Posted on 08/01/2015 11:09:02 AM PDT by TXnMA
Texas State Senator Bob Hall, a former USAF Colonel and himself an EMP expert, characterizes as "equivalent to treason" the behavior of the electric utilities and their lobbyists:
"As a Texas State Senator who tried in the 2015 legislative session to get a bill passed to harden the Texas grid against an EMP attack or nature's GMD, I learned first hand the strong control the electric power company lobby has on elected officials. We did manage to get a weak bill passed in the Senate but the power companies had it killed in the House. A very deceitful document which was carefully designed to mislead legislators was provided by the power company lobbyist to legislators at a critical moment in the process. The document was not just misleading, it actually contained false statements. The EMP/GMD threat is real and it is not "if" but WHEN it will happen. The responsibility for the catastrophic destruction and wide spread death of Americans which will occur will be on the hands of the executives of the power companies because they know what needs to be done and are refusing to do it. In my opinion power company executives, by refusing to work with the legislature to protect the electrical grid infrastructure are committing an egregious act that is equivalent to treason. I know and understand what I am saying."
"As a young US Air Force Captain, with a degree in electrical engineering from The Citadel, I was the project officer who lead [sic] the Air Force/contractor team which designed, developed and installed the modification to "harden" the Minuteman Strategic missile to protect it from an EMP attack. The American people must demand that the power company executives that are hiding the truth stop deceiving the people and immediately begin protecting our electrical grid so that life as we know it today will not end when the terrorist EMP attack comes. Ironically, while electric power lobbyists are fighting against EMP protection in Washington, Texas, Maine, Colorado and elsewhere, the Iranian news agency MEHR recently reported that Iran is violating international sanctions and going full bore to protect itself from a nuclear EMP attack:"
Iranian researchers...have built an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) filter that protects country's vital organizations against cyber attack. Director of Kosar Information and Communication Technology Institute Saeid Rahimi told MNA correspondent that the EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) filter is one of the country's boycotted products and until now procuring it required considerable costs and various strategies. "But recently Kosar ICT...has managed to domestically manufacture the EMP filter for the very first time in this country," said Rahimi. Noting that the domestic EMP filter has been approved by security authorities, Rahimi added "the EMP filter protects sensitive devices and organizations against electromagnetic pulse and electromagnetic terrorism." He also said the domestic EMP filter has been implemented in a number of vital centers in Iran. (MEHR News Agency, "Iran Builds EMP Filter For 1st Time" June 13, 2015)
Read more: Family Security Matters
Under Creative Commons License
Bob Hall: From 1984 to 2013, he operated a business, Professional Proposal Management, Inc., which assisted companies in obtaining government contracts.
EMP can be big business. This is just a business stunt like the Ozone Hole was and Globull Warming is.
It actually won’t happen. Most of the countries that have nukes don’t have any serious launch vehicles. 50km is actually pretty far up in the air, and is actually outside of the realm for Iran.
Part of the military’s job is to take EVERYTHING seriously. They’ve got plans on how to invade every state in the union in case another civil war starts there.
It is silly. It is not a threat. People have been banging this gong since the 80s and it hasn’t happened yet. It’s global warming.
Read my reply in #36...
“As I posted above, the effect is real; I observed it first-hand. A single nuke detonation at the right altitude and over the right coordinates would effectively destroy this nation’s electrical / electronic infrastructure.”
You’ve seen EMP destroy a nation’s infrastructure? You really want us to believe that?? You haven’t seen squat.
“However, EMP IS a significant problem”
No, it is not. The effects were fairly minimal and there has been no proof that an EMP weapon would have such disastrous effects.
This whole Internet nerdfest now has every nitwit that can turn on an iPhone thinking everything electrical or electronic would instantly be destroyed by an EMP weapon.
We hear from such geniuses that they have an “EMP Proof” truck because they keep a spare computer in a microwave oven (excuse me, a “Faraday cage”), not realizing their alternator has a voltage regulator or that the alternator itself is an electrical device, or that the microwave is designed only to keep in 2.4Ghz frequencies and not keep EMP out.
Dumbing down of American, proof is in the EMP nonsense.
How so?
I was told that the AC-DC-AC converters would ground a significant portion of the pulse being transmitted via the power lines. After crossing two or three of these boundaries, the pulse would negligible.
Is that not the case?
