Free Republic

December 27, 2006: Iran continues to predict the imminent destruction of Israel, and promises to do what it can to help make that happen. Israel responds with dark threats of countermeasures that will prevent Iranian plans from working. Most people think that the most likely Israeli response is air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. But Israel has another weapon available, but one with serious side effects. Israel has a satellite launch capability that could put a nuclear weapon in low orbit (about 200 kilometers up). Once over Iran, the nuclear bomb could be detonated, and create an EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse),...

Amid growing concern in Moscow about the potential impact of a U.S. missile defense deployment in Europe, Russian strategists are retooling their country’s nuclear posture and warfighting strategy. "NATO is so close to the Russian borders nowadays that strategic bombers cannot hope to take off in case of a sudden attack (the order will take too long reaching them, and besides, they will have to be fuelled and outfitted first)," writes analyst Aleksei Vaschenko in the November 10th edition of Defense and Security. Likewise, although "[r]ailroad missile complexes posed a bona fide threat to the Americans," these systems have been...

Pyongyang Goes Ballistic Doing what works for the other evil ones. By Frank J. Gaffney Jr. At any moment, the North Korean regime of Kim Jong-Il — one of the most despotic and dangerous on the planet — will demonstrate that it has acquired the means to deliver nuclear weapons and other payloads over very long distances. It is likely that one of the intended targets for such weapons is the United States of America. At the very least, that is the message the launch of the so-called Taepodong 2 is intended to convey. Pyongyang wants to get our attention...

Karachi, 22 June (AKI) - (by Syed Saleem Shahzad) - The next terror threat facing the United States is not a nuclear or gas attack but an electro-magnetic bomb or e-bomb - which would shut down telecommunications networks, disrupt power supplies, and destroy countless computers and electronic gadgets, yet still leave buildings, bridges and roads intact. This is according to Khalid Khawaja, a former Pakistani intelligence officer who once worked closely with Osama bin Laden. "The e-bomb shall be the new threat for the USA, not the nukes or gas attacks," said Khawaja in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI)....

One national security expert calls it the mega-threat you haven't heard of. But America's enemies know all too well about the destructive potential of an electromagnetic pulse attack. In the hit film Ocean's Eleven, thieves used it to shut down the city of Las Vegas. In last summer's blockbuster, War of the Worlds, alien invaders used it to cripple the Earth's infrastructure. And the heroes of The Matrix used it to disable rampaging robots. It is an electromagnetic pulse bomb, also known as EMP. But EMP is not just another Hollywood special effect. A growing number of national security experts...

Concerns are rising about the threat of an EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse) attack, aimed at destroying our electronic guts. What if our computers and other electronics didn’t work? What if electronic records of your bank account were immobilized? What would happen to our technology-dependent transportation, financial, and production systems? America’s vulnerability to EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse) attack looms large in the minds of many. Public attention was focused on the topic by the release in 2005 of a government-sponsored study by the congressional Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack. The results were further publicized by...

Iran is not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure, effectively neutralizing the world's lone superpower, say U.S. intelligence sources, top scientists and western missile industry experts. The radical Shiite regime has conducted successful tests to determine if its Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can be detonated by a remote-control device while still in high-altitude flight. Scientists, including President Reagan's top science adviser, William R. Graham, say there is no other explanation for such tests than preparation for the deployment of electromagnetic pulse weapons –...

“If we [every man and woman living in America today] don’t understand the enemy we are fighting and the actual nature of this conflict, we have little likelihood of surviving this war, let alone prevailing in it,” he writes. But Gaffney and his contributors don’t just make sweeping if-then statements. They boil down the complexities of our enemy in a fashion that can be quickly and easily digested by all of us who need to know.

Now, I'm afraid I must move on to a very downbeat topic: EMP. You may not know what those letters mean, but you will eventually be bombarded with more doom and gloom articles about them than you want. If you were looking for an uplifting column this week, I recommend you stop right here and click into some nicer columns by my esteemed WND colleagues. EMP refers to Electro-Magnetic Pulse weaponry, high-yielding atomic bombs that are enhanced to exaggerate their circuitry-destroying effect and minimize their human-destroying effect (quite possibly to the point of zero casualties even with an urban target)....

