MUST READ: COMMISSION TO ASSESS THE THREAT FROM HIGH ALTITUDE ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE (EMP)

The Electromagnetic Pulse Commission Warns of an Old Threat with a New Face
by Jack Spencer

A nuclear-generated electromagnetic pulse "is one of a small number of threats that has the potential to hold our society seriously at risk and might result in defeat of our military forces." The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack announced this startling conclusion in a July 22 report to Congress.1 This alarming report clears the way for Congress to debate more seriously the most effective measures to meet the threat of an EMP attack.

Protecting the United States against the evolving EMP threat will require a mix of active defenses, passive defenses, and policy changes. Specifically, the United States should:

• Develop a clear policy about how it will respond to an EMP attack;
• Assess which assets of the nation's power grid and telecommunications infrastructure are most critical to the overall system;
• Harden those critical assets against EMP;
• Retrofit at least a portion of U.S. military assets to protect against EMP;
• Engineer EMP protections into a greater percentage of future military capabilities; and
• Deploy an effective ballistic missile defense.

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Commission to Assess the Threat from Hight Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP): Overview

Preliminary report link, pdf. file.


Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack: Volume 1: Executive Report, report to Congress, 2004.

PDF.file