Is U.S. Prepared for Electromagnetic Pulse Attack?

[lostinblue 1,989]

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1325670918001/is-us-prepared-for-electromagnetic-pulse-attack/

http://www.empcommission.org/index.php

The EMP Commission was established pursuant to title XIV of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106-398; 114 Stat. 1654A-345). Duties of the EMP Commission include assessing:

the nature and magnitude of potential high-altitude EMP threats to the United States from all potentially hostile states or non-state actors that have or could acquire nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles enabling them to perform a high-altitude EMP attack against the United States within the next 15 years;

the vulnerability of United States military and especially civilian systems to an EMP attack, giving special attention to vulnerability of the civilian infrastructure as a matter of emergency preparedness;

the capability of the United States to repair and recover from damage inflicted on United States military and civilian systems by an EMP attack; and

the feasibility and cost of hardening select military and civilian systems against EMP attack.

The Commission is charged with identifying any steps it believes should be taken by the United States to better protect its military and civilian systems from EMP attack.

Multiple reports and briefings associated with this effort have been produced by the EMP Commission including an Executive Report (PDF, 578KB) and a Critical National Infrastructures Report (PDF, 7MB) describing findings and recommendations.

The EMP Commission was reestablished via the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 to continue its efforts to monitor, investigate, make recommendations, and report to Congress on the evolving threat to the United States from electromagnetic pulse attack resulting from the detonation of a nuclear weapon or weapons at high altitude.

[Ban Hammer 13,403]

and people wonder why i don't have an electronic combination on my gun safe

[Susita 175]

I have my emergency bags ready. Astronaut food FTW!

[Obama 2012 1,714]

of course we aren't prepared. No one is.

Though it wouldn't surprise me if the new DHS HQ that's being built will have some pretty nifty defenses that will be somewhat able to survive that type of attack.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1325670918001/is-us-prepared-for-electromagnetic-pulse-attack/

http://www.empcommission.org/index.php

The EMP Commission was established pursuant to title XIV of the Floyd D. Spence National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001 (as enacted into law by Public Law 106-398; 114 Stat. 1654A-345). Duties of the EMP Commission include assessing:

the nature and magnitude of potential high-altitude EMP threats to the United States from all potentially hostile states or non-state actors that have or could acquire nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles enabling them to perform a high-altitude EMP attack against the United States within the next 15 years;

the vulnerability of United States military and especially civilian systems to an EMP attack, giving special attention to vulnerability of the civilian infrastructure as a matter of emergency preparedness;

the capability of the United States to repair and recover from damage inflicted on United States military and civilian systems by an EMP attack; and

the feasibility and cost of hardening select military and civilian systems against EMP attack.

The Commission is charged with identifying any steps it believes should be taken by the United States to better protect its military and civilian systems from EMP attack.

Multiple reports and briefings associated with this effort have been produced by the EMP Commission including an Executive Report (PDF, 578KB) and a Critical National Infrastructures Report (PDF, 7MB) describing findings and recommendations.

The EMP Commission was reestablished via the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 to continue its efforts to monitor, investigate, make recommendations, and report to Congress on the evolving threat to the United States from electromagnetic pulse attack resulting from the detonation of a nuclear weapon or weapons at high altitude

Quick, we need to spend a trillion dollars to prepare for that. Well, if Newt were elected President, that is. Which he won't be. See, a cool trillion dollars already saved right on election day by simply not letting that nutjob move into 1600 Penn Ave.

[N M 96]

If this means my TV goes down, I'm going to be pissed.

[SMR 368]

of course we aren't prepared. No one is.

Though it wouldn't surprise me if the new DHS HQ that's being built will have some pretty nifty defenses that will be somewhat able to survive that type of attack.

3 foot lead walls should take care of it. That being said, if you can EMP, why don't you just nuke? It seems simpler and more effective.

[slim 1,530]

Start learning to tell time by the sun and navigate by the stars.

It's coming.

[Susita 175]

Start learning to tell time by the sun and navigate by the stars.

It's coming.

Start stocking up on astronaut food & bottled water.

[Ban Hammer 13,403]

3 foot lead walls should take care of it. That being said, if you can EMP, why don't you just nuke? It seems simpler and more effective.

because a nuke at high altitude could affect the entire north american continent, whereas a ground or low airburst wouldn't.

In July 1962, a 1.44 megaton (6.0 PJ) United States nuclear test in space, 400 kilometres (250 mi) above the mid-Pacific Ocean, called the Starfish Prime test, demonstrated to nuclear scientists that the magnitude and effects of a high altitude nuclear explosion were much larger than had been previously calculated. Starfish Prime also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 1,445 kilometres (898 mi) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link.[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse

[lostinblue 1,989]

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security chaired by Kyl, held a hearing on the Electromagnetic Pulse, or EMP, threat.

"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," wrote Kyl "And it is probably the easiest. A single Scud missile, carrying a single nuclear weapon, detonated at the appropriate altitude, would interact with the Earth's atmosphere, producing an electromagnetic pulse radiating down to the surface at the speed of light. Depending on the location and size of the blast, the effect would be to knock out already stressed power grids and other electrical systems across much or even all of the continental United States, for months if not years."

The purpose of an EMP attack, unlike a nuclear attack on land, is not to kill people, but "to kill electrons," as Graham explained. He serves as chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack and was director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and science adviser to the president during the Reagan administration

"Few if any people would die right away. But the loss of power would have a cascading effect on all aspects of U.S. society. Communication would be largely impossible. Lack of refrigeration would leave food rotting in warehouses, exacerbated by a lack of transportation as those vehicles still working simply ran out of gas (which is pumped with electricity). The inability to sanitize and distribute water would quickly threaten public health, not to mention the safety of anyone in the path of the inevitable fires, which would rage unchecked. And as we have seen in areas of natural and other disasters, such circumstances often result in a fairly rapid breakdown of social order."

"American society has grown so dependent on computer and other electrical systems that we have created our own Achilles' heel of vulnerability, ironically much greater than those of other, less developed nations," the senator wrote. "When deprived of power, we are in many ways helpless, as the New York City blackout made clear. In that case, power was restored quickly because adjacent areas could provide help. But a large-scale burnout caused by a broad EMP attack would create a much more difficult situation. Not only would there be nobody nearby to help, it could take years to replace destroyed equipment."

The commission said hardening key infrastructure systems and procuring vital backup equipment such as transformers is both feasible and – compared with the threat – relatively inexpensive.

"But it will take leadership by the Department of Homeland Security, the Defense Department, and other federal agencies, along with support from Congress, all of which have yet to materialize," wrote Kyl, so far the only elected official blowing the whistle this alarming development.

[SMR 368]

because a nuke at high altitude could affect the entire north american continent, whereas a ground or low airburst wouldn't.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse

Wow, that's pretty impressive.

[slim 1,530]

EMP is bad news.

And the Chinese have been working on a great first strike device for a long, long, loooong time now.

[MyLittlePony 340]

No more internet and WI-FI access back to the can and and string age.

[Captain Oates 911]

People in South Carolina are not allowed to know about sex toys