Experts cite electromagnetic pulse as terrorist threat

Associated Press / Las Vegas Review-Journal ^ | October , 2001

[Movemout]

I posted the LVRJ article yesterday. If you would like to read the ensuing discussion it is at------->Are electromagnetic pulses terrorists' next weapon of choice?

[YepYep]

Yike! I don't like this EMP thing...something else to worry about?? Well, what can be done to harden the computer systems in all American systems (especially those of Free Republic)???

[George W. Bush]

Interesting. I don't think we're facing this as an immediate threat though our enemies would undoubtedly like to do this to us. Just imagine the effect if one were used over a major financial center like Chicago. Even if there was little bomb damage, the destruction of electrical and electronic infrastructure is almost unimaginable. I think of how a city like Chicago would be affected. No electronic medical gadgets in hospitals to save lives. The cars and vehicles would all have to be repaired. As would the traffic system. The phone systems. The power system. No TV. No radio. No way to immediately distrubute food. Stores unequipped to sell food without using computerized cash registers. No way to dispatch fire and police units even if their vehicles worked. The list is endless. We never stop to think how dependent we are on these things.

[snooker]

Old news going back to the 50s. Every few years people discover it again.

Most intelligent people have already taken precautions.

Metal boxes or shielded boxes, and power line filters are usually enough.

We have a lot of EMP around here. It comes in the form of lightning. Circuit City sells what you need. EMP around my place is so bad and frequent I even need to run the phone line and cable line through a filter. I even have a EMP filter on my power line to prevent the dishwasher from taking a hit.

Sheesh, my cheapo computer even has these fingers on the aperatures which you cut your hand on when you open the box to put in a new card. My nicely sheilded computer box even allows me to be able watch Fox News while I type.

Even my old reliable ink jet has a sprayed zinc coating inside the plastic case to shield it.

So I am prepared.

You can bet the military has done more and the finance houses and others with security concerns have as well. After all, they have had tens of years to get ready.

Tin foil hat off.

snooker

[Lazamataz]

I'm still scared.

Hold me.

[HiTech RedNeck]

As with lightning, a lot of cheaper electronic equipment would get blown, as would a lot of breakers on the power grid. The shielding on your el cheapo computer is there not to lightningproof it but to make it meet FCC electromagnetic emissions standards for residential use.

[germanicus]

You may also want an old car with points and mechanical fuel pump or have a bicycle ready to go.

[the crow]

Thought this might be of interest bump.

[seabass1]

'It is probably clear that if this attack occurred at night that most of the planes, most of the civilian airliners in the air, would be lost for obvious reasons,' he said. 'They simply won't be able to land. They won't have landing aids, probably no lights on landing strips and so forth. Those would be lost.'

It's to bad flares are so expensive.

[AndyJackson]

This is not correct. The rise time of an EMP pulse is about 1000 times faster than the pulse from lightning, meaning that the circuitry that you use to protect against lightning damage, power surges, etc. do not react nearly fast enough for EMP protection.

[self_evident]

Lol. I strongly suspect that the headlines next week will be: Bovine excrement: A new terrorist threat? This war needs to start soon, the press are having way to much fun scaring the crap out of people.

[nevergore]

"I strongly suspect that the headlines next week will be: Bovine excrement"

Honestly, on a earlier thread this week regarding bio-terrorism someone stated that a real threat to the water supply could come from a dead rotting cow carcass dropped into a lake........

ROTFLMAO, I guess all that money spent on clorination and filtration equipment spent by the county is useless....

The bio-terrorism angle is way overblown as is the nuke issue......The credible threats sit with conventional types of sabatoge type attack such as dams, bridges communications and transportation..... Terror attacks such as suicide bombers in shopping malls or playgrounds are also a possibility.....

But EMP from a tactical nuke...oh please....... (hopefully I'll never have to eat thos words!)

NeverGore

[HiTech RedNeck]

Depends on the circuitry. Ferrite beads (which are also used to fight RF leakage from power supplies into the power mains) would do an excellent job of blocking such a pulse.

[George W. Bush]

This is not correct. The rise time of an EMP pulse is about 1000 times faster than the pulse from lightning, meaning that the circuitry that you use to protect against lightning damage, power surges, etc. do not react nearly fast enough for EMP protection.

This is my understanding too from what I read years back when the military finally got serious about hardening their equipment. The military has proper shielding for ground support systems and combat units (planes/tanks/ships etc). The civilian sector does not have this sort of protection. Fixing the problem would make Y2K preparation look easy by comparison. But this situation is yet another good argument for missile defense.

I don't think there's actually much danger of such an attack in the immediate future. If terrorists had such a capability, they would already have used it.

[George W. Bush]

The bio-terrorism angle is way overblown as is the nuke issue......The credible threats sit with conventional types of sabatoge type attack such as dams, bridges communications and transportation..... Terror attacks such as suicide bombers in shopping malls or playgrounds are also a possibility....

How about sabotaging a reactor or blowing it up to cause a Chernobyl incident at a nuclear power plant? That's the one I keep thinking about. I'm a few hundred miles downwind from one. Just what could 18 determined men with knowledge of nuclear plant design do to such a plant if they took it by surprise and moved fast?

[HiTech RedNeck]

If terrorists had such a capability, they would already have used it.

While I'd like to think that too... when you go into a Chinese buffet do you eat everything simultaneously?

[George W. Bush]

While I'd like to think that too... when you go into a Chinese buffet do you eat everything simultaneously?

Well...yes. If possible.

[TrueBeliever9]

FYI

[HiTech RedNeck]

ROFLOL