Posted on 07/15/2005 10:29:12 AM PDT by joanie-f
Below are some excerpts of observations I have posted on other recent threads that I will continue to post when appropriate, because I believe that China’s military build-up may soon prove to be the most ominous threat we face ... Islamic terrorism notwithstanding. (Thank you for your continuing and untiring efforts -- represented by the preceding link -- to document the unparalleled China threat, Jeff Head.)
An article by Bill Gertz in the Washington Times (6/26/05) stated flatly that ‘there's a growing consensus that at some point in the mid-to-late '90s, there was a fundamental shift in the sophistication, breadth and re-sorting of Chinese defense planning … ’
Let’s review what we (at least we here on this forum) already know, but may occasionally need to be reminded of:
A U.S. State Department document released in early 2002 proved that during the years 1993 to 2000 the most successful Chinese espionage operation in history occurred. The document revealed that Hughes Space and Communications Company violated U.S. national security no fewer than 120 times by deliberately sending sensitive missile and satellite technology directly to the Chinese army. And at no time did Hughes seek or receive a license or other written government approval from the appropriate legal sources to provide sensitive military technology to our militaristic ideological enemy.
Chinese General Shen Rongjun (a leader in the Chinese Army’s Commission on Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense) led the infiltration of U.S. missile and satellite technology during the Clinton administration. General Shen was directly involved in the transfer of technology from Hughes to Chinese operatives, and the Clinton Administration not only turned the other way, but most probably played a large part in engineering the transfer.
Because of then Secretary of State Warren Christopher’s concern that Hughes might be selling sensitive missile and satellite technology to China, and because a State Department license was necessary in order to affect such a transfer, Clinton, ignoring vehement opposition from the Defense Department, the CIA, and the National Security Agency, transferred the power to issue those licenses to the Commerce Department, headed by (the now ‘unfortunately’ deceased) Ron Brown.
The bulk of the huge transfer of sensitive technology occurred immediately after General Shen met one-on-one with Brown in Beijing. (An aside: when Brown was head of the DNC, his committee was fined for ‘knowingly and willingly’ accepting donations from Chinese sources.)
Another all-too-familiar aside: Brown’s funeral was the tragedy that inspired the President’s instantaneous laughter/tears performance that will go down in history as the captured-on-film hypocrisy of the century.
General Shen promised satellite contracts to Hughes if technology transfers continued, and Hughes CEO Michael Armstrong did some arm-twisting in order to be able to accede to Shen’s demands. He threatened to withdraw his significant financial support in the upcoming presidential campaign if Clinton did not see to it that a waiver was issued for the transfers. The waiver was indeed issued and enormous amounts of detailed satellite encryption were summarily handed over to China.
Similar circumventing of legal channels for the transfer of missile guidance and satellite technology occurred in technology transfers from Loral Corporation to the Chinese.
Interesting factoid: Bernard Schwartz, the chairman of Loral, was the largest individual contributor to the democrat party in 1997.
Clinton's transfer allowed the Chinese army to acquire advanced U.S. satellite and missile technology for military purposes. Hughes satellites provided the Chinese army with secure communications that are virtually invincible in ground combat and provide extraordinarily accurate navigation for strike bombers and missiles. Hughes also provided the PLA with advanced technology that is essential for the design and manufacture of missile control systems and missile nose cones. The transfers from Hughes allowed China to develop a new generation of ICBMs and SLBMs that, without the help of the Clinton administration, would have taken China a decade or more to develop on its own.
In 1994, under similar circumstances, sensitive machine tools from an Ohio McDonnell Douglas high-tech factory – machine tools that had been used to make ICBMs and to build B-1, C-17, and F-15 aircraft -- wound up in a Chinese factory that is known to produce Silkworm missiles. Just as occurred with the Hughes technology, the export of these sensitive machine tools required a government-issued export license. And, just as occurred with the Hughes technology, the licensing process was circumvented due to pressures from within the Clinton administration.
The Clinton administration also relaxed controls on the export of U.S. supercomputers. No efforts have been made to verify whether any of the forty-plus supercomputers that have been exported to China are being used in nuclear weapons work.
