Posted on 12/02/2010 5:57:26 AM PST by scottfactor
Perhaps the most serious and terrifying threat against our nation and the world is a danger about which most Americans likely know little or nothing. That threat is of an electromagnetic pulse—or EMP—attack. The Heritage Foundation has released a bone-chilling report which analyzes in detail what an EMP attack is and the horrific effects it would have on our country, and it gives important recommendations for guarding our nation from such an attack.
This report is one you should read, and it ought to be required reading for our government and military leaders and all those who run our critical infrastructure systems.
The report, titled, “EMP Attacks—What the U.S. Must Do Now,” was written by Dr. James Carafano and Dr. Richard Weitz, and it begins with this heart-stopping paragraph,
“An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack represents one of the greatest threats imaginable—to the United States and the world. An EMP occurs when a nuclear device is detonated high in the atmosphere—a phenomenon of which America’s enemies are well aware. The electromagnetic discharge can permanently disable the electrical systems that run nearly all civilian and military infrastructures. A massive EMP attack on the United States would produce almost unimaginable devastation. Communications would collapse, transportation would halt, and electrical power would simply be non-existent. Not even a global humanitarian effort would be enough to keep hundreds of millions of Americans from death by starvation, exposure, or lack of medicine. Nor would the catastrophe stop at U.S. borders. Most of Canada would be devastated, too, as its infrastructure is integrated with the U.S. power grid. Without the American economic engine, the world economy would quickly collapse. Much of the world’s intellectual brain power (half of it is in the United States) would be lost as well. Earth would most likely recede into the ‘new’ Dark Ages.”
This information is indeed unimaginable to most of us in our time, but for the past ten years our government has been studying this threat. The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack, headed by Dr. William R. Graham has determined that,
“…an EMP attack will put an end to the functioning of the U.S. electrical infrastructure and much of the hardware that runs everyday life.”
The Heritage report cites several previous disasters that have been studied to determine possible results of an EMP attack. A critical effect of an EMP attack would be the loss of electricity on a massive scale. The 1977 blackout of New York is featured,
“A good model for this potential disorder is the New York City blackout of 1977. On July 13, 1977, two lighting strikes caused overloading in the electric power substations of the Con Edison power company. …As a result, a power failure spread throughout the New York area.[12] This blackout lasted only one day, yet resulted in widespread looting and the breakdown of the rule of law throughout many New York neighborhoods. The estimated cost of the blackout was approximately $346 million, and nearly 3,000 people were arrested through the 26-hour period.[13]
The blackout in New York City resulted in an immediate breakdown of the social order. The police were outmatched and had no chance of stopping such massive theft, largely having no choice but to stand by watching the looters from a distance. In North Brooklyn, a community of more than a million residents, only 189 police officers were on duty.[14] The New York Police Department was completely overwhelmed in its efforts to preserve order. The social order degenerated so quickly that Time magazine called it a ‘Night of Terror.’[15]”
Imagine power loss on a much larger scale. To say it would be chaos is likely an understatement. The report goes on to detail that besides loss of electricity would be a breakdown of communication and transportation infrastructures. Your “smart phone” will be quite dumb at that point, and there will be no hopping in your car to run to the supermarket. Food delivery systems would be gravely affected, and there would be enormous spoilage of fresh food without refrigeration. Many people would die in short order due to lack of electricity—those who rely on oxygen machines, dialysis, or other life supporting treatment requiring electricity. Violence would ensue and would cause further death and destruction. It would make the Mad Max pictures look like a walk in the park.
The banking and financial sector would be crippled. The report states,
“The vast amounts of electronic and telecommunications systems supporting the financial industry have never been hardened against an EMP attack despite physical attacks posing one of the largest threats to operations. If these systems were damaged, consumers would be forced to operate a cash economy, or, since cash withdrawals would be impossible without financial records, a barter economy.”
I would think having cash would be one of the least of our worries in that event.
Breakdown of the transportation sector would literally be deadly. We are completely dependent on transportation to deliver food, fuel and other products. In the wake of an EMP attack,
“The effects of EMP will immediately disable a portion of the 130 million cars and some 90 million trucks. Since millions of vehicles are on the road at any given time, there will be accidents and congestion that will impede movement, particularly in large metropolitan areas. Stoplights and train crossing signals will shut down or malfunction. The longer-term effects on the automobile and trucking infrastructure will hinge on the ability to obtain fuel and the recovery of commercial power. Police may be needed to replace automated traffic controls at the same time that they are critically needed for other emergency services.[22]”
The railway system greatly depends on electricity, and we rely on trains to deliver vital goods to us all. And, although not crucial for the nation’s survival, the aviation industry would be destroyed by an EMP attack, as well.
In many ways we are helpless in this country. With very few exceptions, we do not grow our own food, dig our own water wells, grow cotton and make our own clothes, or cut trees and build our own homes from them. All these things are left to others who do them, and we simply buy the end result of their labors. In the blink of an eye, our lives as we have always known them could be utterly blown away. We are not prepared for such an event.
