Ten Dangerous Scenarios

Attack a nuclear plant

Cripple the
Transportation System

Destroy the
Fort Peck Dam

Detonate a suitcase bomb

Attack the Alaska pipeline

Contaminate a ventilation system

Cut off power to
a major city

Shoot down
Air Force One

Attack a chemical factory

Destroy a stadium

>> See the entire list <<

Scenario: EMP Bomb

Scenario

Detonate an EMP bomb over or near a major U.S. city to destroy all electronic devices in the vicinity.

Description

When the first open-air nuclear bomb tests were conducted, it was discovered that nuclear bombs have a strong "EMP Effect." EMP is "Electromagnetic Pulse". Simply put, the act of detonating a nuclear bomb in the air causes an extremely strong voltage surge to propagate like a radio wave outward from the bomb. This voltage affects anything metal, including power and telephone lines. It also affects printed circuit boards and the chips inside electronic devices. The induced voltage surge damages or destroys anything electronic. Since nearly everything we own uses electricity or electronics in some way, an EMP pulse can knock out everything we hold dear - TVs, radios, computers, telephones, cars, and so on.

The James Bond movie entitled GoldenEye uses an EMP weapon in the plot of the movie. In the movie, Russia has two nuclear EMP satellites in orbit, both of which are hijacked by terrorists.

There are other ways to create an EMP pulse (see the links below). An article in the September 2001 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine discusses low-cost EMP weapons made from conventional explosives.

A terrorist could detonate one small (10 kiloton) nuclear bomb at a high altitude and affect a very wide area (tens of miles in diameter). If the bomb were placed in a satellite orbiting 300 miles overhead, the pulse could affect the entire United States.

Damage Potential

Damage from an EMP weapon would be severe because, in general, no civilian device or system is shielded from the effects of EMP, despite wide knowledge of the effect for several decades. Power systems, phone systems, computer systems, radio systems, etc. would all be affected. After an EMP attack, the total cost of replacement of all affected equipment would be in the trillions of dollars and would take an immense amount of time. Meanwhile, the chaos would be unbelievable since transportation and communication would be impossible.

Potential Solutions

Two things are important:

  • An EMP bomb is our Achilles heel. A strategically planned strike with small bombs in several key cities would be amazingly debilitating. A nuclear EMP bomb at satellite altitude would affect the entire country.
  • Given that the EMP effect has been known for so long, and given the threat of nuclear strike during the cold war, it is surprising that nothing has been done in the civilian sector to harden anything against an EMP attack.
The only solution is to begin hardening things, starting with the basics like the power grid, the telephone network and the Internet and moving out from there. It will be a big job.

Related Links


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