President Clinton also turned a blind eye to China’s actual theft of sensitive W-88 miniaturization nuclear warhead technology. And possession of this once uniquely American technology now allows China to affix up to ten nuclear warheads on a single missile, with each of the ten aimed at a different target. The W-88 warhead is light compared to other nuclear warheads, but its power is more than ten times that of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Interesting factoid: five Chinese satellite launches (a few of which Loral was partnered in) failed between Sept of 1991 and August of 1996. As of August of 1998, many more have been launched ... and none have failed.
Clinton hosted more than a hundred fundraising dinners in the White House in which he solicited, and received, huge financial contributions from our ideological enemies – with China sitting highest on that infamous list of foreign political supporters. Of course the acceptance of such campaign contributions is a federal crime. But the financial illegality of the Clinton strategy pales in comparison to the resulting threat to our national sovereignty – and to our very existence.
So, as a result of Clinton’s overriding of normal State/Intelligence/Pentagon procedures, a series of illicit export control waivers were issued that allowed his top campaign donors to sell sensitive missile and satellite technology to China – technology that would result in this country being placed in the most precarious position in its history.
As if that weren’t treason enough, Mr. Clinton was simultaneously road-blocking the deployment of an American missile defense system, leaving us vulnerable to the very ICBMs that he was helping our enemies produce. American military manpower, materiel, and equipment (especially ships and aircraft) were also cut by roughly one-half during the eight years of the Clinton administration.
Also, on countless occasions, Mr. Clinton refused to impose sanctions on Beijing when intelligence discovered that it was sharing sensitive military technologies, most likely pilfered from America, with the terrorist states of North Korea, Iran and Pakistan.
Clinton was very successful in hiding both the results of his illegal waivers and the growing long-range missile threat to our safety and security … until 1998, when our illustrious president assured us that North Korea didn’t have ballistic missile capabilities … and only days later North Korea launched a missile over Japan that came down off the coast of Alaska.
A direct 1998 quote from the venerable Senator James Inhofe (R-OK): ‘ … It is apparent that the ongoing cover-up of China’s theft of nuclear secrets is one of the greatest national security scandals in American history. Secret files on virtually every technology used in the design of our nuclear arsenal have been compromised … [and] it is factual to say that President Clinton knew he was giving our missile technology to North Korea as well as to China.’
Also included in the technology transfer to China during the Clinton administration:
(1) five decades of information garnered from nuclear testing
(2) detailed data related to the design, use and power of nuclear warheads such as the W-56, W-62, W-76, W-87 -- for MX land-based missiles -- and W-88 -- for Trident submarine-based missiles
(3) sensitive details about the neutron bomb
(4) sensitive details about EMP (electromagnetic pulse) weapons
(5) manufacturing specifications for re-entry vehicles
(6) space radar capabilities
(7) computer programs that simulate nuclear tests
Today we are aware that China has at least twenty ICBMs aimed at American cities, and many Pentagon and Intelligence Department officials firmly believe that they are ready to launch them, should we attempt to come to the defense of Taiwan when China seeks to re-absorb that island sometime in the next two years.
Another recent Bill Gertz article in the Washington Times (6/22/05) reported the recent success of a submarine-launched ballistic missile test, and stated that US intelligence determined the missile to be a JL-2.
The Gertz article claims that Intelligence isn’t certain whether the launch took place from a Type 094 nuclear sub, or from an older sub that was modified to accommodate missile launch testing.
The design and construction of both the technologically sophisticated JL-2 missile and the Type 094 sub almost certainly benefited from the Clinton administration’s treasonous activities listed above. Chinese secrecy about its missile and sub programs has been of highest priority, and extraordinarily effective, for the past five or six years especially.
According to various reliable sources (The Claremont Institute, the Federation of American Scientists, and globalsecurity.com among them), there is a strong likelihood that both the new missile and the new sub are now fully operational. So it appears that China may well now possess a missile with a sufficient range (~5,000 miles), capable of carrying a single 1 MT warhead, or half a dozen MIRVs each with a 150KT yield, and an extraordinarily sophisticated anti-missile defense system … as well as a new sophisticated class of nuclear-powered sub from which to launch it.
The thought that China could launch a missile from a sub sitting in its own territorial waters, capable of targeting any location in the US is frightening enough. But such capability would also certainly allow the PLA to detonate such a warhead(s) 250-300 miles above the US and set in motion a mighty powerful EMP (electromagnetic pulse), sufficient to render this country incapable of defending itself from successive attacks targeted at our cities and strategic military targets. President Reagan, especially, shared that concern, and, as a result, a substantial part of his Strategic Defense Initiative was focused on the possibility of an atmospheric EMP attack.
