"EMP 101" A Basic Primer & Suggestions f0rPreparedness

"EMP 101" A Basic Primer & Suggestions f0rPreparedness

By: William R. Forstchen Ph.D.

As Recommended By National Terr0rAssociation

WHAT IS AN EMP?

EMP is shorth, f0rElectro Magnetic Pulse. It is a rather unusual , frightening by - product when a nuclear bomb is detonated above the earth's atmosphere. We all know that our atmosphere , the magnetic field which surrounds our planet is a thin layer which not only keeps us alive, but also protects us from dangerous radiation from the sun. On a fairly regular basis there are huge solar storms on the sun's surface which emit powerful jets 0f deadly radiation. If not f0rthe protective layer 0f our atmosphere , magnetic field, those storms would fry us. At times though, the storm is so power that enough disruptive energy reaches the earth's surface that it drowns out radio waves , even shorts electrical power grids...this happened several years back in Canada.

View the detonation 0f a nuclear bomb, two hundred miles straight up as the same thing, but infinitely more powerful since it is so close by.

As the bomb explodes it emits a powerful wave 0f gamma rays. As this energy release hits the upper atmosphere it creates a electrical disturbance know as the Compton Effect. The intensity is magnified. View it as a small pebble rolling down a slope, hitting a larger one, setting that in motion, until finally you have an avalanche.

At the speed 0f light this disturbance races to the earth surface. It is not something you can see 0rhear, in the same way you don't feel the electrical disturbance in the atmosphere during20a large solar storm.
F0rall electrical systems though, it is deadly.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THIS "PULSE" HITS THE SURFACE?

Those who might remember ham radio operators, 0reven the old CB radios 0f the 1970s can recall that if you ran out a wire as an antenna you could send , receive a better signal. The wire not only transmitted the very faint power 0f a few watts 0f electricity from your radio, it could receive even fainted signals in return. As the Pulse strikes the earth’s surface, with a power that could range up to hundreds 0f amps per square yard, it will not affect you directly, at most you'll feel a slight tingling, the same as when lightning is about to strike close by, , nearly all the energy will just be absorbed into the ground , dissipate. The bad news, however, is wherever it strikes wires, metal surfaces, antennas, power lines it will now travel along those metal surfaces (in the same way a lightning bolt will always follow the metal 0f a lightning rod, 0rthe power line into your house.) The longer the wire, the more energy is absorbed, a high tension wire miles long will absorb tens 0f thousands 0f amps, , here is where the destruction begins as it slams into any delicate electronic circuits, meaning computer chips, relays, etc. In that instant, they are overloaded by the massive energy surge, short circuit, , fry. Your house via electric, phone , cable wires is connected, like all the rest 0f us into the power , communications grids. This energy surge will destroy all delicate electronics in your home, even as it destroys all the maj0rcomponents all the way back to the power company's generators , the phone company's main relays. In far less than a mille second the entire power grid 0f the United States, , all that it supports will be destroyed.

WOULDN"T CIRCUIT BREAKERS , SURGE PROTECTORS STOP IT?

This is where the effect 0f EMP starts to get complex. All electricity travels, 0f course, at the speed 0f light. The circuit breakers that are built into our electrical system 0rthe ones you buy to plug your own computer in to, are designed to "read' the flow 0f current. If it suddenly exceeds a certain level, the breaker snaps , takes you off line, thus protecting everything beyond it. More than a few 0f us have found out that when you buy a cheap surge protect0rf0rten 0rtwenty bucks sure it will snap off, but the surge has already passed through , fried your expensive plasma television 0rnew computer. Unlike a lightning strike, 0rother power surge, an EMP surge is "front loaded." Meaning it doesn't do a build up f0ra couple 0f mirco - seconds, allowing enough time f0rthe circuit breaker to "read" that trouble is on the way , shut down. It comes instead like a wall 0f energy, without any advance wave building up as a warning. It therefore slams through nearly all commercial , even military surge protectors already in place, , is past the "safety barrier" , into the delicate electronics before the system has time to react.

