EMP Threat in the News

PREVENTING CATASTROPHE: TIME FOR A NATIONAL EMP AWARENESS DAY August 14, 2012

With the surge in popularity of the book "One Second After", more and more news and dicussion can be found in all media concerning electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and the threat of EMP being the catalyst for our coming collapse.

The following information was released by the Heritage Foundation: By Michaela Bendikova and Jessica Zuckerman

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the U.S. would have devastating effects. On August 15, 2003, a major blackout occurred throughout the northeastern U.S. and Canada, offering a glimpse of what life would be like after an EMP attack. More than 55 million people were affected, but most services were restored within a day.

That would not be the case after an EMP. Damage to lives and property would be immense, and the ensuing devastation would continue for years, if not decades. Yet despite this substantial threat, the U.S. remains largely vulnerable to such an attack.

In order to raise recognition of the threat and begin a national dialogue, Congress should establish August 15 as National EMP Awareness Day.

When the Lights Go Out

A successful EMP attack-a high-intensity burst of electromagnetic energy caused by a rapid acceleration of charged particles-would fundamentally change the world: Airplanes would fall from the sky; Most cars would be inoperable; Electrical devices would fail; Water, sewer, and electrical networks would fail simultaneously; and Systems of banking, energy, transportation, food production and delivery, water, emergency services, and even cyberspace would collapse.

UrbanMan's comment:  Take a minute to think about what those changes would mean - total infrastructure collapse - The End Of The World As We Know It.  Do you have a plan for what you are doing to do (immediate steps) with EMP hitting when you are at work?,..out shopping?,...or other normal life events?   

It would take years-possibly decades-to restore the U.S. electricity supply. Recovery abilities would be critically limited, and the country would be challenged to support current population levels. Millions would likely die.

Launching an Attack

One of the most effective means of delivering an EMP attack is detonating nuclear weapons at a high altitude. Energetic particles released during the explosion would disable, damage, or destroy all unhardened electronic devices within the line of sight of the detonation.

A rogue state would not need a long-range ballistic missile to deliver a nuclear warhead. Even short-range ballistic missiles carrying an EMP device or a nuclear warhead launched from a ship off the U.S. coast could impact millions. Today, over 30 countries, including Iran and North Korea, possess ballistic missile capabilities.

An EMP can also be created by a radio-frequency weapon. While comparatively easier and cheaper than a nuclear weapon mounted on a missile, a radio-frequency device must be detonated close to the target and does not produce as much damage.

Additionally, an EMP can be generated during a Carrington event, or space weather. In 1859, British astronomer Richard Carrington observed an unusually large solar flare. It reached earth minutes later and had a significant impact on telegraphs, which shocked their operators unconscious. A solar flare of this magnitude today would have a much more devastating impact, as modern society depends heavily on electronic devices.

Rejected Warnings and Failures in Preparedness

While the U.S. government has been aware of the threat of an EMP effect since its 1962 Starfish Prime nuclear weapons test, little has been done to harden civilian infrastructure. Key military systems were hardened during the Cold War, but interest in the EMP threat dropped precipitously after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Recommendations of various congressionally mandated commissions, such as the EMP Commission and the Quadrennial Defense Review Panel, have not fully materialized, despite increasing U.S. civilian and military reliance on electronic devices.

Today, comprehensive threat assessments and scenario planning for EMP attacks remain underdeveloped. At the federal level, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) continues to lack a national recovery plan in the event of an EMP attack. Similarly, an EMP event has not been included within the National Planning Scenarios.

These high-consequence scenarios form the basis of federal, state, and local disaster response exercises that are intended to help determine response and recovery capabilities and needs and address problems before a disaster occurs. Given the potentially catastrophic consequences of an EMP attack and the unique nature of the threat, an EMP event should be added to the list of scenarios.

At the same time, state and local governments also remain poorly prepared for an EMP attack. These vulnerabilities are magnified by the fact that the federal government also remains unprepared and would likely be unable to render assistance in the event of an EMP attack.

Take Action Now

Bringing attention to the threat with a National EMP Awareness Day would help, but awareness should be joined with action. In order to prevent and mitigate the effects of a potential EMP attack, the U.S. government should: Improve and restructure U.S. missile defense programs.

Improved command-and-control features and interceptors tied to forward-deployed radar would give the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor the ability to counter long-range ballistic missiles in the late midcourse stage of flight.

Additionally, the government should improve the SM-3's ability to intercept short-range ballistic missiles in the ascent phase of flight. Ultimately, the U.S. should develop and deploy space-based missile defense, the best way to protect the U.S. and allies from a ballistic missile threat.

Demand that the Administration develop a National Recovery Plan.

The EMP Commission emphasized that the nation should first improve the infrastructure on which all other sectors are dependent, specifically citing electrical power and telecommunications. This risk-based approach recognizes that certain infrastructure is key to post-EMP attack recovery. EMP should also be added to the list of 15 National Disaster Scenarios.

Determine which countries could attack.

