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EMP: The Greatest Threat to America, and What We Can Do about It
American Thinker ^ | September 27, 2011 | JanSuzanne Krasner

Posted on 09/29/2011 1:21:40 PM PDT by george76

It's bewildering. Pathetic. Frightening. And it seems that the mainstream media avoids talking about it for fear that Americans will panic. Well, Americans ought to be panicking -- anything to get them to bang on Congress's door and force our representatives to immediately act on the pending legislature now in Congress called the SHIELD Act -- a bill based on the previous HR 5026 -- that unanimously passed in the House of Representatives on June 9, 2010.

The disaster I am referring to is an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which can easily be caused either by Mother Nature as a geomagnetic solar storm or by an enemy with a low-cost, short range, ship-launched missile armed with a nuclear warhead. The national consequences of an EMP destroying our electrical grid are far-reaching, with long-lasting, continent-wide crippling effects to our electricity-dependant infrastructure.

At the press conference organized by EMPactAmerica on September 23, 2011, this dangerous threat to our national security was exposed for what it truly is -- the most likely event to happen to the U.S., naturally or man-made, that has the potential to bring the country to its knees.

The National Academy of Science points out that protecting the grid against this threat is critical, and getting a bill passed is necessary to do that. An EMP, if not deflected, will shut down and paralyze our country. Just think about the role electricity plays in water, food, heating and cooling, communications, transportation, distribution, the economy and banking.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: electromagnetic; emp; pulse
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To: george76

The only problem is that the Democrats are simply UNABLE to perceive ANY threat to this country or its people. That simple.

That rule applies to individuals (i.e., why they hate jailing criminals), to the Soviet Union, to Islam, to China now, to terrorism, and to EMPs.

We can prove them wrong EVERY TIME, but they simply are unable to deal with threats. It’s something that is wedged in their mind and it’s why they need to be DEFEATED, and then TOTALLY IGNORED. That really is our only hope.


61 posted on 09/29/2011 5:18:40 PM PDT by BobL (PLEASE READ: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2657811/posts)
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To: DBrow

I am amazed at the lack of common sense by these types of threads, so I usually just ignore them and they usually go away. Unfortunately, with the prepping thing getting popular these threads are becoming more commonplace.


62 posted on 09/29/2011 9:15:43 PM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: discostu

“If one high altitude burst was really that big a threat it would have become the primary nuclear strategy of both us and the USSR. It didn’t, that proves the point.”

I stand corrected. There actually is some common sense on these EMP threads. You are dead right. If EMP was that big a killer we and the Soviet Union would have made it our central plan. We didn’t. They didn’t.


63 posted on 09/29/2011 9:20:26 PM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: CodeToad
If EMP was that big a killer we and the Soviet Union would have made it our central plan. We didn’t. They didn’t.

The EMP would not be the killer, in either case. Oh, maybe a few, but the real bloodbath would come when the lights stayed off, whe no one could find out why and for how long.

At present, we have a situation where the population is primed to riot and fight, between the class warfare angle to the racial one. Put that in urban environs with a rapidly shrinking food supply, and major cities will be trashed within a week or two.

Recall, the opening shots in Serbia were graphite filament bombs (BLU-114/B) aimed at taking down the power grid.

Our angle during the Cold War was to take out the population and military of any aggressor. We even developed a bomb designed to preserve infrastructure and eliminate people, not the other way around.

However, we have become increasingly dependent on electronic devices, from waking up, to keeping time, to inventory, shipping (barcodes/readers) from rail cars to envelopes, and in the virtual regulation of processes from HVAC to electrical generation. Points of exposure exceed anything the Y2K problem could have impacted, because even 'dumb' devices would be affected in a cascade of failures--IF the systems are vulnerable.

For a third-worlder, it would mean they would have only to deliver two or three effective devices to bring down the US, a major coup for a third world wannabe strongman.

Better to have them pursue this than a bioweapon (which just might get the job done and could be far tougher to interdict of control.

Hopefully, your assessment of the actual vulnerabilities is on target, and our enemies are chasing a worthless goal.

64 posted on 09/30/2011 5:29:27 AM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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To: CodeToad

A lack of common sense, and probably people who do not have a math-engineering-science background.

There is trouble any time politics crosses science.

As for preppers, well, if fear of EMP causes people to be more self-reliant, they’ll be more self reliant when the blizzard-hurricane-earthquake hits.


65 posted on 09/30/2011 5:42:49 AM PDT by DBrow
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To: Smokin' Joe

You bring up a more important situation than EMP will ever be: Our weakness of simple attacks.

A coordinated attack on our electrical lines, sub stations, and other electrical delivery systems could have significant impacts. We, of course, would recover within a few weeks but is a window of opportunity for an enemy to do other damages.

