Posted on 07/28/2009 9:56:15 PM PDT by ChocChipCookie
When the 9/11 Commission issued its report, it complained that federal agencies had a colossal "failure of imagination." Nobody could accuse Newt Gingrich of suffering from that shortfall.
When he delivered a major address on national security last week, the former House speaker went after Defense Secretary Robert Gates for planning for the future the Pentagon wants, rather than dealing with the many serious problems it may actually face. Gingrich mentioned one challenge that many find too terrible to contemplate--which is why our government should spend a lot more time doing exactly that.
I'm referring to the electromagnetic pulse (EMP). This method of attack is usually associated with a nuclear blast. In addition to thermal, radiation, heat and concussive force, an atomic detonation throws off an incredible amount of electromagnetic energy.
Picture a massive tsunami, but with lightning instead of water. And, like the surge produced by lightning, electrical systems act like antennas sucking down a rush of electrons that fry circuits and burn out microchips.
EMP is not normally addressed when talking about nuclear attack because most strikes are planned as low-air bursts where most of the energy, EMP included, goes straight into the ground (and flattens the target in between). In such scenarios, electrical systems would be disabled by EMP, though few would notice because most people would have been crushed or melted in the firestorm following the detonation.
A deliberate EMP attack, however, would be different. If, for example, an enemy detonated a nuclear weapon carried on a ballistic missile 200 miles or so above Earth, people on the ground might never know an attack occurred. But if the explosion happened high enough over North America, the blossom of EMP might cover the entire United States.
Last year, a congressional commission studied how a high-altitude EMP strike would affect the nation's infrastructure. The answer was simple: It would be devastating. The entire U.S. electrical grid might be gone and all the instruments of daily life that depend on electrical power useless. Life in the U.S., concluded the 9/11 Commission chair, scientist William Graham, "would be a lot like life in the 1800s," except with a significantly bigger population.
Just keeping modern-day America fed would be virtually impossible without working transportation or communications systems. Water-pumping and sewage-treatment plants would be offline. Modern medical care would be virtually nonexistent. Even if the rest of the world mustered the largest humanitarian mission in human history, the suffering would be unprecedented.
EMP attacks are often thought off of as attacks against the U.S. infrastructure. But the truth is a large-scale one would be an instrument of genocide.
Shockingly, some dismiss the threat out of hand. Michael Crowley, writing in The New Republic, dismissed the "Newt Bomb " as science fiction. That seems a real stretch, especially given the report handed to Congress.
The EMP problem isn't talked about much, yes, but not because responsible people think it's a sci-fi scenario. They don't talk about it because they are so overwhelmed by the challenges such an attack would pose.
Washington, D.C. is truly out to lunch on this one. Both the departments of Defense and Homeland Security place dealing with the threat of catastrophic attack high on their lists of what keeps them up at night. Yet, Homeland Security doesn't include an EMP as one of their disaster-planning scenarios.
As for the Pentagon, Gates just cut 10 percent of the missile-defense budget--the best weapons we have to prevent EMP attacks. Congress is equally in la-la land. Having commissioned the EMP report and accepted its findings, last week the Senate joined the House in rubber-stamping Gates' missile-defense cuts.
The idea that someone would attack the U.S. with jet airliners once seemed unthinkable. An EMP attack may today seem just as remote. But it's time to play it safe--and start figuring out how to deal with it.
That is what happens in the free ebook called “Lights out”
Excellent book. Download it here: http://www.giltweasel.com/stuff/LightsOut-Current.pdf
If it weren’t for the fact that my innocent little boy (and millions of other little kids like him) would suffer after such a catastrophe, I’d almost welcome the Big Zap. At least the gloves would finally come off, and we could deal with the issues head-on.
Added bonus: no more TV, pro sports, or recording industry!
Time to build Faraday cages at our power plants, water treatment and pumping plants, and various electrical hubs here, there and everywhere. Shield backup generators. Backup mainframes and computer farms. Shield Vehicle garages. Back up information and keep it safe! and test these systems. emulate EMP bursts, we could gain some weapon tech while we’re defending against such threats. Imagine the jobs such an undertaking would create! :)
“Tesla wept” ping
Your ebook is just the place to store all your survival information for what to do after an EMP attack.
what newt, (whom I USED TO have much respect for) does not mention up front is that the only way to make an EMP burst of the size needed is an H-Bomb in the upper atmosphere
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/High_altitude_nuclear_explosion
The power went out here tonight.. First thought.. Could it be an EMP? The laptop was still on so I was relieved. :) It’s been in the back of my mind for a year now.. scary stuff.
I just read that one and my son is finishing it.
It was a good and interesting read, but I believe the emp effects would be far more devastating than the book described.
I don’t know if we would be able to wander out to Kroger’s because the factories and transportation would be off line.
Yes. THe book isn’t perfect but it covers a ton of things people need to consider. Start looking now for a good pre-fuel-injection backup vehicle. All your SHTF plans are nothing if you don’t have a vehicle that works or can easily be made to work.
Not all vehicles will be down. Diesel and pre-fuel injection vehicles (1984 and earlier) have a MUCH better chance at working because they don’t have electronic chips controlling fuel intake to the engine, they have a mechanical carburator. Throttle Body Injection setups may have electronics that can fry but straight carbs won’t. Worst case maybe the starter or electronic ignition or distributor may need replacign but that is a hell of a lot easier than finding computer chip modules that will work - remember you won’t be able to get them transported to you.
It does, but we were cracking up because they were worried about not hunting until the start of hunting season and filling out all the docs for gun sales.
I remember an article in a science magazine a couple years ago that showed that for forty dollars worth of material you could make an EMP bomb that would take out a major city that had nothing to do with nuclear explosions. The radical ragheads could do that anytime they want. We are so very vulnerable. If they did EMP in conjunction with spreading crop destroying diseases as well as human biological agents they could quickly and substantially depopulate this country. We could become a third world power virtually overnight. Faster than you can say “Obama is a traitor” we could become more useless than Italy as a western power.
I think they were jsut illustrating that at that point in the story, they were still kind of assuming/hoping that the normal SOPs should be followed because they hadn’t figured out yet things wouldn’t be returning to normal for a looooong time. And they were law abiding people at heart so they were still concerned about stuff you wouldn’t be when the whole game changes drastically.
Forstchen gave an emp talk, carried on cspin a couple weeks ago, and mentioned a solar event that occurred in the 1850s. Telegraph wires melted and rail ties burst into flames.
What this country needs is a giant tin-foil hat.
bump for later read
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