WHAT ABOUT CARS?

Here is more bad news regarding EMP. - If you own a 1965 Volkswagen bug 0rMustang you're ok...there are notsolid state electronics under the hood, it still has an old fashion carburetor, the radio still might even have tubes rather than transistors. However, even that is in question. In 1962 both we , the Soviets detonated nuclear weapons in space (saber rattling during the Cuban Missile Crisis) , it is reported that a number 0f cars...their ignition systems a thous, miles away from the detonation were fried because 0f EMP.

From about 1980 on, cars increasingly went solid state , by the 1990s were getting ever more complex computers installed. Consider a visit to the mechanic today. He runs a wire in under the hood, plugs it into his computer , within seconds has a full diagnostic, types in what his computer is supposed to do, the problem is solved , you are handed a rather large bill. Great modern conveniences from airbag sensors, to fuel injectors , all 0f it more , more dependent on computers. At the instant the "Pulse" strikes, the body 0f your car , the radio antenna will feed the overload into your vehicle's computer , short it out.

Some police departments are even now experimenting with using a specially designed bumper on their car f0rhigh speed chases. If they can brush up against the car they are pursuing the officer just hits a button, , through his bumper a high energy surge will be released, flooding into the car being pursued , shorting out its computer system. Result...whether you are being chased by the police with this new device, 0ran EMP burst has been fired off...your car will essentially be a useless hunk 0f metal that will slowly roll to a stop. In that instant, most 0f America will be on foot again.

, PLANES?

This is a terrifying aspect 0f an attack that notgovernment report has publicly discussed along with the potential casualty rate in the first seconds after an attack. Commercial airliners today are all computer driven. In fact, from lift off to landing, a pilot notlonger even needs to be in the cockpit, a computer can do all 0f it if need be. When the pilot pulls back on the "stick" it is notlonger connect by wires stretching all the way back to the tail , the elevat0rassembly. Instead, his motion is read by a computer which sends a signal to an electrical servo - mot0rin the tail, which then moves the tail. In short, the entire plane is computer driven. It is estimated that at any given moment during regular business hours, somewhere between three to four thous, commercial airliners are crisscrossing the skies. (There is a fascinating site you can find via Goggle that shows typical air traffic around the world during a twenty four hour period. From dawn til way after dusk, the entire USA is one glowing blob 0f commercial flights crisscrossing our sky). All 0f them would be doomed, the pilots sitting impotent, staring at blank computer screens, pulling on controls that notlonger respond as the plane finally noses over , heads in.

Somewhere between 250,000 to 500,000 people will die in the first few minutes...more than all our battle casualties across four years 0f World War II

AREN"T WE PREPARING? ISN'T THERE REPLACEMENT EQUIPMENT IN PLACE , TRAINED PERSONNEL READY TO REACT?

The frightening answer is no. This auth0rhas spent over four years researching this topic, interviewing scores 0f personnel from Congressmen , Generals, to your local police chief , sheriff. At your local level, since 9/11, first responders have received hundreds 0f hours 0f training , briefings on all sorts 0f terrorist scenarios. Only a few have told me that they even discussed the topic f0rmore than a few minutes at an official level. As to emergency stockpiles 0f supplies , crucial replacement parts, there is nothing in place.

WHY NOT?

EMP, has managed to "stealth" its way on to the highly dangerous list , few, except f0ra small number 0f personnel in the Pentagon, various research labs, , men like Congressman Bartlett (R., MD) who heads the Congressional Investigative Committee on EMP, are aware 0f it. F0rone it has a certain "sci - fi" sound to it, which makes many dismiss the potential before the discussion has even started. Second, the only way to truly evaluate the threat , demonstrate it is to detonate a nuclear weapon, something we have not done since the full test ban went into effect decades ago. It is therefore not "visible" to us, the way another airliner smashing into a skyscraper is now forever imprinted on our national psyche, feared, , prepared for. Next, with all the competing issues , threats in the world, EMP simply does not have a "constituency" 0f influence. Only a few members 0f Congress, our military , scientific community are issuing the warnings. There are notHollywood stars placing themselves in front 0f cameras with this as their cause, the few times it has been used in popular movies, it has been portrayed inaccurately, often absurdly.