Although an EMP attack wouldn’t necessarily cause immediate massive death and destruction, it would weaken us dramatically and render us vulnerable to successive (possibly immediate) attacks on our population itself. An EMP explosion would make ‘dead’ (and irreparable for months, if not years) just about everything dependent upon electricity. Our entire infrastructure would be rendered useless. Imagine our nation continuing to survive without access to reliable transportation, with our financial systems unplugged, all manner of telecommunications severed, energy and energy distribution systems crippled … As for our ability to retaliate, our weapons/missile systems and the ability to communicate between military departments and troop deployments would also be severely limited, if not non-existent.
Regarding the belief, by some, that our military is appropriately hardened against such an EMP attack, former CIA chief James Woolsey last year commended the congressional Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from EMP Attack for its years of research performed to evaluate our ability to survive such an attack and for its ominous conclusion that EMP is a viable method of attack that could lead to the defeat of the U.S. by either a rogue state or a burgeoning military superpower.
Excerpt from the commission’s report:
The end of the Cold War relaxed the discipline for achieving EMP survivability within the Department of Defense, and gave rise to the perception that an erosion of EMP survivability of military forces was an acceptable risk.
EMP simulation and test facilities have been mothballed or dismantled, and research concerning EMP phenomena, hardening design, testing, and maintenance has been substantially decreased. However, the emerging threat environment, characterized by a wide spectrum of actors that include near-peers, established nuclear powers, rogue nations, sub-national groups, and terrorist organizations that either now have access to nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles or may have such access over the next 15 years have combined to place the risk of EMP attack and adverse consequences on the US to a level that is not acceptable.
Current policy is to continue to provide EMP protection to strategic forces and their controls; however, the end of the Cold War has relaxed the discipline for achieving and maintaining that capability within these forces. The Department of Defense must continue to pursue the strategy for strategic systems to ensure that weapons delivery systems of the New Triad are EMP survivable, and that there is, at a minimum, a survivable ‘thin-line’ of command and control capability to detect threats and direct the delivery systems.
IMO, the lack of focus on the EMP scenario is one of our leadership’s most deadly oversights. And it is just another example of a post-Reagan refocus that has lost its sense of priority. In addition to being the primary catalyst in the bankrupting of the then-Soviet Union, Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative was also extraordinarily forward-looking in that it acknowledged the horrific threat that an atmospheric EMP attack represented, and it took the first steps toward preparing for the prevention of, and maintaining the ability to respond to, such an attack. Yet, since Reagan left office, our leaders, each in turn, have turned their focus away from what may eventually prove to be the most menacing, and most easily perpetrated, threat we face.
The following observations are merely a microscopically small sampling of countless warnings from intelligent, informed patriots who are attempting to issue a much-needed wake-up call, to the western world in particular.
In addition to the excerpted comments below, perhaps the most comprehensive collection of facts regarding the potential threat that an EMP attack would entail is contained in the following guide:
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Pertinent comments of Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), highly respected member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the man most believed would have been appointed chairman of that all-important committee, had Arlen Specter not retained his seat, in Unready For This Attack:
An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the American homeland … is one of only a few ways that the United States could be defeated by its enemies -- terrorist or otherwise. And it is probably the easiest. A single Scud missile, carrying a single nuclear weapon, detonated at the appropriate altitude, would interact with the Earth's atmosphere, producing an electromagnetic pulse radiating down to the surface at the speed of light. Depending on the location and size of the blast, the effect would be to knock out already stressed power grids and other electrical systems across much or even all of the continental United States, for months if not years.
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Pertinent comments of Paul M. Weyrich, Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation, in Electromagnetic Pulse: An Avoidable Disaster:
The very day the 9/11 Commission report was issued another report, that may one day prove itself to be even more important to our security, also was released. ‘The Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack’ stated that our country has the ability to prevent the worst-case scenarios from occurring in this age of international terrorism.
If a nuclear blast occurred in high altitudes over our country, people would not be killed by the fallout from the blast itself. The most serious and far-reaching damage would be done by the EMP emissions. The result? According to the report, ‘the 'electromagnetic shock' that disrupts or damages electronics-based control systems, sensors, communication systems, protective systems, computers, and similar devices … Its damage or functional disruption occurs essentially simultaneously over a very large area.’ One scenario outlined by the EMP Commission predicted that a blast over Chicago, where 70% of our country's total power generation occurs, would instantly impact cities as distant as New York and Washington, D.C.
