The Chinese spy balloon was a wakeup call to America
GEORGE NOGA – MAY 21, 2023
The Chinese spy balloon saga brought to mind a subject I last wrote about in 2017, an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on the USA. An EMP attack is the most lethal and least understood threat known to mankind. Since I last wrote about it, the threat has metastasized and our political leadership (both parties) has failed to take action to prevent an EMP attack, to limit the damage or to recover quickly.
EMP Attack Could Kill 300 Million Americans
An EMP bomb emits a high-intensity burst of electromagnetic (gamma ray) energy. Without getting hypertechnical, the pulse would knock out all power and electronics and cause irreversible damage to electrical transmission lines and any equipment with digital or electronic components and render them incapable of repair.
A single EMP weapon could kill 90% of Americans. Airplanes would fall from the sky. Vehicles with electronic components (after 1972) would stop. Water and sewer lines, electrical transmission lines and petroleum pipelines would fail. Food and fuel would run out. There would be no electricity, computers or communications.
The EMP blast would not kill many; the deaths would come from mass starvation. Cities maintain only a 3-day supply of food. The rule of law would be replaced by the law of the jungle. Few Americans would even know what happened.
How an EMP Attack Would Work
A suitcase-size EMP weapon could be smuggled into the USA on a container ship and placed on a river barge that travels to a place near the geographical center of the country. It could be launched by a weather balloon and detonated at the altitude calculated to wreak the most damage. It would not be immediately known who was responsible. Nuclear fuel emits a signature that can reveal where it was processed.
In 1962 the USA conducted a secret ionospheric nuclear test above Johnston Island which is 900 miles from Hawaii. Although this occurred in the era before electronics and computers, the effects were felt in Hawaii. At the instant of the blast, radios blacked out, telephones quit working and streetlights failed. And this was over 60 years ago in a test not designed for an electromagnetic pulse attack.
In the aftermath of an EMP attack, America would be a third world country with a population of under 50 million. We would be vulnerable to occupation by potential enemies. In the Forstchen trilogy (see infra) about an EMP attack, Mexico invades and reclaims all of the American southwest. It would take many years to recover as nearly all replacement equipment would need to come from abroad.
North Korea, Iran and Terrorists
The NoKos already have an EMP weapon and some of their missile tests have been rehearsals for an EMP attack. Iran soon will have one, as its nuclear program is closely aligned with the NoKos. It is not farfetched for terrorists to acquire such a device. EMPs are the quintessential asymmetrical weapon as our adversaries could inflict vastly more damage and they are less dependent on modern electronics.
Why is the USA so Vulnerable to EMP?
The most important role of government is protection from external threats. Yet, aside from some military sites, nothing in America is protected from EMPs. If we hardened our electrical grid and other critical infrastructure and stored backup equipment at all vulnerable sites we could recover quickly. Furthermore, a high level of preparedness would deter any possible enemies from launching an EMP attack.
I don’t know what such protection would cost, but it can’t be much north of $100 billion – a tiny fraction of what we have spent on Ukraine – and infinitesimally less than we have spent on Covid, the Inflation Reduction Act and climate madness. Our political class consternates over transgender sports rather than addressing an eminently preventable and existential threat to 300 million Americans. The Chinese spy balloon was a wakeup call to America and we hit the “snooze” button.
Note: William Forstchen wrote a popular trilogy about an EMP attack on America. Also, an NBC miniseries “Revolution” depicted the USA 15 years after an EMP attack.
© 2023 George Noga
More Liberty – Less Government, Post Office Box 916381
Longwood, FL 32791-6381, Email: mllg@cfl.rr.com