How To Protect A Vulnerable America From EMP Threat

By HENRY F. COOPER AND ROBERT L. PFALTZGRAFF JR.

originally posted by Investor’s Business Daily at investors.com

The rise of the Islamic State and its objective of re-establishing an Islamic caliphate committed to destroying Western civilization highlights a threat the U.S. has ignored for decades.

Ballistic missiles outfitted with nuclear warheads could be launched against the highly vulnerable electronic infrastructure upon which our very survival depends. Such a threat is not beyond the prospective capabilities of the Islamic State and exists already from North Korea and possibly soon from Iran.

A single nuclear warhead with negligible targeting accuracy detonated 100 miles or so over the U.S. could produce a ruinous electromagnetic pulse (EMP) capable of destroying our unhardened electric power grid.

Without electricity, essentially all our critical infrastructure would collapse. We would be without food and water, hospitals, law enforcement, energy, transportation, communication, banking and essentially all the critical infrastructure upon which our daily lives depend.

The congressionally mandated EMP Commission estimated that such an attack would lead to the death of several hundred million Americans within a year.

Consider three EMP scenarios: 1) nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles launched over the North Pole, say by North Korea or Iran; 2) nuclear-armed short-, medium- or intermediate-range missiles fired by rogue states or terrorists from ships off our East or West coasts and from the Gulf of Mexico; and 3) nuclear-armed satellites launched over the South Pole by North Korea or Iran.

The EMP from any of the three would also put at risk military forces that depend heavily on our civil infrastructure. Presently, no national strategy addresses these threats or supports effective countermeasures, and currently funded programs deal only with the first scenario.

We advocate countering these threats with a two-pronged strategy, which can be underwritten with existing capabilities.

Read More At Investor’s Business Daily: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-perspective/100314-720276-countering-an-emp-attack-on-america.htm#ixzz3FNICeDKZ