After years of shrugs over concerns about the potential calamity an attack on the nation’s electric grid would cause, government and business leaders are joining to map a path to protect and maintain the system that powers everything from cellular phones to nuclear missile bases.

At a potentially game-changing three-day summit, government and business leaders gathered just outside Washington’s I-495 beltway this week to come up with quick fixes to protect the grid and address the larger issue of the impact a long shutdown would have.