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Next Generation Risks, Part 1: “Super EMP” Attack

The global financial system’s ever-increasing leverage pretty much guarantees another crisis in coming years — unless it’s pre-empted by new weapons that can, in theory, shut down entire national banking systems, thus screwing up the best-laid plans of today’s savers and investors.

This series will consider some of them, beginning with the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. From today’s Wall Street Journal:

North Korea Dreams of Turning Out the Lights

Pyongyang doesn’t need a perfect missile. Detonating a nuke above Seoul—or L.A.—would sow chaos.

In 2001 Congress established a commission to study the danger of an electromagnetic pulse generated by the detonation of a high-altitude nuclear weapon. It concluded that while there would be no blast effects on the ground, critical electricity-dependent infrastructure could be rendered inoperable. The commission’s chairman, William R. Graham, has noted that several Russian generals told the commissioners in 2004 that the designs for a “super EMP nuclear weapon” had been transferred to North Korea.

Pyongyang, the Russian generals reported, was probably only a few years away from developing super EMP capability. According to Peter Vincent Pry, staff director of the congressional EMP commission, a recent North Korean medium-range missile test that was widely reported to have exploded midflight could in fact have been deliberately detonated at an altitude of 40 miles.

Was it a dry run for an EMP attack? Detonation at that altitude of a nuclear warhead with a yield of 10 to 20 kilotons—similar to those tested by North Korea—would produce major EMP effects and inflict catastrophic damage to unhardened electronics across hundreds of miles of surface territory. It is a myth that large yield nuclear weapons of hundreds of kilotons are required to produce such effects.

Although some analysts have dismissed the possibility of a successful North Korean EMP attack—either on South Korea or the United States—several factors could make it a more appealing first-strike strategy for Kim Jong Un’s nuclear scientists than a direct, missile-delivered nuclear strike. For one thing, accuracy is not a concern; the North Koreans simply need to get near their target to sow chaos. Nor would they need to worry about developing a reliable re-entry vehicle for their ballistic missiles.

Conventional wisdom aside, a North Korean EMP attack on the U.S. may also not be far-fetched. “North Korea could make an EMP attack against the United States by launching a short-range missile off a freighter or submarine or by lofting a warhead to 30 kilometers burst height by balloon,” wrote Mr. Graham earlier this month on the security blog 38 North. “Even a balloon-lofted warhead detonated at 30 kilometers altitude could blackout the Eastern Grid that supports most of the population and generates 75 percent of US electricity. Moreover, an EMP attack could be made by a North Korean satellite.” Two North Korean satellites currently orbit the earth on trajectories that take them over the U.S.

This is not mere theory. In 1962 the United States detonated a 1.4-megaton nuclear warhead over the South Pacific, 900 miles southwest of Hawaii. Designated “Starfish Prime,” the blast destroyed hundreds of street lights in Honolulu, caused electrical surges on airplanes in the area, and damaged at least six satellites. Only Hawaii’s undeveloped electric power-transmission infrastructure prevented a prolonged blackout. It was the era of vacuum-tube electronics. We are living in the digital age.

Some conclusions

• Lots of actors in addition to North Korea have this capability. And we can’t stop it. Preventing a nuke-laden plane or balloon from detonating miles above a populated area is hard to the point of impossibility.

• Banking and brokerage networks would be shut down – possibly for a long while – by such an attack, which means no access to ATM machines or credit card readers. People without ready cash would be stuck without access to life’s necessities. Meanwhile cars, which have in recent years become rolling computer networks, won’t run, making it hard to get to distant supplies.

• The fiat currency of a system shut down in this way might or might not hold its value. This is uncharted financial territory so it’s not certain that cash under the mattress will be of use. And forget about cryptocurrencies in this scenario. Virtual money evaporates when the network on which it circulates goes down.

• The solution? Start upgrading to hardened electronics as part of a basic prepping program. That’s beyond the technical scope of this article, but Google it and you’ll find plenty of resources. And hold precious metals in small enough denominations to use as currency. One of history’s lessons is that gold and silver remain valuable whatever else is going on. If we’re destined to spend a few months back in the Middle Ages, spendable money will make the experience a lot more manageable.

31 thoughts on "Next Generation Risks, Part 1: “Super EMP” Attack"

  1. I have reached the conclusion that most people in the corporate media organizations must be employees of the FBI or CIA. That would certainly explain their total failure for reporting any news on our government. The FBI and CIA employees are forbidden from disclosing classified information.
    Here is a copy of an FBI employee contract below in this article:
    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-10/did-james-comeys-document-leaks-violate-fbi-employment-agreement

    It didn’t stop Comey or Reality Winner though!

