Good article in USA Today.
The sky erupts. Cities darken, food spoils and homes fall silent. Civilization collapses.
End-of-the-world novel? A video game? Or could such a scenario loom in America’s future?
There is talk of catastrophe ahead, depending on whom you believe, because of the threat of an electromagnetic pulse triggered by either a supersized solar storm or terrorist A-bomb, both capable of disabling the electric grid that powers modern life.
Electromagnetic pulses (EMP) are oversized outbursts of atmospheric electricity. Whether powered by geomagnetic storms or by nuclear blasts, their resultant intense magnetic fields can induce ground currents strong enough to burn out power lines and electrical equipment across state lines.
The threat has even become political fodder, drawing warnings from former House speaker Newt Gingrich, a likely presidential contender.
“We are not today hardened against this,” he told a Heritage Foundation audience last year. “It is an enormous catastrophic threat.”
I do not think that a single EMP will make the world go dark, only locally. That is just a scare tactic for the media. If they could do this they would have already done so! Life will go on as normal. Don’t pay into the scare tactics, if they was a danger the government will tell you, or would they?
The Government
My opinion is that the latest threat that started in Yemen with the printer cartridges the last week in Oct. 2010 was just planted as a distraction to authorities. While everyone is looking into those, a real attack could be arranged as we speak.
When you think about it – none of those ~12 packages, no one was hurt and what about the range of the telephone or computer phone. At what altitude could they have been detonated at? Even if they could have been detonated upon landing- surely they would cause damage when they came down, so a limited area.
As authorities turn their attention away from passanger airplanes to freghtliners there is perhaps something else in the works.
A large atomic bomb going off at 30,000 ft would potentially cause an EMP, but then Al-Qaeuda could also charter or own a private jet that could approach that height whereever they wanted right! From personal experiance working at Canada’s busiest airports in Toronto on the private corporate end, security is nil. One customs officer who rarely leaves his “shack.”
Also, during the testing phase of atomic weapons in the dry lands of America some 60 to seventy years ago the researchers discovered that a detonation at altitude would fry some of their electronics. Those tests never impacted a great area and especially not half or wholy the USA either. Thus, I expect that the media and government of the USA is misleading the people of North America about the magnatude of destruction to create hysteria or perhaps to gain public approval for war and funds for more “security” efforts.
People read about a “touted catastropy” like an EMP and get close to hysterical.
Compare that scenario of an EMP and a few poorly hidden ink cartidges. Technologically, the capability of “said terrorists” who designed the ink cartridges, who’s sophistication could be compared to someone who crawled out of a cave recently, with the highly engineered EMP.
With respect of EMP’s at maximum height and power, it could be done as a suicide mission, or detonation using a satellite phone. This is of course if the bombs were made themselves. If stolen, these weapons have codes that change constantly, as well as the half-life declination of the weapon itself (in other words, these weapons, suitcase bombs attained from the Soviet Union, have a shelf-life and would need to be detonated soon before they run out of steam).
It has recently been found that during a solar flare from the sun, radionucleotides (made for medical diagnosis on earth) decay is slowed on earth, and in fact become more charged. Could there be a way for scientists to screen, from space, for nuclear material activated on earth when these flares are occuring, therefore pinpointing the location of these devices. Could the increase in gamma rays these produce be detected be detected by satellite or heat detectors. I would assume that there are certain detectors in us by the Military already.
The other way to find such illegal atomic weapons would be finding the owners of satellite phones. There are probably few and probably belong to mountain climbers, surveyers etc. There would be names of those who purchased. Also, if the suitcase nukes are in the US – they would probably be stored next to a hospital or diagnostic clinic to hide their broadcast signature.
M