… steps taken now can prepare us to deal with, even thwart, the mayhem caused by terrorists and rogue nations. I hope we have some lawmakers who share [my] concern in preserving our American way of life for future generations. If we do, then I expect Congress will delve further into the work of the EMP Commission and its unsettling findings.
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Pertinent comments by Jack Spencer, Senior Policy Analyst for Defense and National Security in the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation in The Electromagnetic Pulse Commission Warns of an Old Threat with a New Face:
Little has been done to safeguard U.S. electrical systems from the EMP threat beyond simply protecting the nation's nuclear war-fighting infrastructure -- and even that is not as secure as it once was. During the Cold War, only the Soviet Union -- and to a lesser extent China -- had the ability to mount an EMP attack against the United States …
An EMP attack damages all unprotected electronic equipment within the blast's ‘line of sight’ (the EMP's ‘footprint’ on the earth's surface). The size of the footprint is determined by the altitude of the explosion. The higher the altitude, the greater the land area affected. A Scud-type ballistic missile launched from a vessel in U.S. coastal waters and detonated at an altitude of 95 miles could degrade electronic systems across one-quarter of the United States. A more powerful missile launched from North Korea could probably deliver a warhead 300 miles above America--enough to degrade the electronic systems across the entire continental United States.
Furthermore, a nuclear weapon with only a low explosive yield could be designed to generate a strong EMP. In fact, crude weapons with low yields, such as those used against Japan in World War II, would have ample power to generate an EMP over the entire continental United States.
… an EMP attack on America is a serious possibility and one for which the United States is unprepared. While the world focuses on WMDs and ballistic missiles, it is imperative that an EMP attack be considered with equal weight. The profound impact that an EMP attack would have on a developed, modern, electronically oriented country forces nations in similar positions to reassess their own protection against such attack.
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Pertinent comments of Frank J. Gaffney, Jr., President of the Center for Security Policy, in EMP: America’s Achilles Heel:
If Osama bin Laden -- or the dictators of North Korea or Iran -- could destroy America as a twenty-first century society and superpower, would they be tempted to try? Given their track records and stated hostility to the United States, we have to operate on the assumption that they would. That assumption would be especially frightening if this destruction could be accomplished with a single attack involving just one relatively small-yield nuclear weapon—and if the nature of the attack would mean that its perpetrator might not be immediately or easily identified.
Unfortunately, such a scenario is not far-fetched. According to a report issued last summer by a blue-ribbon, Congressionally-mandated commission, a single specialized nuclear weapon delivered to an altitude of a few hundred miles over the United States by a ballistic missile would be ‘capable of causing catastrophe for the nation.’ The source of such a cataclysm might be considered the ultimate “weapon of mass destruction” (WMD)—yet it is hardly ever mentioned in the litany of dangerous WMDs we face today. It is known as electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
… the attributes that make us a military and economic superpower without peer are also our potential Achilles’ heel. In today’s world, wracked by terrorists and their state sponsors, it must be asked: Might not the opportunity to exploit the essence of America’s strength—the managed flow of electrons and all they make possible—in order to undo that strength prove irresistible to our foes? This line of thinking seems especially likely among our Islamofascist enemies, who disdain such man-made sources of power and the sorts of democratic, humane and secular societies which they help make possible. These enemies believe it to be their God-given responsibility to wage jihad against Western societies in general and the United States in particular.
Calculations that might lead some to contemplate an EMP attack on the United States can only be further encouraged by the fact that our ability to retaliate could be severely degraded by such a strike. In all likelihood, so would our ability to assess against whom to retaliate. Even if forward-deployed U.S. forces were unaffected by the devastation wrought on the homeland by such an attack, many of the systems that transmit their orders and the industrial base necessary to sustain their operations would almost certainly be seriously disrupted.
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Pertinent comments of Gen. Robert T. Marsh, USAF retired, and Chairman of the President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection:
This commission is charged with assessing threats to our critical infrastructures and their vulnerabilities. The President identified eight infrastructures as our national life support system. They are: telecommunications, electric power systems, oil and gas transportation and storage, banking and finance, transportation, water supply systems, and emergency services such as medical, police, fire and rescue, and continuity of government services.