Between the efforts by the partisans to find a way to blame the Bush administration for intelligence failures and the media efforts to rehabilitate the Clinton administration, the report fell through the cracks. It shouldn't have. Particularly when Iran is estimated to be only months away from being able to build nuclear weapons. In September 2000, Iran test-fired a new variant of its Shehab-3 missile. It exploded shortly after take-off in what was described in the Western media as a second 'failed missile test'. (An Iranian test conducted in 1998 also exploded shortly after takeoff.)

If Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda — or the dictators of North Korea or Iran — had the ability to destroy America as a superpower, would they be tempted to try? Wouldn't that temptation be even greater if that result could be achieved with a single attack, involving just one nuclear weapon, perhaps even one of modest power and relatively unsophisticated design? And, what if the attacker could be reasonably sure that the United States would not know who was responsible for such a devastating blow? Unfortunately, that scenario is not far fetched. It is the conclusion of a report issued...

“A terrorist’s dream; an American nightmare.” These words summarize the video presentation of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the United States in the dramatic, heart-chilling video on the new web site www.warfooting.com, sponsored by Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy. EMP attack is a subject about which far too many of us, unfortunately, know far too little.

“A terrorist’s dream; an American nightmare.” These words summarize the video presentation of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the United States in the dramatic, heart-chilling video on the new web site www.warfooting.com, sponsored by Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy. EMP attack is a subject about which far too many of us, unfortunately, know far too little. A blue-ribbon Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack, chaired by the esteemed scientist Dr. William R. Graham, includes a short but highly impressive list of top American scientists, engineers, and military specialists among its members....

WASHINGTON – The threat posed to the national security of the United States by Iran was likened only to the one posed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s, by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who suggested Tehran could be planning for a pre-emptive nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack on America that would turn a third or more of the country "back to a 19th century level of development." Gingrich made the stunning statements, which echo warning of other congressional leaders and national security experts, in testimony before a subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee last week.

Four persons arrested in Los Angeles are part of a Chinese intelligence-gathering ring, federal investigators said, and the suspects caused serious compromises for 15 years to major U.S. weapons systems, including submarines and warships. U.S. intelligence and security officials said the case remains under investigation but that it could prove to be among the most damaging spy cases since the 1985 one of John A. Walker Jr., who passed Navy communication codes to Moscow for 22 years. The Los Angeles spy ring has operated since 1990 and has funneled technology and military secrets to China in the form of documents...

The Mouse that Roared By William John Hagan July 20, 2005 (Houston Home Journal, Perry GA) On 9/11 the United States was completely unprepared for attack. The Bush administration has competently protected the nation from terrorist attack by using the often overreaching powers of the Department of Homeland Security. Today most Americans rightfully expect and fear a future attack from Islamic Terrorists that would rival the mass murder of 2001. However, in reality, the greatest threat faced today by the United States is an attack by the rogue nation of North Korea. For almost two decades, incompetent Secretaries of State...

Below are some excerpts of observations I have posted on other recent threads that I will continue to post when appropriate, because I believe that China’s military build-up may soon prove to be the most ominous threat we face ... Islamic terrorism notwithstanding. (Thank you for your continuing and untiring efforts -- represented by the preceding link -- to document the unparalleled China threat, Jeff Head.) An article by Bill Gertz in the Washington Times (6/26/05) stated flatly that ‘there's a growing consensus that at some point in the mid-to-late '90s, there was a fundamental shift in the sophistication, breadth...

A rock chip this isn't! How about a lightning bolt! It's what's left of a Salt Lake woman's windshield after lightning struck as she was driving down a highway. Lightning is the number one natural killer in Utah so she's lucky to be alive, and what a story she has. One minute she's driving down the highway, the next she's pulled over after lightning ripped through her car. If the chances of getting struck by lightning are slim, then getting hit two times should be near impossible. That means Aline Devaud of Millcreek shouldn't ever have to worry about it...