The bottom-line recommendations of the Heritage report focus on prevention, planning and protecting our vital infrastructures. Preventing the threat of an EMP attack includes a robust missile defense system. Not to change the subject here, but this is a rotten time for the communist enemies within our White House and Congress to try to push through the insane Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). As another Heritage Foundation report points out,
“Of the major nuclear arms control treaties between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and later the Russian Federation, none has been voted on in the U.S. Senate during a “lame duck” session. It is unprecedented for the U.S. Senate to vote on a treaty of this importance and magnitude during a lame duck session of Congress.”
Regardless, the Heritage EMP report advises swift action now to prevent the threat of EMP attacks. We must provide resilience of the U.S.-Canadian electrical grid to harden it against EMP. It is critical that we do this now, because, for one thing,
“The equipment used in the transmission grid is costly, specially produced, and has to be ordered from overseas before replacement in the U.S.”
We don’t even make our own parts anymore!
We must plan for the unthinkable and organize disaster plans on the federal, state, local and private sector levels. We must protect our capacity to communicate, as well. The time to do all these things was actually yesterday, but since yesterday is gone, the time to prepare and prevent an EMP attack is now!
My point in reporting this information to you is not to cause you fear or distress. I want us not to despair, but to prepare. Be armed with knowledge, and make your own disaster plan. You may consider stockpiling food, water, guns, ammunition and other supplies as best as you’re able. This is not always easy, since many of us don’t have the space or money to be able to stockpile very much. Plus, we have no way of knowing how much we would need and for how long.
Regardless, we know that this world is a dangerous and deadly place and always will be. The only source of true, eternal “safety” is in God through Jesus Christ. In the event of something like an EMP attack, the Lord is more than able to give us what we need and even to keep us alive against all odds, but even if we do perish, those of us who cling to Him know we’ll be A-OK in the very end
read the book “One Second After”
How did we ever get over the thousands of nuclear explosions, many hundred of which were high altitude, from the late 40s until the 80s?! EMP is overhyped, unless it bursts overhead;)
If you want a good book to read on the matter, read “One Second After”. It’s fiction. The author did get the science right, though as he had the author of the US Army’s manual on EMP Effects assist him; apparently they know each other. He tells a rather plausible tale of what would happen in the US after the fact. It’s an enjoyable action yarn, to boot.
blogpimp sniff....
Those tests were conducted under or near ground level. Historically, nuclear weapons have been used to inflict physical damage, and designed and tested for that. Setting one off at high altitute wouldn't give you much in the way of useful data to asses it's shock wave potential.
“Regardless, the Heritage EMP report advises swift action now to prevent the threat of EMP attacks.”
We currently prevent EMP attacks by assuring the nuclear destruction of any country that launches one against us.
Wouldn’t a massive solar flare while the magnetosphere was weak (say during a polar shift) do pretty much the same thing?
Yes.
An EMP attack will have us partying like it was 1899!!!
(Over-hyped)
As someone who has actually touched special weapons as a nuclear materials courier for NNSA/OST there have been LOTS of exploded nukes at high altitude.
Research Operations Hardtack, Argus, and Dominic(sp), and all the Soviet tests at Kapustin Yar or Novaya Zemlya (sp).
In and of itself, EMP may be a 500 lb. gorilla, but do you really think this administration would let a crisis like that go to waste?
Also, the ability for most communities to pump water. This would create a crisis of immense proportions almost immediately. Shutting done the power gird is akin to shutting down the heart. It will matter little how healthy the rest of the body is at the time of the shutdown--the collective devastating impacts would quickly multiply and spread throughout society. Virtually all the dominoes would fall.
And the 1,000 or so main transformers that form the power grid? We have no replacements sitting in a warehouse, we no longer manufacture them domestically,and they take considerable time to manufacture.
The science is well-proven. Paradoxically, our evolution from robust and primitive vacuum tubes to microelectronic circuitry has made us orders of magnitude MORE susceptible to complete devastation via EMP than we were even 20 or 30 years ago.
I did! I now never leave the house without my backpack of essentials and good walking boots in the trunk. Scared straight I guess.
And who do you nuke if a container ship with a Liberian flag lights one off 50 miles off the NJ shore and air bursts it over south Jersey taking out the Northeast corridor?
So repair or replace the broken stuff. But first, use the neutron bomb on the rag head country that did it and use their oil to pay for it all.
Hardtack I&II, Argus, and most of Dominic I&II were conducted far out to sea, and EMP wasn’t the focus of the test. The landbound tests in Nevada were small.
(H)EMP will be a much bigger problem than most people want to admit, if someone decides to hit us. The actual damage done will be very hard to fix in a timely manner. Taking out the power grid of much or all of the US would pretty much slide us into 2nd or 3rd world status in a very short amount of time.
As far as this nuclear attack I pray to God it doesn't happen, those NYers would fan out across the country. (Just kidding ya’ll)
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