What they had...was the anthrax research from the 1950s/1960s and the vaccine developed from that...which was they pumped into all of use in the Gulf-War. Any research since? Hear the silence?
I think they got around to Russian research and kinda figured out that the modern anthrax was ten times worse, and the vaccine was 50-50 at best.
The EMP thing though...they’ve known since the 1970s what it takes to knock out an entire region. A 3rd world country could easily knock out California, and there’s very little you can do about.
Remember those anti-nerve agent pills they had us taking when the ground offensive opened up? Those were a real treat...