I get a continuous stream of e-mail from people asking about surviving an EMP attack. Worse, a belief in the likelihood of an EMP attack (the big one) often leads them to discount and discard paths to resilience they should be taking.
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For those readers that don't know what an EMP attack is, here is some background on Wikipedia. Essentially, an electromagnetic pulse attack (EMP) is:
- an attack that begins with an explosion of a nuclear weapon (potentially many of them) in the upper atmosphere over the target
- the explosion produces a pulse (multiple effects) that balloons out from the explosion over a very wide area, very quickly
- the pulse overloads electronic devices, burning their chips and boards.
There's considerable speculation, that a series of large nukes that exploded over the US would be able to create a pulse that is large enough to wipe out most electronic devices currently in use.
This scenario of a low physical damage attack that wipes out all electronics has been around forever. I studied it as a young man, when I began to grapple with the intricacies of nuclear strategy.
However, it gained lots of steam lately, due to this book: One Second After.
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There's one problem with the EMP scenario. It's the same problem it has had since it was discovered in the 60's.
The problem is that an EMP attack is part and parcel of a general nuclear war. It's not a stand alone scenario, no matter how many ways you torture it.
Here's the simple formulation:
EMP attack = Nuclear war.
So, in other words, if you are planning to survive a nuclear war, the loss of some electronics is the least of your worries.
Unless TPTB want to shut down the nation to control comms. That way its easier to coverup transgressions.All this talk like the MIAC report and EMPs at the same time......hmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteUnless TPTB want to shut down the nation to control comms. That way its easier to coverup transgressions.
ReplyDeleteGood point.
Its more of an issue of scale. The USA is f**kin' huge The only nation with enough nukes to do any damage is Russia, which when one considers how many accidents have occurred between the two nations that didn't lead to nuclear war, I find it hard to believe they would be a legitimate aggressor.
ReplyDeletethe EMP attack is always positioned as an easy nuclear attack, but since you need a airburst for maximum effect, you'll need some type of launch vehicle (a hijacked COMAIR could work as well). the question is how many of these rogue states could get their hands on a device of significant yield and then commender a jet to accomplish goal? Very few. You'd get more bang for your buck utilizing a BIO or CHEM attack.
Interesting.
ReplyDelete