Posted on 09/24/2018 5:09:22 PM PDT by upchuck
The United States is vulnerable to a devastating electromagnetic pulse event caused by a high-altitude nuclear blast or solar superstorm, according to a recently published book.
Peter Pry, a former CIA analyst and author of the book EMP Manhattan Project, is urging the government to rapidly harden the U.S. electric power system against EMP similar to the three-year crash program to build the first atomic bomb in 1942.
"Today the United States and the world faces another existential threat—from an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) catastrophe that can be caused by nature or man, and topple the technological pillars of modern electronic civilization," said Pry, who served on a congressional EMP commission in the early 2000s.
The book contains fresh assessments of the EMP threat produced by a more recent congressional commission last year that concluded the United States would suffer millions of deaths from a major EMP incident.
EMP was discovered in the 1960s during above-ground nuclear tests. The tests showed a nuclear blast created a pulse capable of disrupting or destroying electronic devices over large areas, in some cases over 1,000 miles away.
The latest EMP commission found the United States is confronted with "a present and continuing existential threat from naturally occurring and manmade electromagnetic pulse assault and related attacks on military and critical national infrastructures."
An EMP event would produce an electric power outage over large areas of the country that could last for a year or longer.
Emergency systems, such as generators, also are vulnerable to damage from EMP.
EMP events would disable critical supply chains and plunge the entire country into living conditions similar to those of centuries ago prior the use of electric power.
"An extended blackout today could result in the death of a large fraction of the American people through the effects of societal collapse, disease, and starvation," the commission stated in its July 2017 report. "While national planning and preparation for such events could help mitigate the damage, few such actions are currently underway or even being contemplated."
William R. Graham, former head of the EMP commission, stated in a preface to the book that a nationwide electrical blackout of one year "could kill millions, perhaps prove fatal to most Americans, by starvation, disease, and societal collapse."
"EMP is a civilization killer," Graham said.
Read the rest at the link...
BFL
I did about 15 years ago. It woke me up. I now have a years' worth of food, 4600 watts of solar power, 2 sources of water and the hardware and ammo to protect it.
Also an old non-computerized Jeep, HAM radios, and a bunch of other stuff I hope I never need.
Our side looks at this kind of thing the wrong way. If all the power goes out, local detectives will be completely overwhelmed and unable to investigate corpses that turn up in ditches.
“I hear doing it would be relatively cheap, like 2 billion for basic protection, and 10 billion for everything.
Why this hasn’t been done puzzles me, and it should puzzle you too.”
They want us dead.
Wow, great prep. Nothing like that here.
Pfl
Maybe if Boeing, Lockheed, Raytheon, etc. would get in the business it would happen.
Naw, let's buy some F-35s and find some pre-industrial societies to bomb instead...
Most vehicles are (a)Constructed of steel that surrounds the vast majority of possibly sensitive electronics, thereby acting as a Faraday Cage, and (B) NOT grounded, which further reduces the effects of the magnetic storm that comprises an EMP.
The grid itself is definitely a HUGE vulnerability, but don’t let’s create unwarranted worry.
That said, I have a couple of EMP PROOF vehicles. Breaker points are invulnerable to magnetic storms. They’re just nowhere near as efficient. The condenser may fail, but the vehicle can run without it.
Population was <1% what is now, would probably get back to that level pretty quickly too.
You are so screwed.
A modern house would not last long compared to the old houses with wood heat and cooking. How many know how to cook on a wood stove? How many wood stoves do you see around? That and a thousand other things people used to know how to do.
Those numbers *might* represent 20%. MAYBE. The grid is far more intricate and widespread for that little bit of money’s effectiveness.
I know. Right?
So far, that seems to be the plan.
Flash! Headline! Yeah... We’ve been reading this for a decade.
Congress is too busy at the moment to concern themselves with matters of national security. They’re deciding who felt whom in high school and fielding complaints from lifelong flirts who seek to ruin honest men for their own misdeeds.
It’s all much more juicy than national security. Welcome to The Swamp.
Well most people think they are. For one or more reasons. Normalcy bias. Or what I call societal inertia.
How many people know HOW to cook - not from can or freezer? (BTW, I watched my Great Grandma cook on a wood stove...heated with coal, I think...
That’s also right. Normalcy bias transcends all levels of society.
Cascading failures will affect huge sections, if not all, of the national grid.
Go Texas!
People dont even know how to grill with out propane.
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