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By Root 5412 0

same day the 9/11 Commission's report directed most of America's immediate attention to the rearview mirror to find out why we failed to prevent the horrific terrorist attack of 2001. As television commentators pored over the 9/11 report and offered in-depth analysis of the "failure of imagination," the stark warnings and recommendations of the EMP commission went largely unnoticed into the back-logged pile of congressional failures of implementation.

So why are we reluctant to realistically address the threat of an EMP attack? Skeptics will continue to regurgitate bureaucratic babble such as "while it is technically feasible, it is highly improbable," or "we do not have any credible intelligence indications and we must remain focused on near-term concerns" and other canned responses of downplayed threat perceptions prevalent prior to 9/11.

Fortunately, while there is no clear objective method for analyzing relative risks and costs for comparing large-scale disasters, there is a high value to preventing, preparing for, and being able to recover from large-scale disasters such as hurricanes, floods, and regional power outages. The thorough work of the EMP commission provides a clear look at the nature of the problem, mitigation strategies and recommendations. The solution "is feasible and well within [our] means and resources to accomplish."6

One of the EMP commissioners, Dr. Lowell Wood, noted nuclear physicist involved with EMP weapons for three decades, characterizes an EMP event as a "continental time machine that would move us back to the nineteenth century." When questioned that the technology of a century ago could not support our present population, he unemotionally replied, "Yes, I know. The population will shrink until it [can] be supported by the technology."7 Farming expertise, horses, and mules would be in short supply. As EMP weapons do not distinguish between military and civilian targets, it is especially critical that our electrical power infrastructure be hardened against EMP.

An EMP attack should not be viewed as a Cold War "bolt from the blue" but prepared for as an anticipated asymmetric "bolt from the gray." We have been warned that our country is "vulnerable and virtually unprotected against an EMP attack that could damage or destroy civilian and military critical electronic infrastructures triggering catastrophic consequences that could cause the permanent collapse of our society."8 One second after an EMP attack, it will be too late to ask two simple questions: what should we have done to prevent the attack and why didn't we do it.

Captain Bill Sanders, U.S. Navy

NOTES

Bill Keller, "Nuclear Nightmares," New York Times Magazine, May 26, 2002. From an interview with General Eugene Habiger, USAF (ret.), on nuclear terrorism scenarios.

Gary L. Smith, Testimony Statement, U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Military Research and Development, July 16, 1997.

Samuel Glasstone and Philip J. Dolan (eds.), The Effects of Nuclear Weapons (Third Edition), United States Department of Defense and the Energy Research and Development Administration, 1977, p. 522.

Newt Gingrich, Testimony Statement, U.S. Senate, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, November 15, 2005.

Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attach, Volume I, Executive Report 2004, available at http://empcommission.org

.

Ibid., 3.

Lowell Wood, Testimony, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Armed Services, July 22, 2004.

Roscoe G. Bartlett, Letter, October 19, 2004.

The views expressed in this essay are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.

Table of Contents

ONE SECOND AFTER

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

FOREWORD

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

AFTERWORD

NOTES