By Harold Moskowitz
The greatest threat to a nation’s existence is a man-made EMP attack. It would transport us instantly back to the pre-industrial era. Currently, there are two announced enemies of our nation who continue to advance in both ICBM technology and the ability to miniaturize a nuclear device to the size necessary for insertion into a missile nose cone.
One of these nations is Iran, the other is North Korea. They have been collaborating for almost twenty years on developing the technology necessary to bring our nation to its knees through an EMP attack. They have participated in fruitless negotiations to buy time for continuing their progress. North Korea currently has two satellites in orbit. Each passes directly over the center of our nation in a south to north orbit.
The U.S. has no missile defense system or early warning system pointed in a southerly direction. All such systems were built facing north to detect and intercept missiles from the former U.S.S.R. coming over the North Pole. EMP-causing devices can be camouflaged as communication satellites. Missiles and even weather balloons could lift nuclear devices to appropriate altitudes from a freighter in the Gulf of Mexico.
China and Russia have hardened their electrical grids to prevent mass disruption and destruction from an EMP attack. Our national government has protected crucial military equipment. In addition, one of six electrically hardened planes is always aloft for military communication in case of an EMP attack. Presidential jets are similarly protected.
However, nothing meaningful has been done to protect the civilian population. At its start, EMP power disruption would appear to be another temporary local outage. There is no radioactive fallout. Although initially no one is hurt except for those in airplanes crashing to the ground, it is estimated that up to ninety percent of the U.S. population could die within the first year following the attack.
Most of the enormous generators are not made in the nation and replacing them could take years. Without power, moving replacement equipment might not be possible. Estimated recovery time could take as long as a decade. Death over the next weeks and months would come from many causes. The average city has about three days of food in stores. Much of that and food in home refrigerators will immediately begin to spoil. Hungry, desperate people will attack each other for food as anarchy replaces the civil society. Medicines will begin to spoil. Life-preserving medical equipment will stop working. Without power there is no: water for drinking, toilet flushing, or personal hygiene; fuel for vehicles; heating oil or natural gas; medicine refills for chronic medical conditions; surgery or medical help beyond “first aid;” air conditioning; removal of human waste or garbage; ability to deal with inevitable epidemics caused by drinking untreated water; banking; or effective government communication to a panicked population.
On top of these, add the release of radiation from one hundred or more nuclear reactors which have meltdowns due to inability to circulate cooling water. City dwellers will head for the surrounding suburbs. Anyone within a five day walk of a city should expect the roads to be clogged with desperate people who will try to take whatever they need for survival. Only old vehicles without computer circuits and fuel injectors might still operate. Rural people would have the best chance of survival, urban residents almost none.
Firearm owners should expect attempts at confiscation of registered weapons. Those individuals who have only practiced pistol competition target skills may find themselves at a disadvantage when confronting foragers. Proficiency in tactical pistol and carbine skills would be beneficial. In addition, no individual can protect all sides of a structure 24/7. Only those who have formed dependable community protection groups will successfully defend their resources.
The government has known for decades what an EMP could do to our nation and to its population. Why then has nothing been done to harden our three electric grids? The answer is that electricity in the U.S. is mostly generated by utility corporations which make dividend payments to shareholders. Any time an appropriate bill such as Representative Trent Franks’ “SHIELD Act” is introduced into the House, it passes but gets stalled in the Senate. Senators, perhaps are listening to the paid lobbyists who represent the electric-generating utility corporations. The industry members would become responsible for hardening the electric grids and would not want to collectively spend the estimated seventy-two billion dollars necessary to protect the nation’s electrical power, an amount about equal to one year’s military aid to Pakistan.
