He is talking about one of the conducted susceptibility tests in MIL-STD-461, the big fat hairy mil spec for all things EMI/EMC. Pulses, noise, and other gorp can be conducted into a piece of equipment by the power input cable, get through the power supply, show up on the output(s), and wreak havoc with circuit operations. There is no standard for the amount of attenuation needed. The standard describes the noise level injected into the power line, and the requirement is that the equipment operate through the test. So the amount of attenuation depends on the sensitivities of the internal equipment, circuits, etc.
To get a feel for the parts, start with datasheets from power line filter manufacturers. Most of them have schematics and the component values listed. Corcom, Schurter, Filter Concepts...