Posted on 08/02/2012 6:54:57 AM PDT by Perseverando
The Congressionally chartered Task Force on National & Homeland Security (FNHS) will be holding a nationwide webcast on The Electronic Armageddon: EMP. The webcast is a combined effort of the TFNHS, The United West and the New English Review. There is a distinguished panel of experts, new videos and a discussion of solutions for addressing both man-made and natural threats.
LIVE STREAM EVENT -FRIDAY- AUGUST 3, 2012 - 11am Est.
The Electronic Armageddon
Watch the Live broadcast right here at TheUnitedWest.org
Featured Guests :
R. JAMES WOOLSEY - Former Director, CIA
REZA KAHLILI - CIA Covert Operative
REP ROSCOE BARTLETT - House Armed Services Committee Chairman
DR. WILLIAM FORSTCHEN - NYT Best Seller of EMP Novel "One Second After"
AMB HENRY COOPER - Former Director of Strategic Defense Initiative Organization
FRITZ ERMARTH - Former Chairman National Intelligence Council
DR. WILLIAM R. GRAHAM - President Reagan's Science
Advisor, NASA Administrator Chairman EMP Commission
Indeed, thanks. Forstchens’s book will scare the crap out of you...he’s a pal of Newt’s.
Yes! I read the book last summer. This is a threat to be taken seriously. I watched the Hillsdale College seminar on EMP last fall. Some of the same people will be speaking. I’m glad to see this is being discussed.
It is theoretically IMPOSSIBLE for any electromagnetic impulse to pass through any conductive barrier, even the metallic screen wire on the old “screen door”.
It is called the Faraday effect and such enclosures are “Faraday Cages”. I remember photos of a physicist sitting on a stool inside one while a LIGHTNING GENERATOR blasted huge bolts and arcs all around. He was completely untouched.
Has some exception to this basic principle of physics been repealed???
Just asking...
We would do well to take a few billions of wasted EBT monies and put it into EMP protection for our grids. It might be good insurance to prevent most of us from starving to death in case of such an event.
I’m keeping a classic tube populated ham station (sitting aside my state of the art one.
Tubes f*rt the general direction of EMP, and I may still have comms should something bad occur. Heh.
All kidding aside, EMP protection would have double value - for both conflict and that evil sun that keeps threatening to shoot evil things this way. And as usual, the Obamadork and his clown show of SAT bottom dwellers can’t even spell the acronym.
“...It is theoretically IMPOSSIBLE for any electromagnetic impulse to pass through any conductive barrier, even the metallic screen wire on the old “screen door”...”
I’ve taught courses on this stuff...and your theory is correct...but remember that any small holes with conductors (wires, etc) leading into the “protected” space will allow the pulse (or at least selected frequencies of that pulse) to enter and do damage.
for $5Trillion we could have update all our roads and bridges AND our aging electrical grid
This is our single biggest vulnerab ility
A few well placed nukes could trigger an EMP strong enough to fry our current grid (permanently!) and put us into the horse and buggy days for years
our entire electrical grid would be fine if it was inside an electrical cage - but the overhanging wires you see are vulnerable to EMP
They could send enough current back into the generators to fy them too even if they are inside a cage
While I'm on the subject: we all need a little drama in our lives, some more than others. When the prepper circuit got ahold of the EMP issue, the excitement started. An EMP attack, it was held, would not only send the entire United States back to the 19th century but would also paralyze the entire government.
Recently, I was on a prepper blog reading a post about how to set up a Faraday cage. One of the commenters there politely corrected the urban legends (i.e., about using old microwaves) and explained how to build a proper Faraday cage. It turns out that this fellow was a soldier, and his tips came from the U.S. Army experimenting and testing Faraday cage units to find out what'll work and what won't.
If you're interested, he said that the only sure-fire Faraday cage was a solid box made of (preferably) copper or aluminum that, when closed, conducted electricity as if it had been welded shut. It has to be grounded with a nine-foot copper rod hammered into the earth and welded to the box itself through copper wire. The Army was buying conducting gaskets to make sure its own Faraday cages were up to snuff.
There's one aspect of the prepper world I'd like to call attention to: a kind of insider's-club attitude. It's SOP in the prepper world to not only believe that the "sheeple" will remain unprepared and helpless, but also that the U.S. government will too. I guess they're used to being ignored. The idea that soldiers, officers and out-of-the-spotlight bureaucrats will read the same material that they do, let alone take some action, doesn't even seem to occur to them.
