Electromagnetic Pulse Attack: Known Terror Factor

Converted SCUD's Could Shut Down Power Grids, Cripple Cities

"The traffic lights turn blue tomorrow." - Jimi Hendrix

A freighter plying the waters offshore of the northeastern
U.S. deploys a relatively cheap missile.

A non-working SCUD available on the international black
market, equipped with a sophisticated but inexpensive
electromagnetic pulse (EMP) device, it emits a quick blast
of radio frequency - accelerated energized electronic
particles which become trapped within the magnetic fields of
the earth.

The devastation begins when the aberrant blast of unseen
energy attacks sensors, computers, electric power systems,
engine controls, telephone, radio and other communications
systems, traffic light controls, food refrigeration systems,
and the power grids controlling hundreds of cities.

That's virtually any civilian system in the nation -
"unhardened" electronic and electric power systems which are
vulnerable to attack.

Aside from the chaos and dangerous confusion created, this
would result in billions upon billions of dollars of expense
in spoiled food, lost production, and overtime wages in the
course of just a few days.

In fact, it's nothing new. Something very similar occurred
in the "northeast blackout" of 2003 when a computer glitch
killed power in a half dozen eastern states one hot summer's
day.

Airplanes would literally fall out of the sky; vehicles
would stop functioning; water and sewer systems would quit
working, resulting in polluted drinking water and mass
disease; food would rot; health care would be reduced to its
most rudimentary level; traffic patterns would come to a
standstill due to ungoverned and undirected masses of
vehicles snarled in gridlocks in cities because of the
complete failure of traffic lights.

Large portions of America would suddenly be plunged into
conditions resembling the dark ages. Most people don't have
anywhere near enough batteries to power devices they take
for granted on a daily basis, much less emergency power
generators.

How long would it last? It depends. Many factors come into
play. Use your imagination.

Read my lips.

The price tag: about $100,000 for the device, plus logistics
and personnel. It's well within the reach of a terrorist
organization or any rogue state such as Iran or North Korea.

Russian military experts have developed an EMP device that
would fit on the surface of a dining room table. Chinese
weapon makers have devised similar gimmickry.

The solution: The development of new detection and missile
defense systems, according to the conclusions of witnesses
and staff gleaned from little publicized Congressional
hearings into the matter.

It's no paranoid fantasy.

The scenario is laid out in "Backgrounder No. 2199," a
publication of The Heritage Foundation, authored by Nena
Baker McNeill and Richard Weitz, Ph.D., on Oct. 20, 2008.

This is just one of thousands of such documents available at
no cost through the Texas A&M University Integrative Center
For Homeland Security, Taxonomy for Education and
Exploration, (TEX). Type it into your web search engine soon
and visit the future.

It's a great way to make plans when you're not sure what to
expect.

There you will find the complete text of Presidential
Executive Orders, directives of cabinet level agencies,
reports of national security and intelligence services,
military backgrounders and Army Field Manuals governing
everything from interrogation techniques to detention
facilities in times of insurrection and enemy attack.

jim@downdirtyword.com