From a Heritage Report, titled "DHS Admits It Is Unprepared for EMP Threat".
In testimony delivered on September 12, Brandon Wales, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Infrastructure Threat and Risk Analysis Center, admitted that DHS remains unprepared for the possibility of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) event or attack. Wales testified that the nation’s power grid is more vulnerable now than it was a few years ago. Nevertheless, he could not provide Congress with an estimate for how much it would cost to combat such vulnerabilities. An EMP attack could bring this country to a screeching halt by permanently disabling electronic devices.
ATMs would stop dispensing money. Water and sewage systems would fail. Even planes and automobiles would stop working. Imagine living in the Dark Ages: This is what it would be like to live through an EMP attack. More than seven years ago, DHS released its National Planning Scenarios. This document outlined plans to prepare for and respond to 15 different man-made and natural disasters.
The list included the detonation of an improvised nuclear device and the use of a plague as a weapon. However, one potential threat was noticeably missing; an EMP event or attack. The possibility of an EMP is arguably just as likely to occur as the detonation of an improvised nuclear device or the use of a contagious and deadly biological weapon.
A rouge nation could effectively disable, damage, or destroy critical infrastructure with a shortrange ballistic missile carrying an EMP device or nuclear warhead. Countries such as North Korea and Iran already possess ballistic missile capabilities. Other weapons, such as a radio-frequency device, could also cause an EMP that would disrupt critical systems.
Natural events could also plausibly result in an EMP. NASA and the National Academy of Sciences have argued that a “solar maximum” could occur between now and 2014. As the solar maximum approaches its peak, the sun could propel electromagnetic fluctuations into the earth’s atmosphere. These fluctuations would interact with our electrical systems and result in blackouts affecting 130 million people. Costs of such outages could range from $1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year alone. To make matters worse, an outage could last for years, because we would need to completely rebuild our infrastructure. In this scenario, food and water delivery systems would be devastated.
We could see massive human casualties on a scale that hardly seems imaginable. The United States is vulnerable to an EMP that could occur at the hands of our enemies or via uncontrollable natural forces. Department of Homeland Security is ignoring the threat posed by an EMP at the risk of literally plunging us into darkness.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
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That is why I myself have stopped and even though have preparations of modern convenience have also studied and delved into the past learning paleo skills because if by chance I am going to live in the dark ages I am going to live some what comfortable. So by learning and practicing skills passed deon from my ancestors and learned from others who are experts in the fields of paleo technology. I am mastering that technology and becoming quiet proficient. I don't plan on starving and being without.
ReplyDeleteMost of this is pure hype. Think about this; an EMP attack on the U.S. is a nuclear attack. Who would do this? It would beg for a nuclear response and an EMP will leave our entire military intact. So North Korea sends over an EMP device and we nuke NK back into the stone age. How was that a smart choice by NK.
ReplyDeleteSecondly it is physically impossible to take out all of our infrastructure with one EMP. Studies have show to be effective it would take about 24 in a grid pattern over the U.S. Same studies have shown that this "could" destroy from 50% -75% of the electrical grid. So again why would anyone choose this? It isn't totally effective and the sheer number of nucular devices required is almost an impossibility.
Third; after an EMP and army of utility workers would begin fixing the grid. Luckily an EMP would burn out the fuses and weak links in the grid leaving 99.999% of the wiring and transformers intact. Within a week most critical users would be up and running and within a month most cities would be near 100%. An EMP is not magic it is merely a massive surge and it's damage is easily repaired. So again how would do this? They would face nuclear retalliation, the attack would be incredibly difficult to pull off, it wouldn't be all that effective and it could be repaired in a month at most.
You post the same reply to every mention of an EMP, and every time you're wrong. I'm getting sick of correcting you.
DeleteYour argument is based on a small accidental EMP 60 years ago. Pre-Integrated Circuit amd not detonated directly over a target, at the ideal altitude or modern mega-ton range.
There are MANY reasons why someone would want to try and preserve our fertile farmland for thier own 1.5 billion starving people, for one example.
And an EMP DOES NOT SIMPLY TRIP THE BREAKERS! It is millions of volts of electricity per every inch of wire, melting every transformer in the country. An item I will add... AGAIN... we don't manufacture anymore. Along with a score of other components that we are SOL without...