That said, I don’t want to be the Soviet Union, afraid of everything and locking down everything; passes to go to the town next door, a pass to buy gas, a pass to so much as fart.


66 posted on 09/30/2011 8:10:52 AM PDT by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: Gritty

30 miles over Pittsburgh, at the top of the stratosphere, way above where planes fly, past the reach of high altitude balloons. The math just isn’t there. Look at that map with the circles again and the altitudes involved, the small circle is for an altitude higher than the best high altitude balloon can get to by about 1/5 of their capability, the biggest circle is almost 20 miles ABOVE the international space station. Who’s getting nukes up there? We aren’t even getting nukes up that high.


67 posted on 09/30/2011 8:29:54 AM PDT by discostu (How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today)
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To: CodeToad

Usually I let the doom and gloom crowd have their fun. But once in a while I just gotta come in and point out the simple math. I doubt I talk sense into any of them, but maybe a couple of lurkers stop and think.


68 posted on 09/30/2011 8:35:15 AM PDT by discostu (How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today)
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To: Pontiac

For that you do not even need a nuclear device. It can be driven by conventional explosives (I will not go into the details of what else is involved, except for no fissile material), and on the surface it appears to have been a car bomb attack (just think of what if the Times Square car bomb worked).
The jihadis are not all just a bunch of stupid goathumpers. There are some among them with engineering degrees - just look at the educational background of the 19 hijackers of September 11.


69 posted on 09/30/2011 8:44:58 AM PDT by Fred Hayek (FUBO, the No Talent Pop Star pResident.)
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To: discostu

relatively small rockets can go as high as 300 miles....these would be at suborbital velocities so they do not have to travel the requisite 17,000-18000mph that would be needed for orbital velocity...but they would still be at orbital altitudes....


70 posted on 09/30/2011 9:16:18 AM PDT by Vaquero ("an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: Vaquero

“Relatively” being the operative term, as in relative to what. 300 miles up puts you above the international space station, which is of course achievable, but it’s not the kind of thing Iranian terrorists are going to be launching off cargo ships from shoulder mounts.


71 posted on 09/30/2011 9:22:27 AM PDT by discostu (How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today)
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To: Roklok

It’s my excuse to my wife why I want an old used M35A2. Not just playing in the mud.


72 posted on 09/30/2011 9:50:34 AM PDT by chemicalman (The more support I see,the harder I want to work,and the more determined I am not to let folks down.)
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To: palmer

...But Wait!!!

If you call within the next 15 minutes, we’ll include a set of Ginsu knives with AND double your order!!!

...just pay separate shipping and handling...

And if you’re knot satisfied, you can return the unused portion to us at no cost...

But keep the Ginsu knives as our gift to you!!!


73 posted on 09/30/2011 10:02:20 AM PDT by stevie_d_64 (I'm jus' sayin')
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To: discostu

Yah, this lurker feels better from your posts.


74 posted on 09/30/2011 10:05:49 AM PDT by Valpal1 ("IÂ’ll work every day to make Washington DC as inconsequential in your life as I can." Rick Perry)
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To: Valpal1

Cool, nice to have a positive effect on the world once in a while.


75 posted on 09/30/2011 10:11:33 AM PDT by discostu (How Will I Laugh Tomorrow When I Can't Even Smile Today)
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To: Fred Hayek
For that you do not even need a nuclear device.

Yes I am aware of the operating principles of the device described. I simply did not wish disseminate any of the information to those that may attempt to use it.

76 posted on 09/30/2011 11:08:27 AM PDT by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: wintertime

“The inner cities, yes, but not where I live. I am confident that our neighbors and citizens of our town and county would rally”

You really have to read “One Second After”. It was mind-blowing. A little hokey, but filled with food for thought.


77 posted on 09/30/2011 8:40:27 PM PDT by bitt ( Obama is so unpopular now that the Kenyans say he was definitely born in Hawaii)
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To: george76

Frank Gaffney, @SecureFreedom , @frankgaffney , about threats to the electric grid.
https://soundcloud.com/jacki-daily/jacki-talks-with-frank-gaffney


78 posted on 03/31/2016 4:12:00 PM PDT by RaceBannon (Rom 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for)
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To: george76

“the grave threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) in America is not being talked about”

Because it is an Internet nerd topic, not a valid scientific one. No, I am not going to argue with the scientifically illiterate Internet crowd about it. This scare about EMP is nothing but proof that our education system has created ignorant idiots arrogant enough to think they do know it all.


79 posted on 03/31/2016 4:31:04 PM PDT by CodeToad (Islam should be banned and treated as a criminal enterprise!)
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