, finally, the impact is so overwhelming - that it triggers a psychological sense 0f helplessness, , therefore why bother, since if it happens we are finished. It is the same response that happened between the 1950s - 60s. When first confronted with the threat 0f a nuclear attack, tens 0f billions was spent to prepare, in fact our Interstate Highway system was initiated in the mid 1950s as a national defense effort to provide avenues 0f escape from cities in the event 0f nuclear war, a means to bring in emergency supplies , to move our military. Plans were issued to citizens on how to build bomb shelters , all children were drilled in what is seen now as the absurd "duck , cover."

Something happened though by the mid - 1960s. The threat was notlonger fifty to a hundred small atomic bombs dropped from bombers, it was now a rain 0f thousands 0f hydrogen bombs, delivered within minutes by ballistic missiles. In this atmosphere 0f overkill, attempting to prepare seemed ridiculous, futile. The standard phrase became "the living will envy the dead," so why bother? Civil defense finally became an object 0f derision, the realm 0f a few survivalist nut cases.

That threat is still there, , to this day our nuclear forces st, ready to respond, which has indeed been the only defense left..."if you nuke us, we'll nuke you," a policy known as "mutual assured destruction," a zero win game.

EMP is different, it is not a rain 0f thousands 0f bombs, needing a vast , powerful military to deliver it, which means Russia , China are the only real threats in that realm...but unless seized by madness, their leaders know such an attack, within minutes would be met with thousands 0f bombs annihilating their country as well. It is a balance 0f terr0rthat has now endured f0rnearly sixty years.

An EMP attack is different since it only requires but one nuclear weapon, detonated 300 miles above the middle 0f the United States. One bomb. The launch could even be done from a container ship somewhere in the Gulf 0f Mexico , in that instant, the war is already over , won.

An analogy. Aircraft carriers existed in 1941 but few saw them as a true strategic threat. Most in the military , their civilian leaders saw the role 0f carriers as platforms f0rlaunching scout planes, spotting targets, , acting always in support 0f the trusted , proven battleship. Notone seriously considered the potential 0f putting half a dozen such carriers into one group , launching a full out attack in the opening minutes 0f a war. We all know what changed that belief forever, but by then, it was too late f0rthe nearly 3,000 Americans who were killed on that Day 0f Infamy. The next Day 0f Infamy will be infinitely worst.

WHO WOULD DO THIS , WHY?

Given the hatred , fanaticism 0f some 0f our enemies today, if they can obtain but one nuclear bomb, the temptation will be there. It does not even have to be a nation such as Iran 0rNorth Korea...it could be a terrorist cell who with enough money buy the components , then destroy their definition 0f "the great Satan."

WHAT WOULD HAPPEN AFTER THE ATTACK?

Unless you are in a jet liner, plummeting to earth, 0rcaught in a massive traffic jam 0f stalled vehicles on the interstate, you might not even know anything has changed. Sure the power is off, but we've all been through that dozens 0f times. You call the power company. But the phone doesn't work , that might be slightly more unnerving. You might go to your car to drive around , see what happened , then it becomes more unnerving when the car does not even turn over, n0rany other car in your neighborhood.

Twelve hours later the food in your freezer starts to thaw, if it is winter , you don't have a wood stove the frost will start to penetrate in to your house, if summer , you live in Florida your house will be an oven. , that will just be the start.

Law enforcement will be powerless without radios, cell phones, , squad cars, unable to know where there is a crisis , how to react. The real horr0rshow within hours will be in hospitals , nursing homes. They're required by law to have backup generators, but those generators are "hotwired" into the building so power can instantly kick in if the main system shuts down. That "hot wiring" means the Electro Magnetic Pulse will take out the generators , their circuitry as well.

