I first became aware of EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) over 20 years ago when I worked with an individual who is a former member of a very high level military security organization. He explained to me the concept and properties of EMP and why it is such a threat. Little has ever been said about EMP in the mainstream media, so few people know anything about it. And that is dangerous because as long as that is the case, many of our national leaders will do nothing to prepare us for such an attack or to prevent such an attack in the first place. In fact, our current leadership actually seems intent on weakening our defensive posture.
So what's the big deal? Imagine a nuclear device explodes high over the North American continent. Within a blink of an eye, every electronic device within line of sight becomes unusable. Within a heartbeat we would have no communications, no electricity, no heat, no water, no utilities, no transportation, no airplanes, no trains, so trucks, no automobiles. Just like that, the US would be driven back to the Dark Ages or even the stone age.
The first responsibility of our government is to provide for our common defense. While we should worry about terrorists acquiring and triggering a nuclear device in a large metro area, the damage, as horrific as it would be, would be limited to some geographic area, but a successful EMP attack would end life as we know it. How many of us are prepared to survive by providing our own food, water, heat, and other resources necessary to survival? When North Korea already has nuclear weapons and Iran appears ready to join the nuclear club, how can we believe that our government is doing everything possible to protect us by developing anti-missile defenses and other systems? North Korea already has weapons that are reported to be capable of reaching our western states. But all they really need to do is install a missile launcher on a freighter, sail it to some distance off our shores, and launch a missile equipped with a nuclear device that detonates high in the atmosphere.
This is a threat to our survival as a nation. Millions of US citizens would die as a result. What are we doing to prepare for and more importantly prevent such an attack?
Credit for the following link goes to The Heritage Foundation (http://twitter.com/Heritage)
http://heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/11/EMP-Attacks-What-the-US-Must-Do-Now