The first line of the Executive order says it all: Certain national infrastructures are so vital that their incapacity or destruction would have a debilitating impact on the defense or economic security of the United States.
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Pertinent comments of Dr. George W. Ulrich, Deputy Director of Defense Special Weapons Agency:
A megaton-class thermonuclear explosion about 250 miles over Omaha, Nebraska, would emit an Electromagnetic Pulse large and strong enough to collapse information society from coast to coast, at the speed of light … nearly the entire contiguous 48 States would be affected with potentially damaging EMP experience from Boston to Los Angeles, from Chicago to New Orleans.
Likewise, potential military vulnerability may be growing. The revolution from military affairs has brought with it a much greater dependence on information technologies. The ability to generate raw data, process it into usable form, and communicate information to the right people and systems is critical to military success, yet the sensors, computers and communications assets essential to this revolution could be vulnerable.
… high-altitude EMP does not distinguish between military and civilian systems. Unhardened infrastructure systems, such as commercial power grids, telecommunication networks, as we have discussed before, remain vulnerable to widespread outages and upsets due to high-altitude EMP. While DOD hardens their assets it deems vital, no comparable civilian programs exist. Thus the detonation of one or a few high-altitude nuclear weapons could result in serious problems for the entire U.S. civil and commercial infrastructure.
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Pertinent comments of Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), Chairman of the Military Research and Development Subcommittee:
… 95 percent of our military communications go through commercial channels. Are we confident that EMP will not disable or disrupt these commercial communications systems? How confident are we that the military could continue to communicate effectively if commercial systems were disrupted or completely disabled by EMP? How thoroughly do we protect our weapons systems from EMP? Are we confident they will continue to function?
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Pertinent comments of Dr. Gary L. Smith, Director of Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University:
The area of the Earth's surface directly illuminated by EMP is determined entirely by the height of burst. All points on the Earth's surface within the horizon, as seen from the burst point, will experience EMP effects … It is not terribly burst-strength dependent; almost any burst will produce that kind of radiation. The strength of the field will change at the various radii from the burst point, but it will cover the same area regardless of the strength of the burst.
The amplitude, duration and polarization of the wave depend on the location of the burst, the type of weapon, the yield, and the relative position of the observer. The electric field resulting from a high-altitude nuclear detonation can be on the order of 50 kilovolts per meter with a rise time on the order of 10 nanoseconds and a decay time to half maximum of about 200 nanoseconds. It is very fast.
It is important to point out, however, that the peak amplitude, signal rise rate, and duration of the EMP wave are not uniform over the illuminated area; the largest peak intensities of the EMP signal occur in that region of the illuminated area where the line of sight to the burst is perpendicular to the Earth's magnetic field. At the edge of the illuminated area, that is, farthest towards the horizon as seen from the burst, the peak field intensity will be about half of the maximum levels, and the EMP fields will be somewhat longer lasting than in the areas where the peak intensities are the largest.
Second, the area covered by an EMP signal can be immense. As a consequence, large portions of extended power and communications networks, for example, can simultaneously be put at risk. Such far-reaching effects are peculiar to EMP. Neither natural phenomena nor any other nuclear weapon effects are so widespread.
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Pertinent comments of Dr. Lowell Wood, noted physicist at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory:
… the basic point is that essentially all of our conventional military capability and all of our civilian infrastructure is highly vulnerable to EMP damage. The dollar numbers in the civilian infrastructure alone can be conservatively estimated at several trillion dollars' worth of infrastructure which is at risk potentially even from a single pulse—several trillion dollars. So the Congress might properly or appropriately be minded to engage the issue on the basis not only that defeat of our conventional military forces but a very, very profound economic damage to our civilian infrastructure is possible.
None of the above men are alarmists. Yet their warnings are indeed alarming, especially considering recent events just off the Chinese coast.
And the bottom line is that now, in 2005, as a result of the treasons of 1993-2000, the power and technological advantage enjoyed by the Chinese is probably, in large part, the result of (bartered for political support) research reports, design specifications, computer models and hi-tech machinery provided by the United States. And, when we are called upon – most likely within the next two years – to defend Taiwan, we will find ourselves confronting an enemy largely armed to the teeth by one of our own Presidents.
