[Always A Marine]

Don't know that 35,000 feet is up high enough for an effective EMP blast. Most of the tests in the mid-60s were at altitudes between 30 and 60 miles up... I would think that some sort of ballistic missile would be more effective.

There's no doubt that a High Altitude EMP would be most effective, but a detonation at only 40,000 feet could devastate an area several hundred miles wide. A radius of 120 miles from Philadelphia includes Washington, Baltimore and New York City. If successfully detonated, that's enough to bring the USA to a grinding halt.

[LaRueLaDue]

There's no doubt that a High Altitude EMP would be most effective, but a detonation at only 40,000 feet could devastate an area several hundred miles wide.

That's true. I just thought that terrorists and/or third world countries with limited resources (compared to us) would prefer a bigger bang for the effort. Why cripple a small percentage of the country, when, with a little more effort, you could cripple an area vastly larger?

[PghBaldy]

I imagine that any surviving countries, if their leaders had half a brain, after seeing what happened to us, would completely obliterate any country suspected of being involved in the attack.