Scenario: EMP BombScenario 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:
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