Posted on 05/15/2017 4:51:34 AM PDT by Kaslin
If you want to cry after WannaCry ransomware attacked FedEx in the United States, hospitals in Britain, and telecommunications networks in Spain last Friday, you’ll want to bawl when North Korea hits the U.S. with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Let’s not go there.
Congressional reports and most security experts agree that America’s adversaries—from developed nations like China and Russia to dictatorships like Iran and North Korea—prefer to target our country with a triple threat combination of cyberattacks, physical damage and EMP. And EMP is the greatest threat of the three.
A unique menace in that it can occur naturally (via a geomagnetic storm) or by man (via the high-altitude detonation of a nuclear weapon), EMP is a rapid acceleration of particles that creates a high-power burst of electromagnetic energy.
55 years ago, during the Cold War, the United States experienced an accidental EMP blast when the JFK administration tested a 1.4-megaton nuclear warhead 250 miles above Johnston Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The test, Operation Starfish Prime, malfunctioned. Traffic lights 850 miles away in Hawaii immediately went out, six satellites above the Pacific died, and radio networks were disrupted in Alaska, Hawaii and California.
Starfish Prime was a powerful warning—had we listened. Unfortunately, today our country is virtually defenseless against an EMP attack. Furthermore, the ramifications of an EMP attack in 2017 are far greater than in 1962 due to the proliferation of grid-dependent smartphones, computers, cars, medical facilities, financial institutions and food distribution channels. Even our military is far more electricity-dependent.
“Electricity could be out for months or years because the grid would need to be assembled completely anew since its components would melt,” EMP expert Avi Schurr told NATO. Hospitals, banks, and grocery stores would be unable to function for months—and possibly permanently. Without power or communications systems, chaos would erupt and tens of millions of Americans would die.
The good news? We know how to prevent an EMP attack—and with a relatively modest monetary investment.
The bad news? More than any president in U.S. history, Barack Obama had unique congressional studies at his fingertips alerting him to the danger of an EMP attack, plus manifold prevention recommendations from the congressional EMP Commission. Yet Obama only took steps to weaken America’s already-anemic defenses.
We must encourage President Trump to right Obama’s failure and take immediate action to harden America’s military and civilian electrical grid and infrastructure.
Building an EMP Defense
“Peace through strength.” Ronald Reagan said it. President Trump said it. Whether you’re playing tennis or the high-stakes sport of international relations, a good offense is a good defense. We will promote peace in America—and the world—by building a strong EMP defense program:
Grow our ballistic missile arsenal:The U.S. military should continue to develop missile defenses capable of intercepting enemy missiles mid-projection. This should be our number one priority for EMP defense.
Unfortunately, the Obama administration throttled the U.S. with self-imposed missile defense restrictions when he signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START). He also cut or cancelled several existing missile defense programs, such as Airborne Laser.
EMP hardening of civilian systems: Our electrical grid and primary infrastructure should be hardened against cyber and EMP attacks. Hardening civilian infrastructure is particularly important given that, as Heritage foundation points out: “The U.S. military has increasingly incorporated civilian technology not designed to resist EMP attack into its systems.”
Congressional and Private Sector Action: Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Unlike most of our representatives who have pushed the issue of EMP under the rug, Murkowski has actively worked to bring public and private sectors together to defend America against an EMP burst.
On Thursday, Murkowski announced her public support for Trump’s appointees to fill vacancies on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)—the government agency tasked with the safeguarding of our energy infrastructure. Trump appointed Rob Powelson and Neil Chatterjee.
Congress should prioritize approval of Trump’s choices and then work with the private sector to set standards and implement policy to prevent EMP bursts.
Support State Efforts: Last week, Texas Sen. Bob Hall introduced Senate Bill 83 in the Texas State legislature to protect the Texas power grid against a nuclear EMP attack. Texas is in a unique position in that its electric power grid is entirely independent from the nation’s grid. SB 83 would require the state to develop an EMP prevention plan by September 1 of 2018.
Alaska and New York have also taken steps to secure their state’s infrastructure in recent years. The Trump administration should publicly support such efforts to harden and secure infrastructure—and encourage other states to follow suit.
“The chief impediment to protecting our grid and our country from EMP is not technical—we know how to do it. We’ve known how to do it for 50 years. The chief impediment is political,” says Congressional EMP Commission chief of staff Dr. Peter Pry.