The U.S. should produce a national intelligence estimate on which countries are pursuing EMP weapons and associated delivery systems and platforms or are already capable of launching an EMP attack. Preparing for an attack means understanding one's opponents and how they are incorporating EMP weapons into their strategic postures.

It is essential that policymakers have the most recent intelligence at their hands so that they can determine how best to respond to EMP threats as they arise.

Prepare and protect the nation's cyber infrastructure.

Cyber infrastructure is dependent on the power grid-which makes it a unique challenge in an EMP scenario. Thus, contingency planning should explore ways to keep the cyber system functioning without primary power; it should also explore ways to protect cyber circuit boards from the deleterious effects of a large burst of energy in the network.

As such, Congress should direct the Department of Defense and DHS to review their cyber systems, incorporating the recommendations of the EMP Commission, including identification of the most critical elements of the cyber system that must be hardened against an EMP attack.

The commission also recommends that preparedness planning account for the interdependency between the nation's cyber infrastructure and other elements of the broader infrastructure. Overall, the key to countering an EMP is to put barriers in place to prevent cascading failures in the nation's infrastructure.

Require more research.

In addition to raising national awareness, more research is needed on the risk associated with an EMP attack to ensure that the nation understands the full scope of the threat and how to close critical vulnerability gaps.

Protect the Nation

The U.S. has the technology to protect itself from the effects of a deliberate attack or space weather. It is a no-brainer that the government should pursue these options and "provide for the common defense." The nation should not continue to underestimate the threat of an EMP attack.

Questions on SHTF Bug Out

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post Urban Survival Planning – Reconnaissance and Security: "I live in Arizona and will be here another three years. If/when SHTF, I plan to be prepared. Got a decent amount of stuff and will be fairly good soon. However, my buddy has family on the east coast which would be a good getaway, but that distance seems rather daunting in most situations. I guess you never know what the situation at hand will be, but I'm trying to figure out do I invest in the more costly items for survival such as a $1,000 generator, etc., or sort of do what I gotta do for 3-6 month span and then take it from there? Living in the city is the worst part. I think that is what my biggest concern is. Aside from gun and ammo, there's not a whole lot else one can do for safety. Any other ideas for safety? Thought about a camera for outside monitoring."  

UrbanMan's reply:  Good questions. A long journey from Arizona to the East Coast is possible, but  improbable depending upon the collapse situation. Best case is that you see the collapse coming and complete your journey afbefore the worst of it hits. Given that this would be a 4 day trip, minimum at best, the situation - especially the security situation - could deteriorate during the middle of your trip forcing you to stop at a time and place detrimental to your safety. This would, of course, have to be considered before leaving. Everything from mass migration of refugees, to government martial law, and expected travel restrictions could strand you. In a total collapse I would envision bands of armed gangs, or at least desperate individuals, conducting ambushes on likely transit routes.  I would expect smaller communities would probably man road blocks for their own security forcing traffic to take different routes.

Fuel would be problematic. Two years ago, while a friend of mine was overseas, I was “on-call” to travel 860 miles (one way) to pickup his family and transport them to my Bug In location....hopefully before the collapse hit hard.  I figured I would have to have a full tank of fuel plus eighteen 5 gallon fuel cans to make the trip. If I could get fuel on the way, great,....if not, then I could make it there and back, barring accidents, road blocks, gangs, etc. My point being if you were planning on a long distance trip, I would want to begin that trip with enough on board fuel to make it to where I was heading without relying on luck or someone else’s kindness to sell or barter the fuel to me.

As far as the generator goes, those are great assets when or if you have the fuel to run it.  I have a hoard of empty fuel cans which I will fill as indicators start indicating the need.  I always maintain a small amount of fuel which I routinely change out.   But stored fuel will eventually run out.  I personally have solar panels. I use both small, portable solar panels to re-charge 12v vehicle batteries and chargers for AAA and AA re-chargeable batteries for my lanterns, flashlights, weapons lights, and radios. I have a larger solar power generator that can be easily loaded into a vehicle and taken with us when/if we bug out. I am just not going to depend upon being able to find fuel, either at the beginning of the collapse or several months into it. Plus fuel breaks down, so these movies and books where the hero finds a vehicle that was abandoned years before and he siphons the fuel and uses it, it is a little farfetched. Check out the Power Source 1800 Solar Generator.

As far as security, nothing works like physical barriers and active armed (and trained) observers.  Technology neeeds to be exploited to make life easier for us and to cover any operational requirements we may have. A game camera or home security camera that detects or senses movement then sends that photo to an e-mail or as picture mail to your cell phone is a fairly cheap and easy solution. Solar powered motion detection flood lights work good as also. Be sure to mount these so you can easily dismount and take with you when/if you have to bug out.

Good luck,..plan and prepare well. 

Defensive Positions for Movement during SHTF

Many of us have a hard time with watching military related movies and television shows. You see all the bad habits and out right crappy tactics, techniques and procedures where all the guy congregated together, point their weapons at each other, talk loud, have no idea of what conceal or concealment is,…and,…… try as you might to realize that this is a movie or television show, where they all have to fit into the camera frame, it still ruins it for me.