Our men will die, our weaponry and equipment will be blown up, and freedom-loving nations will find themselves facing an ominous predator unlike any the world has ever known … in large part because of William Jefferson Clinton’s thirst for power, allegiance to a leftist political agenda … and obsessive desire to manufacture a personal legacy.
~joanie
Sorry for getting a bit testy. Earlier posts got my dander up. Sigh.
"Not all of us are no-nothing armchair wankers"
Ok, wank THIS:
Since you are so knowledgeable, What is the coupling efficiency of a few kilometers of power line, versus a few feet of powercord?
What is the efficacy of power supply filtering from an EMP induced surge from a few feet of power cord?
Don't you know that a surge protector will protect from a surge built up in a few feet of power cord, just as well as a surge from a powerline?
ESD protection protects sensitive electronics from static discharges of thousands of volts, will an EMP exceed that, if so, by how much?
Radio front ends can and have withstood direct lightning strikes, with lightning protection installed and properly grounded. They do so every day, in fact.
Tell us some of the empirical data, when you get done wanking.
I just read a book based on the threat of an EMP attack by Soviets. I think that it was written before the end of the cold war. It was good reading, but I can't remember who wrote it, maybe Patterson.
"Sorry for getting a bit testy. Earlier posts got my dander up. Sigh"
LOL...sorry about the wanking response. I got testy too.
I get what you are saying.....but you well know that the EMP energy is dispersed at the lower frequency spectrum where coupling efficiency is quite low within circuit boards.
In the end, the real issue with EMP is the power grid. The power grid will largely go off-line, and certainly will break grid tie-points.
We need to figure out how to bring power grids up hot from a cold state more quickly. It is an incredibly complex problem, but one that can be solved, (and practiced).
That may be a good way to get new power transmission paths past environmentalists - use the "EMP" hardening argument.
Power companies, transmission companies would do well to preposition all the spares needed to make grid recovery a faster process.
On the other hand, if the EMP hysteria is correct, Best Buy is a good stock to invest in......all that consumer electronics will need to be replaced!
Today's micro-electronics input/output pins are, however, protected intrinsic ESD circuity; typically fast clamping diodes to ground and the Vcc or Vdd supply rails ... this works surprising well in practice AND is an under-rated factor in most 'predictions' performed by arm-chair EMP analysts ...That ESD circuitry is not designed specifically with EMP in mind at all. It is designed with the manufacturing process and then real world usage in mind, and is not tested for or designed in consideration of EMP events.
Since it is not designed to those standards and expectations, it can not reasonably be expected or assured to provide protection during it.
I know of know commercial manufacture who would claim, or even hint, that their ESD protection would definitvely hold up in an EMP event...and I worked for several years at Micron Electronics here in Idaho.
The specs and standards that the equipment has to comply with are different for the two events and you can add a third set in for lightning protection. For ESD, generally they are: IEC-1000-4-2; levels 1 to 4 (contact discharge) and RTCA-160 D; section 25. For EMP they are: MIL-STD-461 C: requirements CS 06, CS 10, CS 11, RS 05; IEC-1000-4-4; and RTCA-160 D; section 17. For lighting suppression they are: IEC-100-4-5; levels 1 and 2, and RTCA-160 D; section 22.
Although there are similarities, the two events have intrinsic differences which make it difficult to make any definitive claim without design and testing considerations to the respective specs.
Is there a statute of limitations on Treason?
http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/mctl98-2/p2sec06.pdf
See page II-6-28. I have to be careful what I post.
Here is an interesting gif:
https://atiam.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/public/4794-1/fm/24-18/24180140.gif
See page 524:
http://www.princeton.edu/~globsec/publications/effects/effects11.pdf
Also see table 11.32.
I believe we would certainly survive it, and would still have the capability to respond overwhelmingly, but I believe we would be hurt severely by it and that in all probability would be followed up immediately with nuclear mssiles targeting our cities and installations, and military movement abroad to attempt to capitalize on the surprise.
Still, as I said, I believe at this point, that a devestating response would be forthcoming from our Trident subs particularly, and from our other forces as well. You can bet any enemy is factoring all of that in when contemplating such a move. It is what keeps them at bay. They are not likely to act and play to this glaring strength unless they have discovered something or intend something to also reduce that reality. I rpay they never do.
