Posted on 09/25/2011 1:30:34 PM PDT by IbJensen
Most Americans do not know this, but a single EMP attack could potentially wipe out most of the electronics in the United States and instantly send this nation back to the 1800s.
If a nuclear bomb was exploded high enough in the atmosphere over the middle part of the country, the electromagnetic pulse would fry electronic devices from coast to coast. The damage would be millions of times worse than 9/11. Just imagine a world where nobody has power, most cars will not start, the Internet has been fried, the financial system is offline indefinitely, nobody can make any phone calls and virtually all commerce across the entire country is brought to a complete stop. » If you like this article, please subscribe to our daily newsletter
Life-After-An-EMP-Attack-No-Power-No-Food-No-Transportation-No-Banking-And-No-Internet-250x150A nation that does not know how to live without technology would be almost entirely stripped of it at that point. Yes, this could really happen. An EMP attack is America's "Achilles heel", and everyone around the world knows it. It is only a matter of time before someone uses an EMP weapon against us, and at this point we are pretty much completely unprepared.
The sad thing is that we are spending hundreds of billions of dollars hunting down "terrorists" in caves on the other side of the globe and we have been told that because of "national security" it is necessary for our private areas to be touched before we are allowed to get on an airplane, but our government is doing essentially nothing to address what is perhaps our biggest security vulnerability.
What would you and your neighbors do if the power went out and it did not ever come back on? What would you do if an EMP attack happened in the middle of the winter and you suddenly were not able to heat your home any longer? What would you do if all the electronics in your car got fried and you simply could not drive anywhere? What would you do if all the supermarkets in your area shut down because food could not be transported across the country anymore? What would you do if you were suddenly unable to call your family and friends for help? What would you do if you were suddenly unable to get the medicine that you needed? What would you do if your debit cards and credit cards simply did not work any longer and you could not get any of your money out of the bank? What would you do if all of these things happened all at once?
A single EMP attack would be the worst disaster that the United States has ever seen by far. An electromagnetic pulse could potentially fry the vast majority of all the microchips in the United States. In an instant, nearly all of our electronic devices would be rendered useless.
Yes, the federal government knows all about this. The following excerpt is from an April 2008 report by the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack....
The consequences of lack of food, heat (or air conditioning), water, waste disposal, medical, police, fire fighting support, and effective civil authority would threaten society itself.
Most of us have become completely and totally dependent on electricity and technology. Without it, most of us would be in huge trouble.
The following is how an article in the Wall Street Journal described the potential consequences of an EMP attack....
No American would necessarily die in the initial attack, but what comes next is potentially catastrophic. The pulse would wipe out most electronics and telecommunications, including the power grid. Millions could die for want of modern medical care or even of starvation since farmers wouldn't be able to harvest crops and distributors wouldn't be able to get food to supermarkets. Commissioner Lowell Wood calls EMP attack a "giant continental time machine" that would move us back more than a century in technology to the late 1800s.
It wouldn't be so bad if we had the knowledge and the infrastructure to live the way that they did back in the 1800s, but today that is simply not the case.
Dr. William Graham was Ronald Reagans science adviser and the chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. Dr. Graham believes that in the event of a large scale EMP attack, the vast majority of Americans would either freeze, starve or die from disease.
Food Storage SystemAccording to Graham, in the aftermath of an EMP attack life in America "would probably be something that you might imagine life to be like around the late 1800s but with several times the population we had in those days, and without the ability of the country to support and sustain all those people."
Would you be able to survive?
All of those big bank accounts may never be able to be recovered after an EMP attack. Your money might be instantly fried out of existence.
The following is what Graham believes would happen to the financial system in the event of an EMP attack....
Most financial records are stored electronically. ATMs, which depend upon both power and telecommunications, would not be available; banks, which try to back up records but in general arent strongly aware of the EMP problem, would face the problem of unprotected storage and computer systems
This is the danger of having a financial system that is so dependent on technology. We may wake up one day and find that all the money is gone.
But if an EMP attack actually happened, the biggest concern for most of us would be trying to figure out how to survive.
The president of the Center for Security Policy, Frank Gaffney, is convinced that a single EMP attack could result in the deaths of the vast majority of the population of the United States....
"Within a year of that attack, nine out of 10 Americans would be dead, because we can't support a population of the present size in urban centers and the like without electricity"
Are you starting to get a feel for the scope of the problem?
The sad thing is that so much could be done to protect this country from an EMP attack.
Right now, most vital U.S. military infrastructure has at least some protection from an EMP attack.
But the general population has been left completely and totally vulnerable.
It has been estimated that the entire power grid could potentially be protected for about 20 billion dollars. Considering the fact that we have spent over 400 billion dollars in Afghanistan, I think that we could afford it.
