Posted on 05/12/2014 9:26:01 AM PDT by raptor22
Vulnerability: Expert testimony before Congress on Thursday warned that an electromagnetic pulse attack on our power grid and electronic infrastructure could leave most Americans dead and the U.S. in another century.
That dire warning came from Peter Vincent Pry, a member of the Congressional EMP Commission and executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security.
He testified in front of the House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event could wipe out 90% of America's population.
Most people's eyes might glaze over upon mention of the committee name, the title of the hearing — "Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP): Threat to Critical Infrastructure" — and the general subject of EMP. But it is a real threat and not the stuff of science fiction.
Some attention has been paid to the potential cataclysmic effects of a natural phenomenon such as a massive solar storm, an event that has occurred in America's horse-and-buggy era when it did not matter.
Today an electromagnetic pulse event would be devastating. It wouldn't need a solar storm, just a solitary nuke detonated in the atmosphere above the American heartland. We would envy the horse-and-buggy era.
"Natural EMP from a geomagnetic superstorm, like the 1859 Carrington Event or 1921 Railroad Storm, and nuclear EMP attack from terrorists or rogue states, as practiced by North Korea during the nuclear crisis of 2013, are both existential threats that could kill 9-of-10 Americans through starvation, disease and societal collapse," the Washington Free Beacon quoted Pry as saying.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
For the EMP to be effective I believe the explosion has to occur at an attitude of about 55 miles.
The article claims a single emp.
Agreed. I think it's much to do about nothing.
We have a greater chance of a Carrington Event occurring.
Except for the inconvenient detail called food. No food exports. No foreign aid. No consumer economy keeping 3rd work countries engaged exchanging cheap labor for food and income. A level playing field with everyone neck deep in excrement. Any effort to avoid death would be a "success".
Until the roving mobs show up...
Now comes my speculation, the US GØvt will have a false flag emp over either part of the mid Atlantic or that pesky Fransisco area.
Whoa! Who are you going to believe: rationality or post-apocalyptic Hollywood?
Even as a non-electrical engineer, I have heard EMP studies state that effects will be local, and those effects will vary widely.
Sorry Points-n-Condenser Man, you will not lead the defunct electronic ignition masses from your cherry '67 GTO into some Mad Max fantasy.
“Never mind that s—t, here comes Mongo.”
It would likely be a rough 3-4 year adjustment/recovery period but I'm skeptical about the extremely dire predictions which seem to be associated with a rogue EMP detonation. A coordinated sneak attack by a technologically sophisticated country with lots of military resources (such as China) could be a real nightmare. The rebuilding process in such a scenario would involve a lot more than the electrical/communications infrastructure. Hundreds, if not thousands, of nuclear retaliatory strikes would lay waste to about everything.
However - a certain 'missing' plane, complete with 20+ Chinese scientists who developed a radar-proof clocking devise for airplanes, and a cargo hold of equipment - could deliver an EMP over a strategic target, creating panic and the reason for immediate 'Martial Law" - putting the usurpers in the WH in total charge for 6 months, enough time to totally take over the country...while turning loose their 'private army' now trained to shoot dogs and people at will, from children to old ladies. That'll cut down on the population right quick.
“the nuclear crisis of 2013 ... North Korea”
Umm, a few vague threats from North Korea hardly amount to a crisis
Either that or it may be that there are things we
were never told...
We could hire North Korea to come in and teach us how to do it.
Yep. Better to tip toe through the tulips singing "tra lah lah, nothing to see here. Take a nap"
but how well do they after they are raided by both the gov’t goons and surrounding populations for their food storage/gardens?
This is a load of crap and frankly, I'm getting tired of this hysteria mongering over EMP attacks. Hell, the Russians did to one of their own provinces in the 60s, which makes for interesting reading. See here: http://www.futurescience.com/emp/test184.html
In fact, it could be argued that you would do far more damage and destruction by just having the nuke hit a target on the ground than by having it airburst.
Problem is that the 10% remaining is the 10% that has trouble feeding itself.
You are correct that the direct effect would be localized. However, what would be the secondary effect if all power went out in an area from Buffalo to Chicago? Would the rest of the U.S. Power grid try to compensate for the loss, taxing the grid to the point where other sites start to collapse, with a domino effect of taking the whole system down? Or would the grid have the intelligence to automatically break off the parts of the country that drop, preserving the integrity outside the primary area?
I'm asking if this is possible, because I don't have the background in power systems to know.
When power went out in major cities for long periods of time, there weren’t 9 in 10 deaths or anything like it.
If anything takes out the grid id a major way it still can be rebuilt.
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