Heck, a good CME event will do that. :-)
We need to figure out how to bring power grids up hot from a cold state more quickly. It is an incredibly complex problem, but one that can be solved, (and practiced).
I would hope that is already in place.
On the other hand, if the EMP hysteria is correct,
And it may be all hysteria. However, not from the folks I worked with.
I think I will stay off the EPM threads from here out.
Exactly!
Ummm... thats EMP you idiot. LOL!
PLease reconsider...your input is valuable and insiteful.
But whats happening NOW is Bush is selling us out to the WESTERN hemisphere(illegals and Cafta).. WHILE many eyes are watching the eastern hemisphere.. pretty smart of him/them actually.. Bush is just Bill Clinton with family values..
America is being SOLD in a hundred ways.. hand over fist.. and MOST are in denial, even here at FR.. Which MEANS IT WILL HAPPEN...
Short of a revolution, WE'RE SCREWED..
RFEngineer …
Your original post cites many sources that could be less than defensible when you consider how gov't funded research dollars are handed out.
It may seem like nit-picking to you, but working in a government-funded lab does not lend itself to the same kind of bias as being a member of a government homeland security team that is charged with the oversight of something extraordinarily important … and then admitting that that ‘extraordinarily important’ entity is not being properly monitored, nor is its potential integrity when under assault being properly addressed.
I worked in the nuclear science industry (in fuel element design/development) back in the seventies, for a company that was under contract to the government. Sure there were people there who would sell their own mother down the river to procure or keep a government grant. But the huge majority of those people (probably ninety-five percent) were what I would now call patriots, and I’d like to think that ratio still holds in such an industry.
While I respect your apparent knowledge of the subject (although would debate some of your solutions), I believe that you are, in some ways, proving my point (and the point of the many respected, unbiased so-called Chicken Littles whom I referenced in the original essay …and still more that have been referenced on this thread by other FReepers).
No matter how you believe our electronics-based control systems, sensors, communication systems, protective systems, computers, etc. would be affected by a high-altitude EMP strike, very few on this thread believe that we are entirely prepared for such an attack, and most agree as to the Clinton administration’s contributions to China’s (and others’) satellite/missile/sub capabilities. The debate, instead, centers on whether the PRC would launch such an attack, our degree of preparedness regarding the consequences, our degree of preparedness regarding an effective response, what would be required to achieve preparedness, and the funds and manpower that would be necessary. I believe that policy changes – some of them controversial (as have been the responses on this thread) and considerable study and expense would have to be borne.
As a result of my own personal research, I believe the PRC has the ability to launch such an attack, but would only use it under very limited circumstances, and I also believe that we are nowhere near sufficiently protected.
I also believe that we have to take first things first. In order to save American lives, and preserve American sovereignty, our first focus regarding EMP must be the hardening of our most sensitive and most necessary systems (or proof of the fact that they are already sufficiently hardened) – namely our communications infrastructure, including satellite and airborne intelligence, navigation and targeting systems.
And our (close) second focus needs to be the expansion of our ballistic missile defenses. The Navy’s AEGIS fleet must have the ability to shoot down any (especially ship-launched) missile capable of generating an EMP strike. And we must already have at our disposal (as opposed to intending to produce) properly hardened equipment and repair parts – especially switching systems, high-voltage transformers, generators and turbines, etc. -- which will be needed to repair systems capable of being damaged by such a strike.
No matter one’s beliefs on the magnitude of the threat, or our capability to withstand it, this is one case in which it cannot hurt to be ‘too prepared’ … and it most definitely will hurt to find ourselves not prepared enough.
Am going to be off-line for the rest of the weekend, but, even though I don’t agree with much of it, thank you for your obviously informed insights and opinions.
~ joanie
my contention is be afraid of china/russia doing it but not NK/Iran etc.
From this source:
http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/mctl98-2/p2sec06.pdf
page II-6-28.
"The technologies used to harden against HEMP are essentially those used in the area of electromagnetic compatibility and electromagnetic interference; they are internationally available."
In other words, many many commercial systems, from plasma TV's to computers to cellphones already employ some of these design characteristics.
Additionally, from your other link:
https://atiam.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/atia/adlsc/view/public/4794-1/fm/24-18/24180140.gif
1,000,000 Watts per square meter seems like a lot, but to put it in perspective, this is in close proximity to the blast. The power density degrades rapidly with the square of distance.
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