Joining Sen. John Kyl, who earlier warned of how an electromagnetic pulse attack threatens U.S. survival, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, chairman of the House Projection Forces Subcommittee, says an EMP attack – even by an underfunded, unsophisticated terrorist group – has the potential to cripple U.S. society and kill millions. "Today we are very much concerned ... about asymmetric weapons," Bartlett told his colleagues. "We are a big, powerful country. Nobody can contend with us shoulder-to-shoulder, face-to-face. So all of our potential adversaries are looking for what we refer to as asymmetric weapons. That is a weapon that overcomes our superior...

EMP: America’s Achilles’ Heel Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. President, Center for Security Policy Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., the founder and president of the Center for Security Policy, holds an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a B.S. from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. He acted in the Reagan administration as assistant secretary of defense for international security policy, following four years of service as deputy assistant secretary of defense for nuclear forces and arms control policy. Prior to that he was a professional staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chaired...

WASHINGTON -- Iran is not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure, effectively neutralizing the world's lone superpower, say U.S. intelligence sources, top scientists and western missile industry experts. The radical Shiite regime has conducted successful tests to determine if its Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can be detonated by a remote-control device while still in high-altitude flight. Scientists, including President Reagan's top science adviser, William R. Graham, say there is no other explanation for such tests than preparation for the deployment of electromagnetic pulse...

WASHINGTON – Former CIA chief James Woolsey affirms the work of a special commission investigating the threat of a nuclear-bomb generated electromagnetic pulse attack on the U.S. by rogue states or terrorists and is urging the country to take steps necessary to protect against the potentially devastating consequences. In testimony before the House International Terrorism and Non-Proliferation Subcommittee, chaired by Ed Royce, R-Calif., Woolsey, director of the CIA from 1993 through 1995, referred to the nuclear EMP threat, characterized in intelligence circles, he said, as "a SCUD in a bucket." "That is a simple ballistic missile from a stockpile somewhere...

WASHINGTON – In the latest evidence Iran is seriously planning an unconventional pre-emptive nuclear strike against the U.S., an Iranian military journal has publicly considered the idea of launching an electromagnetic pulse attack as the key to defeating the world's lone superpower. Congress was warned of Iran's plans last month by Peter Pry, a senior staffer with the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack in a hearing of Sen. John Kyl's subcommittee on terrorism, technology and homeland security. In an article titled, "Electronics to Determine Fate of Future Wars," the journal explains how...

WASHINGTON — Iran is not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America’s technical infrastructure, effectively neutralizing the world’s lone superpower, say U.S. intelligence sources, top scientists and western missile industry experts. The radical Shiite regime has conducted successful tests to determine if its Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can be detonated by a remote-control device while still in high-altitude flight. Scientists, including President Reagan’s top science adviser, William R. Graham, say there is no other explanation for such tests than preparation for the deployment of electromagnetic pulse...

WASHINGTON -- Iran is not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure, effectively neutralizing the world's lone superpower, say U.S. intelligence sources, top scientists and western missile industry experts. The radical Shiite regime has conducted successful tests to determine if its Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can be detonated by a remote-control device while still in high-altitude flight. Scientists, including President Reagan's top science adviser, William R. Graham, say there is no other explanation for such tests than preparation for the deployment of Electromagnetic Pulse...

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETINIran plans to knock outU.S. with 1 nuclear bombTests missiles for electro-magnetic pulse weapon that could destroy America's technical infrastructure Posted: April 25, 20051:00 a.m. Eastern Editor's note: Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin is an online, subscription intelligence news service from the creator of WorldNetDaily.com ?a journalist who has been developing sources around the world for almost 30 years. By Joseph Farah¨Ï 2005 WorldNetDaily.com WASHINGTON -- Iran is not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, it is already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America's technical infrastructure, effectively neutralizing the world's lone superpower, say U.S. intelligence sources, top...

Recently a Senate Judiciary subcommittee of which I am chairman held a hearing on a major threat to the American people, one that could come not only from terrorist organizations such as al Qaeda but from rogue nations such as Iran and North Korea. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the American homeland, said one of the distinguished scientists who testified at the hearing, is one of only a few ways that the United States could be defeated by its enemies -- terrorist or otherwise. And it is probably the easiest. A single Scud missile, carrying a single nuclear weapon,...

Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, which I chair, held a hearing on a major threat to the United States, not only from terrorists but from rogue nations like North Korea. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack over American soil, one of the expert witnesses at the hearing said, is one of only a few ways that America could be essentially defeated by our enemies, terrorist or otherwise. A single nuclear weapon, detonated at the right altitude, would produce an electromagnetic pulse that - depending on its location and size - would knock out...

Statements out of North Korea and Iran last week confront the United States and other freedom-loving nations with a frightening prospect: Two of the world's most dangerous regimes are determined to wield nuclear weapons. North Korea's claim already to have "nukes" came on the heels of an announcement by the Iranian mullahocracy that nothing will prevent it from realizing Iran's nuclear ambitions. Should we be worried? The short answer is absolutely. After all, these are two governments whose state policy is hatred for America. Nuclear weapons in the hands of megalomaniacal tyrannies who are animated by this hatred and who...

Although the risk of your house catching fire and burning to the ground is remote, are you willing to risk not having fire insurance? That's a question that Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) poses, and the answer that I think you and I would give without hesitation is "no." Our country is unprepared to deal with a nuclear explosion at a high altitude. The danger would be more than merely life or limb. A nuclear explosion over Chicago, for example, could plunge a large portion of our country into darkness, with electricity lost for days, even months, perhaps in some places...

August 16, 2004, 8:39 a.m. On the PulseGuarding against a terrorist-imposed blackout. By Jack Spencer Do you know that one missile, properly targeted, could degrade the electronic grid of the entire continental United States? Do you also know that even North Korea has weapons capable of doing this? Here's how it would work. Rather than target the warhead at land, enemies deliver their payloads from 25 to 300 miles above the Earth's surface. There, radiation from a nuclear explosion would interact with air molecules to produce high-energy electrons that speed across the earth's magnetic field as an instantaneous, invisible...

REVIEW & OUTLOOK Mother of All Blackouts August 12, 2004 Saturday marks the anniversary of the blackout that shut down much of the Northeast a year ago. Anyone who lived through that power outage remembers the annoyance of life without lights, air conditioning, TVs, computers and all the other electronic equipment on which a modern society depends. Now, imagine a blackout that lasts for months, or years. That was the job of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the U.S. from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. The commission, created in 2000 to examine the possibility of EMP attack and its...

... [I]magine a blackout that lasts for months, or years. That was the job of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the U.S. from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. The commission, created in 2000 to examine the possibility of EMP attack and its aftermath, just delivered a report to Congress. All we can say is, we hope someone in Washington is paying attention. An EMP attack occurs when an enemy sets off a nuclear explosion high in the Earth's atmosphere. The electromagnetic pulse generated by the blast destroys the electronics and satellites in its field of vision. For a detonation...

A hi-tech device that can bring speeding cars to a halt at the flick of a switch is set to become the latest weapon in the fight against crime. Police forces in Britain and the US have ordered tests of the new system that delivers a blast of radio waves powerful enough to knock out vital engine electronics, making the targeted vehicle stall and slowly come to a stop. David Giri, who left his position as a physics professor at the University of California in Berkeley to set up a company called ProTech, is developing a radio wave vehicle-stopping system...

Happy New Year's Eve to all at Free Republic!!! Make your predictions for 2004. Good Luck!!!

In the blink of an eye, electromagnetic bombs could throw civilization back 200 years. And terrorists can build them for $400. BY JIM WILSON Lead illustration by Edwin Herder The next Pearl Harbor will not announce itself with a searing flash of nuclear light or with the plaintive wails of those dying of Ebola or its genetically engineered twin. You will hear a sharp crack in the distance. By the time you mistakenly identify this sound as an innocent clap of thunder, the civilized world will have become unhinged. Fluorescent lights and television sets will glow eerily bright, despite being...

U.S. Department of State Washington, D.C. FACT SHEET -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer: Although the information in this circular is provided for general information, the Department of State is not the lead government agency on radiological or nuclear incidents and cannot make any warranty regarding the information. At present, there is no one government agency that has taken the lead responding to nuclear or radiological incidents. For additional information please consult http://www.usuhs.mil/cbw/fed_links.htm. As always, we will share with American citizens any information we receive regarding threats to their safety. This fact sheet provides guidance on what to do in the event of three...