- PopSci: How to Make a Prepper Go Bag
- The Bug Out Bag Guide
- True Prepper: Survival Kits
National Security & Defense Strategy
National-level strategy documents, defense policy, and intelligence assessments that frame the threat environment FIR operates in.
2026 Index of U.S. Military Strength — The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation’s annual assessment of U.S. military capability, force structure, and global threats. The 2026 edition rates the U.S. Navy and Air Force as “Weak,” the Army as “Marginal,” and identifies China as America’s primary adversary at the “formidable” capability level. Confirms Salt and Volt Typhoon cyber pre-positioning inside U.S. infrastructure. Documents the defense industrial base collapse from 51 producers to 5 and munitions production rates insufficient for sustained conflict. Heritage assesses what the military can and cannot do. FIR assesses what happens to the homeland while the military is doing it.
Resilience Executive Order (Signed March 2025)
Strategy & Policy References
- DoD: Military & Security Developments — People’s Republic of China (2024)
- National Defense Strategy / NPR / MDR (2022)
- RAND: NDS Commission
- Joint Chiefs: National Military Strategy (2022)
- DHS: 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment
- CISA: 2023–2025 Strategic Plan
- CISA: 2025–2026 International Strategic Plan
- STRATCOM: Joint EMS Operations Center
- DoD: CMMC Final Rule
- Rad Resilient City Initiative — Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security
Cyber & Emerging Threats
Cybersecurity threat references beyond the Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon advisories listed in Primary Source Documents above. Includes drone threats, supply chain vulnerabilities, and policy recommendations.
- Forbes: 5 Cybersecurity Priorities for the Trump Administration
- Nextgov: US Power Grid Faces Escalating Cyber Threats
- Domestic Preparedness: Protecting CI from Weaponized Drones
- D-Fend Solutions: Counter-UAS for Law Enforcement
- Forbes: Drone Technology — The Good, The Bad, and the Horrible
- C-SPAN: Biological and Chemical Threat Preparedness
- Domestic Preparedness: Plan D — A Bosnian Healthcare Worker’s Survival Guide
- Supply Chain Brain: Reinvigorating U.S. Manufacturing
- Defense News: Failure to Invest in Forging Industry
Pandemic & Biological Threat
References on pandemic preparedness, biological threats, and zoonotic risk as they intersect with infrastructure resilience.
Origins of COVID-19 Stratagem (2023)
Potential Zoonotic Incursions (December 2024)
FIR Documents
FIR’s own publications — threat assessments, reference architecture, grading rubric, and training materials.
External Resources
CISA — Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency
cisa.gov — Federal advisories, vulnerability scanning, and infrastructure security guidance. Free vulnerability assessments available for water and energy utilities.
InfraGard
infragard.org — FBI-private sector partnership for critical infrastructure protection. Local chapters nationwide. FIR’s President served as Vice-Chair of the National Disaster Resilience Council.
FEMA BRIC — Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities
fema.gov/grants/mitigation/building-resilient-infrastructure-communities — The primary federal grant program for community resilience. 90% federal cost share for disadvantaged communities.
EIS Council
eiscouncil.org — EIS Council hosts leaders and organizations from all critical sectors in nations around the world, to support joint development and implementation of the solutions we will need to survive future disasters, on all scales.
DOE Grid Resilience Grant Programs
energy.gov — Formula grants and competitive grants for grid hardening, energy storage, and resilience. Priority scoring for rural and disadvantaged communities.
ARRL — Amateur Radio Relay League
arrl.org — The national organization for ham radio operators. Post-BSE communications depend on the amateur radio community. Find your local club, get licensed, get on the air.
EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security
emptaskforce.us — Research, advocacy, and policy recommendations for electromagnetic pulse and geomagnetic disturbance protection.
Center for Security Policy
centerforsecuritypolicy.org — The Center works with multiple partners to highlight the threats to America and to build solutions through research, ideas and coalition-building.
Learn to Find the Truth Yourself
FIR trains practitioners to verify the threat picture independently — not to depend on what any media outlet or political administration chooses to emphasize. BSE 099 introduces source discipline; BSE 101 teaches the full methodology. The sources listed on this page are your starting point.