  2. Lol! If there is an EMP attack, we can be certain that it was Fed sponsored!

    And today’s protests brought to you by the CIA! We knew that it was establishment sponsored since there are zero Shariah laws in America and zero plans from anyone in government to enact them. It is a protest about nothing in hopes of inciting violence so that full blown police state fascism will be enacted. It also serves as a national distraction from the impending Fedgeneered economic collapse.
    At least they named the organization appropriately Act for America, because this is nothing more than an act by the failed MIC, surveillance state, Federal Reserve establishment. Here is a profile of one of their leading officers:
    President for Operations and Strategic Initiatives of the London Center for Policy Research, a New York Times bestselling author and CIA trained intelligence operations officer with 35 years of experience in global and national security. He is an advisor to senior members of the Pentagon and key members of Congress. He also works with National Geographic developing multiple projects and is the Homeland Security Advisor to the Stafford County Sherriff’s Department in Virginia.
    Ha. Not buying the establishment bull shit!
    The stupid idiots think that what worked in Iran during the green revolution will work in America … oh yeah, it didn’t work in Iran either last time. Maybe they are practicing for their next operation in the US before attempting it again in Iran.
    Bulls On Parade!Rage Against The Machine:
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3L4YrGaR8E4

  3. You should really mention the 2011 book One Second After by William Forstchen (co authored with Newt Gingrich!) Not a great work of fiction but a very detailed account of what could happen with an EMP attack, when all circuit boards fail and how quickly our so-called civilized society …disintegrates from the inside …out.

  4. The EMP possibility is real and most Americans haven’t a clue about it. But a recent piece in the WSJ should make it clear it COULD happen. Regardless of whether people believe THAT will happen, our nationwide electrical grid is stressed and there is little back-up if a cascading blackout occurs. Imagine even being without the internet for a few days…
    I’ve developed an affordable back-up solar electric system when the lights go out, which they do intermittently in my small town in California due to storms or tree fallings. Been experimenting with small scale solar for 25 years. You can see it at powerfromsun.com.

  5. First, NK does not nor will have rockets capable of reaching US.
    Second, NK’s satelites are not lifted up by NK rockets, how they could use satelites to drop a nuke? It is so funny that this writer should start working for Hollywood, not for Gold marketing campaigns.
    3rd) Baloons need few days to reach the coast providing the vesel launching it is not detected which is impossible to happen. This is a pure desperation ideas.
    4th) Nukes are used as a defensive, not as offensive weapon, NK using a nuke provoked or unprovoked would ensure its total destruction. Nukes would be used when destruction of NK was about to happen, but it is mostly as MAD, not to be used.
    5th) talks on NK are mainly used for internal purpose, not because NK is some kind of threat, but to keep the country united under the external threat. The best unity is reached when external threat is happening. So the whole talk about NK is only about getting Americans under control and to get them to buy gold that will never or can not be used in such event.

    6th) and the most important; in the case of such event, how much will gold jump in value? Such jump would prevent you from using gold except for large purchases but not to keep you supplied.
    In the case of such event even if government is unable to organise small scale relief peole revert to ancient way of trade, by using mental record of debt, just as we still do it within the familly and friends. We all remember how much the value of present we received is and try to match it when it comes time for us to gift.
    Yes, the ancient way of trading is by mental record of debt, just as famillies and friends do it. that is how American Indians did trade and how it is always traded before money, there was no barter.
    Barter is a theory of false economists who never went into field to see how tribes do it. Tribes do it today too, by mental record of debts.

    1. Read the book One Second After. It’s eye opening. Without electricity, our society will break down to third world status. Disease, starvation, lack of clean water, waste disposal, and violence will emerge all together. In addition, services we are accustomed to will break down….fires, lack of law enforcement, garbage pick up, delivery of food and medicine, funeral homes/medical examiners to remove the deceased….. Speaking of medicine, how many diabetics do you have livingin your neighborhood? How many of your neighbors/family require daily meds for heart conditions, cancer, other diseases? How many people in your neighborhood are on psych meds?

      1. yes, i agree about all that and i know how society works so it is all true.
        What i said is that EMP attack is not going to come from North Korea, the reasons listed above.
        Destruction of electricity could come from other causes but 100% sure not from NK.

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