I’ve done the math, that’s why I know it’s BS. Most countries on the planet can’t get a warhead 30km up. And the size of warhead you need to have an actually destructive EMP out to that distance is beyond most countries.
We’ve had the NE corridor blackout without taking out half the US recently. So we know for a fact THAT threat is BS.
There is no similar shot. 30 KM straight up is into the stratosphere, scuds can’t operate that high.
You can think that, and you’d be wrong. Out here in reality the EMP requires too much of a launch vehicle and too much of a warhead for most countries except us, Russia, France and China. And I’m not sure France actually has the warhead, but they definitely have the launch vehicles.
“50km is actually pretty far up in the air, and is actually outside of the realm for Iran.”
They have existing launch vehicles that not only CAN but HAVE reached 50km and beyond. They have actually launched things into earth orbit.
Push back on this if you wish (you should), but use facts not BS.
Iran has the launch vehicle TODAY - they may or may not have a device (as far as we know they haven’t tested one yet) and they may or may not know how to make one small enough to mate with one of their launchers. The will to do it is the only thing that is required to create an EMP weapon/launcher. The rest is application of technical principles that are generally well understood, even by the Iranians.
Your reply 36 is quite simply wrong. it is paranoid fantasies giving countries credit for technology they quite simply do not have.
No they don’t. Iran does not have vehicles that can operate in the stratosphere. And they don’t have nukes in the megaton range.
http://nypost.com/2015/08/01/iran-publishes-book-on-how-to-outwit-us-and-destroy-israel/Iran publishes book on how to outwit US and destroy Israel
“No, it is not. The effects were fairly minimal and there has been no proof that an EMP weapon would have such disastrous effects.”
No, actually it IS a problem - as I’ve said we don’t know how significant it would be - and there are many variables.
One thing we know it is NOT is “fairly minimal”. There is proof that it will create a significant energy field (on the order of 1000 times the electric field strength of a handheld radio)
This (by far) exceeds the levels established for nearly all electronics. So to say “fairly minimal” when you exceed tested limits by up to 1000 times is not a technically defensible position.
I’m not one of those who says we “go back to the stone age” but I’m also not going to say it’s something we could recover from quickly if we do nothing.
It’s a serious thing. Serious people are working on it.
And, don't forget -- there's that big old thermonuclear furnace out there that occasionally tosses CMEs at us -- that totally dwarf the EMP from the largest TND...
We're lucky this one wasn't aimed in our direction...
“No they dont. Iran does not have vehicles that can operate in the stratosphere. And they dont have nukes in the megaton range.”
Friend, don’t even argue this point. You’re just wrong. You can google up “Iran launch vehicles”.
Did you know that a nuclear device in the “kiloton” range is all that is required to precipitate an EMP? That’s another fact. “Megaton” nukes are all fission-fusion. It is the gamma yield of a nuclear device that causes the EMP - and that is from a “fission” nuclear device - either on it’s own or the trigger for a “fusion” device.
Just use easily obtainable facts to argue. Don’t pull it from your posterior orifice.
There are plenty of facts to argue over. Stop making stuff up.
“AC-DC-AC converters”
These are presently solid-state devices that are vulnerable to an EMP. The GIC is another effect. There are easier ways to do what you suggest, such as “blocking capacitors”
We weren't stupid enough to to test nukes over our own landmass; the shot(s) were out over the mid-Pacific. and the EMP effect was not only observed, it was measured.
End of conversation.
Thank you!!
Ive done the math, thats why I know its BS. Most countries on the planet cant get a warhead 30km up. And the size of warhead you need to have an actually destructive EMP out to that distance is beyond most countries.
” 30 KM straight up is into the stratosphere, scuds cant operate that high.”
Baloney. 30 KM is about 100,000 feet, that is only 3 times higher than airliners fly and military jets can get up 70,000 feet. The horizon from 70,000 feet is 324 miles.
Iran will soon have over $100 billion plus their oil revenue to spend and Russia and China are salivating to sell them military technology. I think a couple of missiles that are capable of delivering an EMP warhead could easily be thrown in with all the anti-aircraft and other systems these two are going to sell Iran.
“Out here in reality the EMP requires too much of a launch vehicle and too much of a warhead for most countries except us, Russia, France and China. “
You may be willing to bet your life on that but I am not.
“on the order of 1000 times the electric field strength of a handheld radio”
Which is still a trivial amount. Lightening bolts generate more than that. We don’t have panic and chaos concerning lightening bolts.
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.