We have spent our national security dollars very, very badly and someday it is going to come back to bite us in the rear end.
Right now, other nations around the world are working feverishly to develop EMP weapons. The following is from a statement by Dr. Peter Vincent Pry to the United States Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security on March 8th, 2005....
Russian and Chinese military scientists in open source writings describe the basic principles of nuclear weapons designed specifically to generate an enhanced-EMP effect, that they term "Super-EMP" weapons. "Super-EMP" weapons, according to these foreign open source writings, can destroy even the best protected U.S. military and civilian electronic systems.
But it is not just Russia and China that have been developing "Super-EMP" weapons. According to Newsmax, it is believed that North Korea may have tested a "Super-EMP" weapon back in 2009....
North Koreas last round of tests, conducted in May 2009, appear to have included a super-EMP weapon, capable of emitting enough gamma rays to disable the electric power grid across most of the lower 48 states
Remember, all it would take is one strategically placed EMP attack to wipe out this nation.
But an EMP weapon is not the only danger that can produce this type of effect. The truth is that a really bad geomagnetic storm could also potentially produce almost as much damage.
This is something that everyone knows is one of our biggest vulnerabilities and it is something that we can make preparations for.
Yet the Bush administration and the Obama administration have just stood there and have done nothing.
Our idiocy is astounding.
General Eugene Habiger, the former head of U. S. Strategic Command, has said the following about the possibility of an EMP attack in the future....
It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when.
Remember, this is something that could cause millions times more damage than 9/11 did.
Instead of molesting old ladies at airports and chasing goat herders around the mountains of Afghanistan, perhaps we should be addressing our largest security vulnerabilities.
But that would require using some common sense. Sadly, common sense seems to be in very short supply in Washington D.C. these days.
So if the government is not going to do anything about it, that means that it is up to you to prepare yourself and your family. This world is becoming very unstable and disasters can strike at any time.
We all saw what happened after Hurricane Katrina. The government response was a nightmare. An EMP attack would be millions of times worse and the federal government probably would not even be able to get you and your family any assistance.
You would truly be on your own.
So are you ready?
This is yet another reason why the number of preppers in the United States is exploding. A lot of people can see how the world is changing and they understand that the federal government is not going to come through for them when the chips are down.
An EMP attack could end life as we know it at any time.
It is a glaring security vulnerability and the entire world knows that it is there.
I hope that you are getting ready, because the government certainly is not.
See End of the American Dream Website
We’re talking about the apocalyptic nationwide EMP attack that surfaces on FR few months. The nuke is the smallest EMP generator for that attack.
“One Second After” is a very good book. In my opinion “One Second After” is a “wake-up” book, well written, short and to the point. In the same vein is also a book called “Lights out” which i found to be much more engaging (though some providential cirsumstances are unrealistic), but was written more as an enthralling story that teachs about circumstances you may not have thought of. It is also free on the internet, or was for a long time. Also of interest is “Patriots” although it is very dry and essentially a survival manual with stroy thrown in afterwards. In my humble opinion, in order of best to worst would be “Light out,” then “One Second After” and finally “Patriots.”
I only mention this, because I think there is a lot more information listed in “Lights Out,” and I liked the overall story better, and it is (or was) free, so you could hypothetically start reading it at any point you chose. Reading “One Second After” gives a clear picture of what the situation will be like, but does not talk about preparations, tactics and ideas like “Lights Out.” And “Lights Out” gives a lot of useful instruction, simple training, etc. that is not found in “One Second After.” I think it’s important tor ead both to get a clear picture of the situation and how to navigate it, but if someone could only read one, I think “Lights Out,” might be the most helpful. YMMV.
If China, Russia, and the Norks (and let's face it, that means Iran) are working on enhanced-EMP nukes which can take out even hardened military systems...My understanding is that the $20 billion would be spent to buy replacement parts that would be destroyed if they were attached to the power lines when an EMP attack occurred (things like transformers, etc.). These heavy-duty devices would survive an EMP attack just fine if they're isolated from the power grid. Then, they would install these spare parts.What the hell good is the $20 billion on civilian infrastructure going to do?
Note that even in this case, we're probably talking about months to get everything replaced (imagine having to swap out every transformer on every power pole in the country). But if we don't have the spare parts available, we won't be in a position to manufacture any more after an EMP attack.
I read it a while back, and I was less than impressed. But last week, when we (thankyouJesus) had some rain and thunderstorms, the power went off.
So I walked across the street to commiserate with the neighbor (single, opposite gender, has wine). She's asking WTF? we get a little blow and TXU craps out?
