Congress warned North Korean EMP attack would kill '90% of all Americans'

The Washington Examiner ^ | Oct 12, 2017 | Paul Bedard

[bitt]

Congress was warned Thursday that North Korea is capable of attacking the U.S. today with a nuclear EMP bomb that could indefinitely shut down the electric power grid and kill 90 percent of "all Americans" within a year.

At a House hearing, experts said that North Korea could easily employ the "doomsday scenario" to turn parts of the U.S. to ashes.

In calling on the Pentagon and President Trump to move quickly to protect the grid, the experts testified that an explosion of a high-altitude nuclear bomb delivered by a missile or satellite "could be to shut down the U.S. electric power grid for an indefinite period, leading to the death within a year of up to 90 percent of all Americans."

[11Bush]

There you go trying to inject logic and reason into the conversation.

Armchair commandos will never listen. They have a gun, or many guns, and somehow think they are invulnerable. In the end they will be dead and the mob will have their stuff. This is a hard truth. Unless you live where the mob will not go or find you, you are helpless without serious backup.

[TheNext]

Adverbs? The English teachers will die out quickly, substituting clarity for dogma.

The Mathematicians will survive because clarity drove them to action. The Math gurus will be drinking up the wine cellars of English Professors ... who did not survive. Lol

[RegulatorCountry]

There exist other reasons to implement something along these lines. EMP from high altitude nuclear blast may or may not be as dire as some claim, but a massive coronal expulsion resulting in sufficiently strong X class solar flares hitting Earth certainly would for the entire portion of the planet facing the sun at the time, I believe it’s approximately 1/3. It’s happened before within US history. It’ll happen again.

[familyop]

"Food distribution is one of the biggest problems."

The most necessary freight would run with organization, direction and security but not immediately afterwards. Everyone should have some extra supplies at home before any such disaster is even close to happening. There wouldn't be any home refrigeration for most people, and that would also be difficult.

If your house is all electric and on the grid, consider getting something that runs on gas to cook with and enough cooking gas (if propane, white gas, etc.) for about two months. For propane in small bottles, that's about at least 40 pounds. For the gas grill type bottles, get at least three "20-pounders" because too many vendors only put 15 pounds in each bottle, especially in western states. And keep propane tanks outside--not in the house. Learn in advance to fry bread, biscuits, cookies, etc. (lid being necessary), instead of baking. It can be done nicely. I did it for years.

After a large nuke exchange, truckers, farmers and many others would be working very hard with safe enough levels of exposure but not within the first few days (decay rates too high).

[steve86]

North Korea is believed to have two Nuke EMPs orbiting across the USA.

Not by anyone knowledgeable.

[laplata]

I get so sick of some gun owners who think that owning and wielding a gun makes them bullet proof. I’m not saying don’t have them (I’ll be armed to the teeth), but it’s not so cut-and-dry a solution to say that you just shoot all the marauding hordes. You must sleep sometime, or work on finding/preparing food. Or simply go to the bathroom or bathe. Ferals have no compunction about taking you out at such times.
Guns don’t give you X-ray vision to see through cover. Nor do they super-rapid shoot all of an advancing crowd of hundreds. Nor do they put out arson-started fires, nor will they stop a high-speed ramming car headed to your front door (even if you shoot the driver.)
It’s still going to be a bloodbath, involving you or loved ones around you.

>><<

Thanks for adding some sanity and common sense. You are right.

[RFEngineer]

Inverse square law DOES NOT apply to EMP generated by a nuclear device detonated by a nuclear device, this is because an EMP creates a very large “antenna” out of the atmosphere. The surface of the earth is in the “near field” region where the normal inverse square law DOES not strictly apply.

An EMP can bring down the grid, and probably would according to utilities themselves.

I agree that 90% is hyperbole. But many millions could die in my opinion.

[RFEngineer]

Does not apply.

[laplata]

What do you mean no agriculture? An EMP attack will not kill one cow.

>><<

How do you suppose they will get the meat, corn, grain, etc to market if there is no electricity to pump gas or the electronics in vehicles is fried?

[publius911]

At a House hearing, experts said that North Korea could easily employ the "doomsday scenario" to turn parts of the U.S. to ashes.

What kind of experts are these?? No wonder names are never available.

An EMP device does not generate or create ashes.

It simply disables power generating facilities...

[ROCKLOBSTER]

Losing power for a week over the entire nation would devastate the economy.

We were out for nine days once, my wood stove worked perfectly...many people had generators. The communities all pulled together, and helped out the older folks.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

I think the way to solve this is for Marie Osmond to meet me in Yellowstone Park for a big make out session. At least I’ll go happy.

Harvey...is that you?

[fortheDeclaration]

We are talking about on a national level, including business.

[familyop]

"All of the harvesting equipment is dependent on electronics, except for the very old stuff."

Harvesting equipment won't be needed for nearly another year, though. Where most of the work is done, more common Americans can build or fix just about anything by then. Look across our pretty wasteland to about 700 miles to the east. Those Americans fed Germany before and can do it again! ;-)

"That said, this is all overblown"

Agreed on that.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

I know you are, but that would probably take several bursts.

Maybe NY and LA if they were capable and accurate. I doubt a strike over flyover country would be all that effective.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Or “One Second After”.
http://www.onesecondafter.com/

There’s a lot more to the physics of an EMP attack than many of the posters here are aware of. They can be a lot more devastating than many here seem to believe.

That said, these are worst-case scenarios. If most of the rest of the developed world were left intact; recovery would be a lot quicker than envisioned in the books. (Provided these other countries rendered assistance.) Still — many millions would die.

[Molon Labbie]

Well a Coronal Mass Ejection will in the same way of frying the grid.

So reinforce the grid and save us from nature and man.

[knighthawk]

Note to Rocket Boy: we could vaporize 100% of all North-Koreans in a matter of seconds...

[DarthVader]

Total BS!

[Red Steel]

Attenuation applies.