For example, I'm quite sure that the D.C. Establishment knows all that we know about the coming debt crisis, if not more. They don't do anything about it because the person who sticks his neck out is going to have it chopped off by the electorate. So, both sides have a mutual non-action pact: they're waiting until the crisis erupts before they'll do something about it. Then, but not until then, they'll swing into action.
Not that the above paragraph is all that reassuring! I read somewhere that the TSA was blueprinted in the late Clinton Administration, so it was already "on the shelf" on 9/11. This claim makes sense, as government usually takes a long while to get anything off the ground. [Some of you may remember common-sensical solutions, like "arm the pilots," being ignored or dismissed out of hand.] It's a sure bet that FedGov has a similar contingency plan in the case of a debt crisis...or in the case of an EMP attack.
As for whether it's the best option...well, you know the track record of FedGov.
The worst effect is not on what is naturally shielded, or intentionally shielded. The problem is that the long lines of the electrical grid, both transmission and distribution are pretty much perfect antennae for the various EMP pulses.
Modern cars, well grounded appliances and the natural shielding of commercial structures might indeed save electronics.
But the electric grid will go down. Without electricity USA society will collapse in three to nine days. It will take longer to get even portions of the grid back up.
I have lost the link but a British economist/ sociologist wrote a great paper that was essentially “ 9 days from the Middle Ages “. It covers how society collapses rapidly and why.
So as you read about EMP bear in mind the real danger is that you and your family would have 3-9 days before you live in a 12th century, pre-industrial age that shifts rapidly from event to realization to chaos to barbarism/feudalism. How long recovery and reorganization takes is a worthy debate.
90%+ population loss is the general prediction target, mostly and rapidly in urban population areas. “No city can feed itself” is an axiom. Neither can it water or fuel itself.
Two worthy titles are indeed ‘One second after’ and the movie Remnants.
Net: if the grid goes down you have <72 hours to get to a place out of urban areas. After 48 hours travel will be dangerous and lethal after 72. 9 days to have everything to survive for 90 days, then perseverance and perspiration to go on til reorganization and recovery take hold.
“Which will come first: and EMP or a government collapse of the grid.”
Don’t forget cyber warfare either. Or the 57 power plants they are shutting down. One way or the other its going to happen.
Gotta run. Another solar panel to put up.
The worst effect is not on what is naturally shielded, or intentionally shielded. The problem is that the long lines of the electrical grid, both transmission and distribution are pretty much perfect antennae for the various EMP pulses.
Modern cars, well grounded appliances and the natural shielding of commercial structures might indeed save electronics.
But the electric grid will go down. Without electricity USA society will collapse in three to nine days. It will take longer to get even portions of the grid back up.
I have lost the link but a British economist/ sociologist wrote a great paper that was essentially “ 9 days from the Middle Ages “. It covers how society collapses rapidly and why.
So as you read about EMP bear in mind the real danger is that you and your family would have 3-9 days before you live in a 12th century, pre-industrial age that shifts rapidly from event to realization to chaos to barbarism/feudalism. How long recovery and reorganization takes is a worthy debate.
90%+ population loss is the general prediction target, mostly and rapidly in urban population areas. “No city can feed itself” is an axiom. Neither can it water or fuel itself.
Two worthy titles are indeed ‘One second after’ and the movie Remnants.
Net: if the grid goes down you have <72 hours to get to a place out of urban areas. After 48 hours travel will be dangerous and lethal after 72. 9 days to have everything to survive for 90 days, then perseverance and perspiration to go on til reorganization and recovery take hold.
Not any longer... :-(
~~~~~~~~~
(From the FR editor page: "Loose lips sink ships."
Sorry ‘bout the double post!
This Faraday cage experiment can be seen daily at the Museum of Science in Boston.
Yep, I noticed that too. Maybe he’ll wear a mask. (Just kidding.)
I stand corrected. I just did a quick search, he probably will be wearing a mask -
“His disguise consists of a blue surgeon’s mask, sunglasses and a baseball cap that reads “Free Iran.” A small modulator distorts his voice. He uses a pseudonym, Reza Kahlili.”
India is our future power pattern.
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