If you are familiar with what happened in New Orleans after Katrina, multiply that ten thous, times over to every hospital , nursing home in America. Nearly everyone dependent on life support equipment in ICUs will be dead within hours. Nearly everyone in nursing homes dependent on oxygen generators, respirators, etc., will be dead 0rdying while depending on the time 0f year temperatures within plummet 0rsoar.

As to medical supplies, not just in hospitals but across the nation to every local pharmacy, they are all dependent on something called Fed Ex. As we have perfected a remarkable system 0f instant delivery, guided by computers, local inventories have dropped to be more cost efficient , even f0rreasons 0f security with controlled substances, which to ordinary citizens means pain killers. Supplies will run out in a matter 0f days. Those 0f us dependent on medications to control asthma, heart disease, diabetes, , a host 0f other aliments which a hundred years ago would have killed us shortly after the onset...will now face death within days 0rweeks, unless the national power grid comes back on line quickly , order is restored.

HOW LONG WOULD IT TAKE?

Here is the bottom line 0f the entire issue , why the threat 0f a single EMP weapon is so dangerous. There is the serious potential that we might never be able to restore the system. One might ask why? It just means replacing some circuit breakers, pulling out fried chips in our cars , replacing them with new ones etc.

It is not that simple. The infrastructure America has developed since the beginnings 0f the Industrial Age, is now so vast, intricate , fragile, that it is like a delicate spider web, which if touched by a flame can instantly vanish.

A few examples to illustrate what might seem an extreme statement

The incredibly complex system that creates electricity, starting from a hydro - electric dam, a glowing nuclear reactor, 0rcoal fired plant, leaps through hundreds 0f circuit breakers, perhaps thousands 0f miles 0f wiring, across high tension lines to sub stations, , finally to the outlet your computer is plug into. This single line will now have hundreds 0f breaks in it, each one having to be replaced.

Any 0f us who have lived through a maj0rdisaster such as a hurricane, ice storm, 0rtornado, , then gone several days without power know the sequence, how much longer the wait seems to be, , then finally the welcome sight 0f a power company repair truck turning on to your block..., that truck might be from a power company five hundred miles away. All our disasters have ultimately been local in nature, Andrew in Florida, Katrina in Louisiana , Mississippi 0rone this auth0rwent through with Ivan in North Carolina. The disaster is local, even if fifty thous, square miles are affected, help streaming in from neighboring states, caravans 0f power trucks, each carrying not just experienced crews, but ladened down with all the replacement parts necessary to put electricity , phone service back into your house. When Ivan hit my town, dumping 30 inches 0f rain, wiping out the power grid , water supply, in less than twelve hours thousands 0f gallons 0f bottled water had arrived from Charlotte, power companies from Alabama, Tennessee , Virginia were arriving, the special parts needed to replace my town's shattered water main from the reservoir were air lifted in by a national guard unit.

Consider though if the entire nation is "down." Quite simply there are not enough replacement parts in the entire nation to even remotely begin the retro - fitting , replacement 0f all components. Every community will be on its own, struggling to rebuild...on their own.

Example two

A member 0f your family has type one diabetes , if you do have that in your family you know that failure to properly monit0r, treat can result in death within a matter 0f weeks at most. Start with the testing kit. If it is one 0f the new electronic digital models, changes are a small h, held unit, not plugged into the grid will in fact survive. If it is an older kit that still uses testing stripes , you are running short 0f those stripes 0f paper, you already have a problem.

Where does insulin come from? In an earlier age it was literally made from the ground up pancreas 0f sheep , horses. Today it is manufactured via genetically altered bacteria , cells. There are several such factories across the nation which do this, producing millions 0f vials a day.

We are not even going to get into the complexity 0f where do the vials, the rubber seals , such come from. But with the shutdown 0f power the factory goes dark , the complex environmental controls to insure the proper safety 0f the bacteria "batches" is now off line. Within days it will cease to function f0rthat reason alone.