I was watching “Falling Skies” – okay I’m an alien movie junkie, but you have to admit that this story line is the ultimate collapse scenario,….Invasion by scary aliens,…….anyway back to my point. In one scene the human resistance group was running a small unit patrol. They were bunched together, talking out loud,…nobody watching their assigned area of responsibility,…about everything you can do wrong, they did.

I can only imagine how they ran their hasty defensive positions. So I offer this basic article on conduct hasty halts and maintaining security with an integral perimeter. This could be for a short term halt or for remaining through a period of darkness or daylight. The two hasty defensive position formations described below use blue circles to denote people and arrows to denote assigned areas of responsibility/fields of fire.

Small Circle Hasty Defensive Perimeter. Used with two or more personnel in the patrol. This is performed with all patrol members sitting with their backs (rucksacks or Bug Out bags) towards each other and their bodies/legs facing out. This is a very tight position which allows for very good noise discipline as each patrol member can communicate to the other on his Left and Right through whisper. Arm and hands signals can be used, preceded by a squeeze on the other patrol members leg or arm.

This formation allows for all patrol members to observe and protect an arc of responsibility to their direct front. A suitable location with concealment, usually through vegetation, must be present unless this position is used at night. Some small units use this position in the sparse desert environment, but usually during periods of minimal lunar illumination where the threat ability to see if reduced and friendlies can exploit night vision devices and thermal imagers.

Again, this is a hasty defensive position providing a small signature. An implied task with this position is that team members should be able to shoot from the seated position or on their backs. The prone position, while providing stability and comfort, does not provide for the best ability to observe, especially to your sides and rear.

Triangle or Strong Point Hasty Defensive Perimeter. This is best used when terrain and vegetation best presents the ability to provide covered and/or concealed positions. One mistake teams make in establishing a triangle defensive position is that the distance between positions is too great to communicate or move undetected to. For small units/patrols, the distance between positions for a triangle defensive position may be as short as 10-20 feet. If the environment or situation is risky enough requiring additional security, the triangle position is beneficial to keeping 50% security – one man at each position always on security watching a combined area of responsibility.

One of the strong point positions is going to be tasked with looking, observing and defending the most likely line of approach into the defensive position – this could be an existing trail or natural line of drift.

Common Techniques for Hasty Defensive Perimeters

Work priorities. As soon as a defensive position is selected, priorities of work are directed. Work is accomplished usually in buddy teams – one person accomplishes the work task, while the other provides security. An example of work priorities would be weapons maintenance, foot maintenance, water and chow, then, rest. Again, one person breaks down and cleans their weapons, whatever level is necessary, while the buddy provides security. Then roles are reversed. Each work priority is accomplished in this manner. The leader of the patrol may have additional leader tasks such as reviewing a map and determining exact location, planning the next route and developing a contingency plan in case of any attack on the defensive position makes it necessary to Bug Out.

Security Procedures. Security is accomplished through many ways.

1 – making sure that the position is not on a trail or natural line of drift. In fact, one good tactic is to button hook back off your route so that if you have anyone tracking your team, you could observe and/or ambush them if necessary.

2 - using light, noise and litter discipline effectively as to not give away your position or provide evidence that you were there.

3 – ensuring that at least one patrol member is awake and alert at all times, but sometimes you would want more people awake. When the position is established the position would go to a security percentage based on the number of people on the team. 20% security means one person awake and on guard for a 5 person patrol.

4 - usually hasty defensive positions would not entail establishing mechanical early warning devices, but these could certainly be incorporated. Even something as simple as a trip wire with a noise maker like a tin can with rocks in it. However if a threat group discovered that, they would know immediately what it’s use it and the team may be compromised.

Contingency Plan. Everyone should be briefed on a contingency plan in case the defensive position is attacked and the patrol is forced to evacuate. The contingency plan should include two routes out of the position – these routes should not be in the same general direction but best case 180 degrees apart to support withdrawal away from attacks; identify where the rally point is; how long to stay at the rally point to linkup with late arriving other patrol members; and, visual and verbal signals to identify patrol members to reduce shooting the wrong people.

Question on 511 Tactical Pants

XSFC has left a new comment on your post Urban Survival Gear - 5.11 Tactical Pants: "Hey, I can't find the link for these specific pants. Not sure which one to choose. Do you have the exact link for this pair of jeans? I like that color and cut."  

UrbanMan's reply: Hey Combatives, click on this link below. In the article, I write about both the Tac-Lite (Tactical) and the TDU pants. 511's titles - not mine. But I think you are referring to the 511 Tactical Pants (Tac-Lite). On you click on the link below You should see a link for the Tac-Lite pants. These are also referred to as the pants made famous by the FBI. The Tactical duty Uniform (TDU) pants is significantly heavier, almost like Judo Gi pants. Anyway, this link should work for you. Again click on the "Tac-Lite Pants" or the "Tactical Pants".