Posted on 04/03/2017 5:48:24 AM PDT by Helicondelta
This is supposed to scare us into pouring more money into defense, while the Leftist judges make it possible for Muslim terrorists to pour into the US. Which is the greater threat?
It’s also a city in Saline County, Missouri. Well, it could be if you dropped the extra “l” at the end. Blame Chief Justice John Marshall for having too many els.
We need to reconstitute the effort to harden our weapons and infrastructure systems.
Is there an EMP threat that America is not prepared for?
Yes.
Should we worry about NK orchestrating more than a single point attack?
No.
Consider if Kim launches a nuke that does detonate somewhere near US forces or Japan. Even if the actual damage from the blast is relatively light, the fallout could pose a significant threat especially to densely populated Japan. A nuclear attack on Hawaii or the US mainland even if it is a miss must especially for be met with a swift retaliatory tactical nuclear attack on North Korea military forces forces or its leadership. There would be no need for nuking North Korean cities, but again to have any deterrence for other nuclear armed rogue states the US response must be almost immediate and convincingly massive.
I’m prepared, (as much as I can be).
If the sun doesn’t spit up on us and destroys our grid or N Korea doesn’t get froggy, I have extra food and “other stuff”. No biggie. If it does my family has a leg up. You people who like to live on the edge? Well, your F*****. Congratulations. You weren’t one of those prepper tools all those years......
Is that you, Chester?
You have to be an old goat to get that one.
Fear-mongering claptrap. North Korea can’t deliver a pizza, much less an atomic weapon.
The only EMP source powerful enough to disable our electrical grid and fry all our electronics in one event is the sun. It is possible that the Russians or Chinese could do it with multiple-strike, coordinated attack but they also know that payback would be hell.
Ever heard of a Korean barbeque?
As long as they start with the left coast I’m good with that
“Hardening of the electric grid should be a priority for the defense of the United States. It is one of our most clear vulnerabilities.”
Those that make light of this issue are, IMHO, suffering from “normalcy bias” and simply do not wish to seriously analyze this issue.
I agree that this would not be hard to harden against - every report I’ve seen about this indicates that it would cost from $10 billion - $20 billion. Well, let’s assume the higher number, and then be off by a factor of 2 - so $40 billion. There are about 150 million households, so if each one pays an extra $2/month surcharge, that’s $3.6 billion/year. Add to that businesses, of which there are at least 10 million, and which could easily pay an average of $100/month extra surcharge. There’s another $12 billion/year. Now we are up to about $15.5 bullion/year - so we have a maximum payoff of 3 years. Then the surcharge goes away. As part of the bargain, inefficient parts of the grid get updated, and lot of the equipment-destroying spikes go away. It would probably, over a 10-year period of time (if not sooner) pay for itself in electrical and equipment replacement savings. Largely ending our vulnerability to Nork and/or Iranian EMP threats is of great value, though assigning a dollar amount to that value is clearly impossible.
Who would have thought that the USA would ever come under attack from airplanes flying into buildings? Take it as you may, but a retired CPO EOD instructor who specializes in WMD’s at the Navy School at Niceville Florida told us that foreign initiated EMP is a real threat to the USA.
Regardless, the grid should be hardened.
That canned food you’re giving to the food bank, which is a nice gesture, would be better than nothing if the need ever arose. Expiration dates mean next to nothing for cans that are in good condition and stored in a climate controlled environment.
Project Starfish Prime proved there was such a thing as a nuclear induced EMP and the mechanics of it. However, knowing the factors has allowed the power companies to install the surge traps years ago. An EMP like the book “One Second After” (that I own) would be pretty much impossible even with US nuclear technology. Wires and electronic component leads are the “antennas” to pick up the EMP energy. Short leads for your HDTV circuit board are not big enough, for example.
“My understanding is that “a small nuclear warhead” ain’t good enough.”
My understanding as well... It would take a thermonuclear one, and a big one. Anything less would be regional.
I don’t disagree with many of your assessments, but a few points about potential conflict with N. Korea. Most of the Nork military could be dismantled by air power as we would enjoy complete air superiority because it is very unlikely that China would intervene as they did in the 50’s.
I question their ability to effectively strike our nation with nuclear weapons, but I also question our inability to take threats seriously from the Norks, Iran, and other dangerous regimes when they repeatedly tell us over and over what they will do.
Their “dear leader” appears to be quite irrational and given a desperate situation I would not put anything past him. He does not appear to take advice from anyone nor does he appear to care about his own people. Past administrations have kicked the can on this problem and the current missile and nuclear tests do change the equation.
Trump seems to understand the most effective way to deal with N. Korea - pressure China. China does not have the relationship or history with the current ding dong that they did previously so this might be much more effective.
Outside of that, I certainly have no stomach or desire to see another full-blown conflict on the Korean peninsula. We spilled enough blood there.
Since their Rockets like to blow up when they are launched, they can just hang a Nuclear Bomb under a Helium Balloon and detonate it when it reaches the West Coast.
Just a new version of the Japanese WWII idea.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.