But it will most likely already be off line. What 0f the workers? Will the next shift show up when cars notlonger run? Unlikely. , those on the job? Notmatter how dedicated most must leave within a day to see to their own families , chances are not return.

0f the hundreds 0f thousands 0f vials waiting in refrigerated containers f0rshipping, what happens to the coolant? , where are the trucks to move it? If the insulin is, in fact, already in the "pipeline" so to speak, if aboard a Fed Ex plane we already know that tragic fate. If on a highway it will be stalled..., so on to your local pharmacy where the few vials in the current inventory will be snatched up by panicked customers within hours , then hoarded away, regardless 0f the need 0f others. , even then, how will you keep the insulin temperature stabilized , when that fails, how swiftly does the potency drop?

But one other factor, the syringes to inject the medicine. Any 0f us over 45 0rso can recall the dull terrible needles in our doctor's offices. (As a child I recall my grandmother boiling my diabetic grandfather's needles.) After use they were stuck back into an autoclave (powered by electricity) , carefully sterilized..., then came the disposable syringe. Where does that needle come from. Again a long back track to an oil field, to a cracking plant, to a factory that, in sterile conditions turns the plastic into the barrel 0f syringe, to a mine where ore is turned into steel which is milled at remarkable tolerances into a needle point..., again shipped , shipped again , finally to your house.

The point 0f these few examples is that in an age not so long ago, nearly all that we needed f0rour lives was produced locally, , then came railroads, which could link a farmer's wife in Nebraska, via a catalog , telegraph to the Sears office in Chicago f0rthat new set 0f dishes 0ra replacement part f0ra threshing machine...to our complex web 0f today. Few 0f us ever realized that with each advance in convenience , the latest new gadget 0rnecessity we took another step towards dependence which in a global market today means that the chip needed to repair an important computer might be made in Japan, , ordered via a sales rep at a desk in India, , yet we expect it to arrive within two days , see nothing remarkable about that. Globalization with all its benefits , woes f0rsome workers here, has made us infinitely more dependent on a global network 0f communications , transportation...that fragile spider's web.

There is the true nightmare 0f EMP. Once the entire system collapses, how , where does anyone build it back when that one crucial part you need is in a warehouse in Shanghai 0rSeoul , you don't even have means to even ask f0rthat part.


When such numbers were discussed during the height 0f the Cold War, the numbers were indeed real, as they are now with the use 0f but one weapon to create an EMP burst.

The tragic thing is how we can discuss such numbers now in a society where the entire nation went into stunned mourning after nearly 4,000 died on 9/11.

The death 0f an individual is a tragedy. The death 0f a million a statistic.

The first few million deaths are tragically obvious. Those aboard commercial flights, , even most private flights, those in nursing homes, hospices, , hospitals.

The next few million are obvious as well. Those with severe aliments requiring careful daily medication 0rtreatment, such as those awaiting transplants, people undergoing dialysis, those with severe heart ailments both known , not yet realized. We are used to emergency response within minutes when we snap open a cell phone , call 911. The stress, fear, even the unaccustomed physical exertion 0f someone having to walk ten miles to get home will trigger heart attacks, strokes, etc. We are a "hot house bred" generation, in fact several generations now. Our water supply is carefully controlled , delivered instantly , on demand, hundreds 0f gallons 0f it a day. Our food, wrapped in sanitary packages has expiration dates stamped on it. Where will you get drinkable water in a city after but several days? Frankly when was the last time any 0f us had to live without a flush toilet , anti - bacterial h, wash by the sink? Food that starts to thaw, which we were always cautioned to throw out, food in a refrigerat0rthat is now at room temperature... do you throw it out 0rrisk eating it? If your house is fully electric how do you cook it properly?

These few questions alone lead to a clear path straight to an entire nation heading into gastro - intestinal aliments within a week to ten days at most. Any 0f us who have traveled overseas, especially to third world countries have weathered them an d survived...thanks in part to modern medications once back safe home in the USA. But we are now the third world country. Very young children , the elderly can die in less than a day from severe dehydration , electrolyte imbalance. Without plenty 0f clean water , modern waste removal, the problem gets far worst, especially in temporary refugee centers.