Next door, the neighbor tries to start her car. Crank, crank, crank... I look. It's a newer mini-SUV. Now I'm planning.
Turns out that the SUV is a Chrysler POS and hasn't run right from the beginning.
But for 5 seconds, I was puckered up.
/johnny
I don’t understand how an EMP attack could prevent us from generating electricity.
I can understand how it would immediately shut down everything, including all power grids, and even fry circuit boards... but how does it prevent me from firing up my generator after the attack?
It isnt a good book, but it is scary enough to make a person think.
Good luck finding a generator that doesn’t have an integrated circuit and/or microprocessor.
Haha, good stuff. There are also videos I’ve seen for making simple, no electricity solar heaters and food dehydrators. I personally live in a small community of highly prepared people (Northern Utah/Idaho border), where the norm is to keep a one year supply of food, so I’m not worried about society necessarilly breaking down in this area, but it’s always good to keep a proper perspective.
I have horrific nightmare-ish visions of what will happen in the cities. Not just the violence, or roving gangs, but the cesspools of disease they will become. Image when the water turns off, what will the average person with their garbage? What of their wastes? They will continue to act as though the garbage men will come along and take their piled up garbage heaps, and once the diseases and pests spread who’s going to dig the hole for them to eliminate in. Many may just throw it out into the street, etc. And that is to say nothing of the other issues (as I mentioned, violence, gangs, etc.) that will run rampant. When people let out their dogs they cannot feed, there will be feral packs of wolves roving the streets. What a nightmare!
I will never, ever live in an urban area again, not as long as I have any choice in the matter.
Could occur in the nation's financial capitol. And doesn't require a nuke. Or it could occur other places.
Have you considered what happens when the welfare checks and debit cards don't work? Or SS checks don't get deposited?
Geriatics and Amish raiding Wal-Mart.
I shudder at the thought.
But I do have recipes for both.
/johnny
Yeah, but our sub launched rockets would counter attack any nation who tries a stunt like this—we might just hit any nation who MIGHT have attacked us with a similar weapon. Because its so new it might not be as complete as we think—it might only wreck some places but not all. Under this attack we might strike any and all who might even have been behind it—Like Iran, North Korea, China, etc... With the USA not buying oil and stuff the would would be plunged into a world wide depression—what if the USA starts to re-build and re-arm under a command system—like Fascism? What if we some being Mr. Nice Guy and start an Imperialist World Rule with a New America in total control? Then who wins?
“EMP DOES NOT destroy all things electrical and electronic”
It will destroy enough, and “enough” is all it takes. The panic afterward alone will be something like this World has never seen. You think 9/11 cause chaos, wait until most of the 8,000 aircraft in the sky fall out of the sky all at once. What would it matter that a certain percentage of electronic EMP hardened equipment does not shut down?.
I agree. I thought the book was ok, but not great, but that it vividly brought to mind the dire situation that could play out. Thankfully, it came out years after I had first heard of EMP’s or I may not have slept well for some time.
Is it ok to know how to bypass the ICs and what to do about it?
Or, if push comes to shove, how to wind my own from scratch?
Bless my daddy, he taught me E=I*R when I was 7. And then taught me some basic algebra so I could use it.
/johnny
I’ll never forget the Northeast blackout of 2003 . I was on the phone with my husband two towns over from me when the power went out. Called my mom two states away in Cleveland to tell her about it, and HER power was off too. I was freaking out....
If you are a diabetic, type II, chances are that you are going to lose a HUGE amount of weight and stop being a diabetic.
If you are a type I like me, every time you go to Walmart get a vial of R insulin for $22 and some needles. One vial will keep you alive for 2 mos or so (4 if times are tough). The biggest problem will be hypoglycemia, if you get that and there is no glucose around, you’re dead.
Buy ammo and guns and lots of it. That’s the only leverage against all the idiots that have no morals and no compunction against killing you.
Finally, have Christ in your life.
bttt
And I haven’t really heard anyone mention what I am most concerned (worried may be too strong a word, I’m not much of a fretter): that the EMP attack will be simultaneous with other terrorist cells activating other bombs, etc., at the same time. If only one missile went up (And Iran HAS been testing this, both boat launched missiles, and detonations at apogee), they may not get through. I think if such an attack did take place, there would be many missiles at once, and many ground incidents. Once committed, I think they will throw everything they have at once, it’s just a matter of maneuvering until that point.
I think people should take as much time as they can to prepare for any number of situations they can, NOW, because there are a number of natural events (this years flooding, for example), coupled with America’s enemies that are going to make life difficult in a number of ways. It’s better to be prepared early than to be unprepared, late and sorry.
Someone suggeted Jericho TV show to me. Caught it on Netflix. The first season was very good.
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.