[DCPatriot]

Not true about the magnitude of a local attack.

It's a big country. First, they will shut off the credit cards in the State where the attack occurs...."for security reasons".

For example, to ensure that nobody has looted the dead and stolen their cards or bank info.

It's commons sense for them to do that.

[discostu]

Very true about the magnitude for a local attack. 3000 people were killed on 9-11 most of them in two buildings, early estimates were that the death toll could be as high as 20,000, did they turn off the credit cards? No. Why not? There's no reason to. The only way the credit cards are getting turned off is if the basic infrastructure that makes them work ceases to function. As we saw on 9-11, there was a time when the phone systems for the city were hosed I'm betting the credit cards didn't work, but they had the phone systems back by the end of the day and thus the cards were live again.

It's counter to common sense to screw up the credit cards. It'll damage the economy which will delay recovery from the attack, it'll foment panic which generally results in violence and looting, and it'll make it harder for the survivors to fulfill their needs. I haven't heard of them turning off the credit cards during any major catastrophe, it doesn't make sense to.