Justice, crime and public safety

Executive Order 13744: Coordinating Efforts To Prepare the Nation for Space Weather Events

President: Barack Obama

Assigned federal roles for observing, forecasting and mitigating harmful solar and geomagnetic events.

Status: In effect.

Is Executive Order 13744 still in effect? Yes. Active interagency preparedness framework reinforced by the PROSWIFT Act of 2020 and current federal forecasting work.

What does Executive Order 13744 do?

EO 13744 organized federal work on solar flares, geomagnetic storms and other space-weather hazards that can disrupt power, communications, satellites and navigation. It assigned research, observation, forecasting, emergency planning and infrastructure responsibilities across agencies. Congress reinforced the work in the 2020 PROSWIFT Act, and NOAA, NASA, NSF, Defense and other agencies continue space-weather operations and research.

Administration position: Forecasts and standards reduce risk but cannot prevent solar events or guarantee uninterrupted power and communications.
SignedOctober 13, 2016
Operational forecast leadNOAA
Research partnersNASA NSF Defense and others

Before and after

Before the order

Agencies had programs but lacked this consolidated role and preparedness framework.

After the order

Federal observation, modeling, warning and infrastructure planning were more explicitly coordinated.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
NOAAProvide operational forecasts and warningsContinuing
NASA NSF and DefenseSupport observations research and modelsContinuing
Homeland Security and infrastructure agenciesPlan mitigation and responseContinuing

What happened next

EO 13744 established roles.

The PROSWIFT Act became law.