[kms61]

Which makes it the perfect terrorist weapon. It's naive to think that Al Qaeda or some other group won't get hold of this eventually. It's impractical to shield every single civilian electronic device....how do you defend against something like that?

Heck, the way tecnhology progresses, I wouldn't be surprised to find plans for this stuff on the internet some day in the not too distant future. A couple of malicious teenagers driving around with a case of beer and a homemade EMP gun could do a whole lot of damage without even breaking a sweat.

[Cuttnhorse]

Extracts from Hanson’s book:

Were they Merchant Barges? The Ottoman admiral, Muezzinzade Ali Pasha, had never seen anything like the six bizarre ships floating a few hundred yards in front of his attacking galleys.

Perhaps they were some sort of supply vessels? Clearly, they were both new and huge- and drifting right toward his flagship, the Sultana!

Most of the Christian observers believed that a third of the Ottoman armada was scattered, disabled, or sunk before the battle proper between galleys had even commenced. As many as 10,000 Turkish seamen were thrown into the sea when their galleys were obliterated in thirty minutes of firing from just four European ships.

Ali Pasha had seen in these strange galleasses some glimpses of the future of naval warfare, and it rested not with rams, boarders, or rowers, but with mass-produced iron cannon, high decks, and large vessels.

Shock and Awe at Lepanto, October 7, 1571

[Blueflag]

Not to worry. the effect is very localized unless the device is very powerful. Very powerful still translates into very large.

Our truly important facilities have DR/BC plans in place and have remote site fail-over plans in place.

The offense always has the advantage over the defense. So as long as the terrorists see our offense as more effective, we have a decent deterrent. It's the new century's MAD logic.

A 50,000' foot airburst of a powerful nuke would do a lot more EMP damage over a large footprint. For now, EMP bombs are tactical weapons, surgical in nature.