President Trump, you know what to do. Don’t repeat President Obama’s mistakes. Take action now to prevent a catastrophic EMP attack that could turn America into a wasteland overnight.
The best defense against EMP? Nuke’m first.
Did we ever find out where the THERMATE in the WTC came from...????
did we ever find out where the three nukes that went missing from Texas went...???
EMP... done by whom???
How is it that the NSA and CIA both lose cyberwrfare weapons so close together.... Who vets the contractors who walk away with this info.... Why not hire and vet employees instead of paying 3 to 5 times the salaries for contractors so Carlyle and Booz Allan and the like can make massive profits and not properly vet ... letting profit override national security...
But i guess the generals and politicians dont make/steal enough and need more crony kickback (stealing from taxpayers)...
PLEASE...... DRAIN THE SWAMP....BEFORE THERE IS NO SWWAMP TO DRAIN...
The threat is not foreign..... it is based right here in the good old USA.... in wash dc
The chief impediment to protecting the electrical infrastructure from EMP damage
(whether naturally occurring solar, or nuclear side effect)
is political, rather than financial, obstanence.
Consider, for a moment, what your life would be like without electricity: no refrigeration, no communication, no entertainment, and no transportation .
bttt
No kidding.
I wasn’t joking. We need to entomb the Nork fat boy under a sea of molten rock. He’s able to get to 2000+km high now, he’s a real problem now. If he can put a nuke into orbit, he’ll use it. I just hope one of our sub commanders will turn south Korea into an island if that happens.
Add no public water or public sewage systems.
Cholera would spread like wild fire through a drought-stricken forest.
If all that happens, it will be because our elites wanted it to happen. A giant, un-payable national debt becomes much less of a problem if 90% of the people you owe it to are dead.
” Who vets the contractors who walk away with this info.... Why not hire and vet employees instead of paying 3 to 5 times the salaries ...”
Sorry to tell you, but contractors and civil service personnel undergo the exact same vetting process. You can thank Bill Clinton for lowering the standards for clearances, and thank every administration since for subordinating our national security to political correctness.
As far as salary goes, I’ve never seen anyone making 3-5x a government salary—even the evil war-zone contractors make the majority of their pay due to hours worked. Staffing swings from contractors to GS on a regular basis, but it has little to no effect on costs. The truth is that GS employees are often much more expensive when you add in benefits, and they are no more trustworthy than their contractor peers.
The EMPs will get us, right before we all die of Mad Cow disease.
Even without electricity, my family would have a good chance of being fine for an extended period. I hope all other decent people will prepare similarly. In a post-SHTF world, I’d like to see good people outnumber the parasites again, and during any turmoil, I’d like to see looters and predators have such a rough experience that they don’t have time to learn.
https://providentliving.lds.org/self-reliance/home-storage-centers?lang=eng
The Mormon Church offers long shelf-life (20-30 years) food for storage, and the prices are comparable to or better than what we find in the store. Note: I like freeze-dried and dehydrated for camping, but why pay extra if you are not going to carry it in a backpack?
https://www.lehmans.com/product/lehmans-own-galvanized-well-bucket/
Similarly, I would hope that people would put $80 or so into a well bucket that fits through their well at home in the absence of electricity, if not a real manual pump. The bucket is still a lot of work (depending on the depth of your well), but at least you don’t have to carry heavy and questionably sanitary water a long distance.
First aid and sanitation supplies are also essential, and I’d put hand tools on the list too. I have no advice on prescription medications except to figure out your options, if any.
And, of course, Ruger, Remington, and Armalite offer other products that would be helpful in a grid-down situation.
How do we know those two Nork satellites floating above us aren’t geared for EMPs?
“which CANNOT be pumped out of tanks or transported without electricity.”
Oh noooooees! That mean ole EMP even stops gravity siphoning and hand pumps and prevents fuel from being walked, biked, or carried!
Well that’s good news because I thought bird flu was going to get me!
The big ol reset. Countries typically go to war when unemployment/debt/economies are out of control.
In before the knowledgeable and Expert EMP FReepers who will soon post that EMP is nothing to worry about and any possible damage is negligible at wrose and some who claim there is no such thing as EMP. They will be here soon to explain it to you and calm any fears you might have.
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