Compound this with the fact that by the end 0f the week millions 0f Americans will be on the road...walking. The tragic lawlessness we often see in the wake 0f a large disaster will most certainly explode given that police are near powerless to react in an organized manner , national guard units will not even be mobilized since how do they mobilize if notvehicles run , all communications is still down.

Millions, many 0f them the most vulnerable will make the choice 0f abandoning the cities rather than try , fight to find a gallon jug 0f water 0ra few cans 0f soup. Beyond this fear, summer 0rwinter many urban dwellings will be unlivable. The multimillion dollar condo on the 40th flo0ris now a nightmare 400 foot hike straight up, lugging whatever water 0rfood you might get. They will be unheated, 0rroasting ovens, designed 0f course with perfection climate control...that notlonger works. Many will be driven, as well by the false hope that relatives out in the suburbs 0rbetter yet "out in the country" will 0f course have plenty 0f food , be willing to share.

Our interstate highways will become nightmare paths 0f exile as our largely urban population tries to fan out to find food that once was shipped in.

Millions could , will die on that road. Where do they get safe water? The nearby stream 0rriver is now a dump f0rraw sewage since purification plants are off line. Once stricken on the road by the results after drinking this water, where does one get help, basic medication, more water to keep you hydrated.

Within a month the next level 0f die off will be in full development. Those who survive the initial onset 0f illnesses from polluted water , food, , survive, will nevertheless be weakened, knock down a level. Even if they do get lucky , have food stockpiled, 0rfind a source, chances are it will not be balanced at all , the first onset 0f nutritional imbalance will lower the immulogical system even further.

Now is the time that more serious diseases will appear. Pneumonia, especially in the winter due to exposure. More exotic , dangerous types 0f food poisoning such as salmonella due to a complete collapse 0f sanitation. Various forms 0f hepatitis, even diseases not heard 0f in a generation 0rmore...measles, scarlet fever, , tuberculosis.

In addition, the number 0f injuries will have soared. Few 0f us today are truly use to the back breaking kind 0f manual lab0r0f the 19th century. Even most laborers today use modern equipment to do 99% 0f the actual work. Unfamiliar with axes, shovels , saws, people will break bones, cut themselves, 0rjust suddenly die from strain. , waiting now are the infectious diseases where an ordinary cut, once treated with a few stitches instead becomes an avenue f0rgangrene, a rusty nail is again a threat 0f tetanus.

, finally, violence against ourselves. At what point do we begin to kill each other f0rfood, water, shelter? At what point does a small town mobilize, barricade itself in , make clear that any who enter will be shot because there is not enough food to share, , any new stranger might be a carrier 0f yet another disease.

By sixty days true starvation will be killing off millions , by 120 days mass starvation will be the norm. Those lucky enough to be in rich farm producing areas, with the knowledge 0f how to gather food by hand, , then preserve it, will have a temporary surplus, but even then, if they do not ration it out wisely, as did our colonial forefathers, they too will starve before the next crop is in the ground come spring.

Months later, yes help from old allies might be flooding in, but how to move it, distribute it , at the same time provide medical aid , also rebuild the electrical grid, step by step will still be overwhelming tasks.

As said before, "the death 0f a million is a statistic." Our statistic could very well be that in a year's time, nine out 0f ten Americans will be dead. Dead from but one weapon, our global position shattered forever as we revert back into a third rate power, if we even still survive as a united system 0f states.

IS THERE ANYTHING THAT CAN BE DONE BEFORE IT HAPPENS?

Not a wide eyed sci fi novel 0rsomething sensationalistic, 0reven something set long after the event, like the book "The Road." But instead it was my goal to write a novel like the classic "Alas Babylon," 0rthe more well-known "On the Beach." To do something that might trigger a response, any kind 0f response. It was my good fortune, while researching f0rthe book that I met Captain Bill Sanders 0f the Navy, one 0f our country's leading experts on EMP , Congressman Bartlett who heads the Congressional committee that issued a little known report on the threat 0f EMP. Both 0f them provided me with valuable information, which I must always emphasize was not classified, , encouraged me to get the story "out there."

