An EMP bomb is a nuclear weapon designed to be detonated at a high altitude in order to create extremely powerful electromagnetic pulses. Such pulses will not only cause the light to go out, but completely destroy electrical devises and the computer systems in modern vehicles. Electromagnetic pulses can occur natural from a solar storm – solar flare/CME, or via man-made nuclear weapons. If the power grid fails due to an EMP attack, millions of lives will be lost and the economy will take likely take a nose dive that is could take decades to recover from – if ever.
As renowned One Second After author and professor Dr. William R. Forstchen has pointed out to both government officials and in his bestselling books, thousands of planes are in the sky above the United States at any given moment. An EMP attack would likely ruin onboard computers and send planes spiraling to the ground – killing both those aboard and countless others at the crash site and those impacted by the roaring fires which would also surely result from such an incident.
EMP attack threats from North Korea should also be taken very seriously, according to former CIA Director James Woolsey. The long-time foe of the United States will reportedly soon be capable of launching an electromagnetic pulse attack against America, if the former intelligence expert is correct. Woosley is calling for the Obama administration and Congress to upgrade the nation’s missile defense systems to prevent a power grid failure.
North Korea would not need to have a missile powerful enough to leave its own shores and hit America. Simple ballistic missiles, like SCUDs, could reportedly be launched from off-shore freighters, from low-yield nuclear weapons, and from low-earth-orbit satellites. A North Korean freighter ran aground in Cuba earlier this month. A similar vessel was stopped carrying contraband weapons from Cuba earlier this year. The presence of the most recently spotted vessel caused alarm among national security experts.
Former CIA Director James Woolsey had this to say about North Korea launching an EMP attack against the United States in a statement presented to the House Armed Services Committee last week:
“There is now an increasing likelihood that rogue nations such as North Korea, and before long, most likely, Iran, will soon match Russia and China in that they will have the primary ingredients for an EMP attack.”
U.S. Representative Scott Perry also addressed the possibility of an EMP attack during a House Committee on Homeland Security meeting in May. Perry said the consequences of an EMP attack would be “catastrophic” and aptly noted that all information and power systems would cease to function. “This could cascade into interdependent infrastructure such as water, gas, and telecommunications. While we understand this is an extreme case we must always be prepared in case a rogue stated decides to utilize this technology.”
Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer appears to concur with Woolsey and recently issued an urgent warning to the investment community. Singer said that a power grid blackout sparked by an electromagnetic surge is the “most significant danger” facing the world.
The highly successful hedge fund manager also had this to say about the importance of recognizing and preparing for an EMP attack or related natural disaster in a memo to his $24.8 billion Elliott Management clients:
“While these pages are typically chock full of scary or depressing scenarios, there is one risk that is head-and-shoulders above all the rest in terms of the scope of potential damage adjusted for the likelihood of occurrence. Even horrendous nuclear war, except in its most extreme form, can [be] a relatively localized issue, and the threat from asteroids can (possibly) be mitigated. A natural EMP event today would cause a massive disruption to the electric grid, possibly shutting it down entirely for months or longer, with unimaginable consequences. Only two years ago, the sun let loose with a Carrington-magnitude burst, but the position of the earth at the time prevented the burst from hitting it. The chances of additional events of such magnitude may be far greater than most people think.”
The letter to clients also encouraged them to call on leaders to protect the antiquated and overly-taxed power grid and essential electronic devices. Singer, as many others who have long realized the doomsday scenario created by an EMP attack and down power grid, also said the government and other groups should be stockpiling spare parts and create an emergency response plan. “We think that raising people’s consciousness about what should be a bipartisan push to make the country and the world safer from this kind of even is a good thing to do,” Paul Singer concluded.
Last year Woolsey stated that Russian officials informed the United States in 2004 that the design specs for a “Super-EMP” nuclear warhead has “leaked” from their country to North Korea. The Russian generals also reportedly told American officials that North Korea could have the ability to develop such a weapon in a “few years.”
James Woolsey also had this to say about viable EMP attack threat from North Korea:
“We must change our policy to assess these threats and deploy defenses against them. The EMP Commission estimates that within 12 months of an EMP event two-thirds of the U.S. population would likely perish from starvation, disease, and societal breakdown.”
While it may sound like experts in the fiscal and homeland security realm are starting to take the possibility of an EMP attack very seriously, so did the Congressional EMP Commission for many years with little to no results.
Representative Trent Franks of Arizona was also on the committee panel. His SHIELD Act, a piece of legislation designed to upgrade and harden the power grid, has been stalled in committee for at least a year. Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, the executive director of the Congressional advisory board on both the National and Homeland Security Task Forces and the US Nuclear Strategy Forum, also once again offered insight into the significant threat to society which would occur if an EMP attack of solar flare took down the power grid, during the meeting. Dr. Pry cited Franks’ SHIELD Act as an example of the government’s unwillingness to act upon the concerns voiced by experts and security officials.
Are you prepared to survive an EMP attack or solar flare?