THE ONE THING CAPABLE OF CAUSING A CATASTROPHE TO THE NATION THAT FEW PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT.

On September 10th 2001, the day before the terrorists attacks on the Twin Towers in NYC that left over 3 thousand innocent Americans dead and hundreds injured, no one could have imagined that such an event could actually ever be carried out in the United States – except for Osama bin LadenOsama bin Laden. That one event forever changed America’s way of life as we knew it then. A renewed focus on domestic terrorism ensued and the safety & conscious level of millions across the world was raised to heights that were never seen since the Cold War.

No Longer Seen as World Power?

Fast forward to November 2008 and the exit of George BushGeorge Bush as Commander in Chief and the election of Barack ObamaBarack Obama as new President of the United States. With the exit of George Bush went the one thing many of us could rely on – our safety & security in a world full of rogue nations and dictators hell bent on attacking America once again. As expected, the Obama administration has taken a softer approach to Foreign Policy & has indicated that it will use a more diplomatic approach with leaders like Chavez, Ahmedinejad, Castro and others. Cuts in military spending and abandoning Missile Defense systems have clearly sent the message that we are weakened.

The Time May Be Right

And now amidst all of the debate over Healthcare, Cap & Trade and Immigration Reform, the timing for what could potentially be the most catastrophic attack on US soil, may be right. Our current vulnerability invites attack. If you have never heard of it, an EMP attack if carried out in the US, could conceivably destroy our electrical power infrastructure, telecommunications, energy and water supplies. The high-altitude nuclear weapon-generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is one of a small number of threats that has the potential to hold our society seriously at risk and might result in defeat of our military forces. An Attack of this nature could effectively send the continental US back to the 19th century with a recovery time of months or years.

What Is An EMP?

A nuclear weapon detonated in or above the earth’s atmosphere can create an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), a high-density electrical field. EMP acts like a stroke of lightning but is many times stronger. The electromagnetic fields produced by weapons designed and deployed with the intent to produce EMP have a high likelihood of damaging electrical power systems, electronics, and information systems upon which American society depends. Their effects on dependent systems and infrastructures could be sufficient to qualify as catastrophic to the Nation. These, in turn, can seriously impact other important aspects of our Nation’s life, including the financial system; means of getting food, water, and medical care to the citizenry; trade; and production of goods and services. After consuming their city's three-day supply of food, people would begin to starve, and over the course of a year, 80 percent or more of the rest of us might too.

The recovery of any one of the key national infrastructures is dependent on the recovery of others. The longer the outage, the more problematic and uncertain the recovery will be. It is possible for the functional outages to become mutually reinforcing until at some point the degradation of infrastructure could have irreversible effects on the country’s ability to support its population. Should a nuclear weapon be detonated 200 miles over Iowa or Nebraska, the electromagnetic pulse would fry electronics from coast to coast.

Who Is Likely to Carry Out Such An Attack?

Any nation that has built or has a nuclear bomb in its arsenal would be capable of carrying out such an attack today. Iran would be the most likely to implement such an attack on Israel or the US. The radical Shiite regime has already conducted successful tests to determine if its Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, capable of carrying a nuclear warhead, can be detonated by a remote-control device while still in high-altitude flight. And now that it is closer than ever to completing development of Nuclear weapons, the urgency to disarm Iran could not be more front and center. Iran has described it’s mid-flight detonations of missiles fired from ships in the Caspian Sea as “Successful Tests”. These missile tests are sophisticated and capable of detonating at high elevations – making them extremely dangerous.

"A terrorist organization might have trouble putting a nuclear warhead 'on target' with a Scud, but it would be much easier to simply launch and detonate in the atmosphere," wrote Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., in the Washington Post in 2005 after reading Graham's report. "No need for the risk and difficulty of trying to smuggle a nuclear weapon over the border or hit a particular city. Just launch a cheap missile from a freighter in international waters – al-Qaida is believed to own about 80 such vessels – and make sure to get it a few miles in the air."

Protect everyone, not just president, from EMP attack

It seems that the Federal Government is starting to listen but is only taking steps to protect the President in the event of such an attack, but does not have a plan in place to protect the general population from the 1 to 2 trillion dollars in damages that this catastrophe will surely create. This, even after recommendations from William R. Graham, President Reagan's top science adviser and the chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack to better protect its military and civilians systems from such an attack. It seems the Federal government has not fully learned its lesson from the Hurricane Katrina debacle and the ineptness & chaos that followed.

An April 21, 2009 report from the National Academies of Sciences (NAS) concluded that a $100 million investment could reduce damage to the grid from GIC by 60-70 percent

On May 6, 2009, the House Armed Services Committee reviewed a new report, “America’s Strategic Posture,” by the bipartisan Congressional Commission on the Strategic Posture of the United States. In the executive summary, the commissioners wrote, “We note also that the United States has done little to reduce its vulnerability to attack with electromagnetic pulse weapons and recommend that current investments in modernizing the national power grid take account of this risk.”

A BIPARTISAN CONCERN

H.R. 2195, introduced by Homeland Security Chairman Bennie ThompsonBennie Thompson (D-Miss.), would protect our critical electronic infrastructure against cyber attack and cyber-vulnerabilities as well as both manmade and naturally-occurring EMP effects: EMP, RF weapons, and solar flares/geomagnetic storms GIC. Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairwoman Yvette Clark (D-N.Y.) asked that DOE Secretary Chu be informed that protecting all Americans from these threats is a priority of Congress. We can prove it by making H.R. 2195 a law.

It is clear that this is a real threat to our country and infrastructure and a concern to Democrats & Republicans alike. I would prefer that the trillions of dollars that are going to be directed towards Global Warming initiatives , instead go towards ensuring that Americans are protected from such a catastrophic event that would no doubt render us helpless for years to come. Iran is ever so close to their development of a nuclear weapon. This is the time to be proactive and start thinking about Iran an what the consequences might be should they initiate an EMP attack.