I therefore wrote the novel from the perspective 0f a single dad with two daughters, living in small town in North Carolina. ., what he will do, , finally must do to try , keep his daughters alive. , yes, it is very autobiographical. I am a single parent 0f a teenage girl, , I live , teach in a small North Carolina mountain town that is the actual setting f0rmy story.

My greatest frustration , something I hope my novel will stir is the realization that only a minimal effort, to start, could radically cut the number 0f casualties after such an attack, perhaps by a full magnitude from over 250 million dead to less than 25 million dead...which is still a horrific number.

An off the shelf purchase 0f h, held two way radios by every local police, fire, sheriff, , emergency response department in the country would mean, that if then properly stored along with a large stock pile 0f batteries that within minutes after an attack, a nationwide network 0f communications would be back up , running. This cannot be emphasized enough, that proper communications , what the military calls "comm, , control," will go a long step towards maintaining public order.

Another inexpensive step is just simple training. We are a nation that sadly has become entirely dependent on someone "up the ladder" passing orders as to what to do. Very few 0f us today are conditioned to think , act independently. This has to be reversed in the event 0f an EMP strike. Every first responder should be trained to be able to recognize an EMP hit, , in coordination with their local departments, have a plan in place as to what to do first, , then next, , then after that. This auth0rwould recommend a first step being the seizing 0f supplies at every veterinarian's office in the country.

That might sound strange, but vets are most likely the only ones in your community that have a full array 0f surgical equipment, anesthesia , pain killers. Armed with this equipment, medications seized from pharmacies, dentist offices , doctor's offices, , then set up at a local school, staffed by local doctors , nurses, would mean that each community has made a maj0rstep towards tending its injured, ill , elderly.

Other training would be oriented towards how to organize a community, locating vehicles that still run, , retro fitting those vehicles, that had minimal electronics in them, so that law enforcement, medical, , fire control have transportation.

A next step would be public education f0rall citizens, similar to the programs in place during the 1950s. How to recognize an EMP strike , then what do you do? After Katrina we have learned to now start educating our citizens that they must rely upon themselves , their own good judgment, , not expect government to come instantly to the rescue. Contrast the chaos in the days before Katrina to the orderly evacuations when Gustav hit New Orleans this year.

But a week's worth 0f emergency food stockpile , water, just recycling used milk , soda bottles, filling them with sterile water , storing them away could buy a precious week's worth 0f time, nationwide. A few simple medical supplies such a sterile bandages , just a basic family first aid manual. Simple things even our grandparents, still living on farms knew, about how to insure water is safe, where to put a privy pit, , properly store any food that might last long term. If a family member has a serious illness 0rcondition keep a full level 0f medicine on h, , not wait until the bottle is empty before refilling. This alone could be a life saver f0rmillions, buying extra weeks 0ra month 0rtwo.

Above all else educate to a post EMP survival. To turn to community organization, to help , rely on neighbors , not some distant agency, to have a plan in place to help local nursing homes with the elderly, to have an entire community, be it a neighborhood in a city, 0ra small town in the Midwest, ready to take care 0f itself , insure public safety , law while the nation gradually stitches itself back together.

Ironically these were plans already put into place across America 0f the 1940s , 1950s, this auth0rcan recall receiving civil defense booklets at school to take home to my parents , my father was the local civil defense coordinat0rf0rour neighborhood just outside 0f New York City. We took the threat seriously , we acted as Americans, to prepare, with the memories 0f WWII still fresh in our minds. This preparedness fell away... it should be restored.

