President Trump recently announced $500 billion The value of investment in a new data center known as Stargate Deal. However, unless the federal government works to enhance protections in data centers from critical threats, this investment could prove useless.
New technologies such as AI, which require vast computing power, are driving demand for new data centers. Stargate transactions reflect that demand and secure non-federal funding 20 new data centers in Texas Powering AI technology.
Such data centers are essential to the international economy and the security of our country. This means that data center operators are important to prepare them to deal with adverse events.
That doesn't mean that data center operators are not prepared for contingencies yet. However, if security failures can have such dramatic consequences for the country and the world, it is worth taking every step possible to prevent those obstacles.
The threats facing data centers include both malignant cyber activity and traditional athletic attacks on infrastructure. However, data centers are also vulnerable to geomagnetic disturbance events and electromagnetic pulse attacks.
Natural geomagnetic interference events are unintended, uncontrollable emissions of charged materials from the sun. In contrast, electromagnetic pulsed attacks are intentional attacks via specialized traditional ammunition, high-altitude nuclear explosions, or directional beams from nuclear-free energy devices.
Without security, one of these events will shut down and wipe out all electronics, power systems and information systems in that path.
Currently, there are over 5,000 data centers in the US, with national communications and information management estimate Demand for these centres will increase by 9% each year until 2030. This forecast will allow the US to acquire more than 9,000 data centers by 2030. All of these are vulnerable to geomagnetic disturbances and electromagnetic pulse attacks.
To protect these data centers, Congress should consider impose statutory security requirements on the National Defense Authorization Act during its annual review.
In 2024, Congress added it Federal Data Center Enhancement Act To that Ndaa. The law directed the General Services Agency to establish minimum requirements for new data centers, including mandatory protection against power failures, physical intrusions, natural disasters and information security invasions.
The Act also allows administrators to impose “other requirements” that they deem appropriate. However, this does not provide any assurance that administrators will need protection against such events.
By amending the text of this law to include “protection against electromagnetic pulse attacks and geomagnetic disturbances and certain hardening standards,” Congress can ensure that all new data centers have the necessary protections.
A more difficult and more expensive sale is to persuade Congress to remodel existing data centers to protect against such attacks. However, given the relevant national security concerns, Congress should seriously consider providing funding for these protections.
Electromagnetic pulse events pose existential threats to the critical U.S. infrastructure, according to a Congressional report compiled from 2001 to 2020. 2020Congress directed the Department of Homeland Security to develop technologies to increase resilience and protect critical infrastructure from such attacks. At the same time, he instructed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate response and recovery plans for such attacks.
2022 ReportHomeland Security has determined exactly which data centers and other critical infrastructures need to be protected.
But despite all this research, Congress has so far failed to act decisively to protect American data centers. The number of existing data centers curing against electromagnetic pulses and geomagnetic events is unknown, but the reports show that most are not the case.
2025 National Defense Authorization Act It contained several provisions related to advances in new technology, but could not mention data centers.
Congress excels at investigating, compiling and editing reports in fact-finding and delegating federal agencies. It's time for Congress to use that information and use the 2026 Defense Authorization Bill to protect American data centers.
Annie Chestnut Tutor is a policy analyst at the Tech Policy Center at the Heritage Foundation. Wilson Bieber is a policy advisor for the Heritage Defense Budget.