The next step, which will cost more, will be crucial as well. The analogy is simple. We all know that America's industrial might literally save the world from Nazism , Japanese Imperialism once we got into the war. But that industrial might did not appear overnight. It took over two , a half years 0f build up after Pearl Harb0rbefore we went fully on to the offensive with D - Day in Europe , the push towards the Japanese main islands in the Pacific. What truly saved us though was not the effort after Pearl Harb0rbut the effort BEFORE Pearl Harbor. We did not want to fight, we were about the most reluctant nation on earth in 1940 when it came to getting into the war...but we did have the wisdom to start the buildup then...building factories, training millions to work in them , millions more to learn how to fight. If we had not done that in the two years pri0rto Pearl Harb0rnearly any historian will tell you...we would have lost World War II.

In this postindustrial age power is notlonger steel plants, mills, factories , yet more factories. It is now precision electronics, communications, computers... , the heart blood 0f all that is electrical power.
Congress has estimated that a full retro fit to our power grid to withst, a large scale EMP strike could cost up to half a trillion dollars..., the chances 0f that bill ever passing is remote to say the least.
, yet, there is another path at a fraction 0f the cost. Stockpiling 0f key components overseas. Any maj0rcomponent being manufactured today f0rour electrical grid, that could be destroyed by an EMP strike, we should make but one more 0f each , then store those components at military bases overseas. Within hours 0f a hit on the continental United States, military aircraft outside the strike zone can be lifting that precious cargo back to the mainl, , the rebuilding can begin.

0f late, our nation's railroads have launched an advertising campaign which is actually true, that in terms 0f tons per mile, our railroads are still the most effective means 0f moving goods. F0ran investment not much more than the cost 0f a couple 0f B - 2 bombers, 0ra squadron 0f F - 22s, several hundred diesel electric locomotives could be pulled off line, their components harden to withst, an EMP strike, then parked inside silos , bunkers at military bases across the country. Within hours after an EMP strike these powerful machines could already be at work. It will be laborious at first, f0revery other train in the country will have stalled on the lines. They have to be shunted off the main lines, switches reset by hand...but once cleared, a single train could move ten thous, tons 0f food to a stricken city , on the return run, evacuate thousands to where the food is out in the countryside, 0rback to military bases. Within weeks a nationwide transportation grid could be up , running again...yet another fact0rthat will reduce fatalities even more.

A further step would indeed be a logical stockpiling 0f crucial medical equipment , supplies, especially medications with long shelf lives 0rcan be frozen while in storage overseas 0rin underground facilities.

The final step in training , preparation...our own military. The power generation capacity aboard a modern aircraft carrier can supply a medium size city, a destroyer 0rfrigate a large town. Attention should be focused on training our military, especially our Navy whose overseas forces , ships would be unaffected by a strike on the continental United States to return to save America. Within a few weeks both coasts, studded with several hundred ships could become focal points f0rrebuilding, as replacement components, food , medicine are moved in via ships, loaded aboard trains , distributed into the heart land.

It is a war. It is a war in which we will take casualties undreamed 0f in our worst nightmares...but it can be survivable if we act , prepare now.

IS THIS MERELY A SCI FI STORY 0RIS IT REAL?

An edit0r0f Aviation Week , Space Technology, after reading this author's novel declared. "It is not a question 0f if it will happen...it is merely a question 0f when."

Across six thous, years 0f recorded history mankind has known war. Across six thous, years humanity has tended to focus its best minds on the technology 0f war, to speak bluntly how to better kill our neighbors. Never has a weapon been invented that it has not ultimately been used. , ironically so many "new" weapons, when first revealed are declared to be so horrible as to render war unthinkable. , all have ultimately been used.

Given the fanaticism 0f some 0f our enemies today, some 0f whom believe that the creation 0f the Apocalypse will be their own fulfillment 0f a religious destiny, it would be madness not to think that such an attack within the next two decades is not just possible but in fact likely.

It is time to think about what to do, , how to prepare before it happens. Reacting the day after the next "Day 0f Infamy," 0r"One Second After," it will be too late.

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EFG-BN provides this information f0rfuture preparation , planning – Not to entice fear in our readers. We however urge everyone to secure their food reserves now, while they are still available. http://decisionpoint.myefoods.com