2004 report to US Government on aspects relating to EMP attack on USA.
Fascinating.
I'll start this as [EE] BUT if it goes as it may then changing to OT
soonish may be in order.

I feel that the summary that alerted me to this report, and the
general conclusions, are somewhat more alarmist than likely in respect
of the longer term effects of EMP damage BUT it is certainly
interesting to note magnitudes and damage range.

The commissioners certainly *sound* impressive.


    RM



________________________________

Summary said:

"An electromagnetic pulse attack on the American homeland is one of
only a few ways that the United States could be defeated by its
enemies - terrorist or otherwise. And it is probably the easiest. A
single Scud missile, carrying a single nuclear weapon, detonated at
the appropriate altitude, would interact with the Earth's atmosphere,
producing an electromagnetic pulse radiating down to the surface at
the speed of light. Depending on the location and size of the blast,
the effect would be to knock out already stressed power grids and
other electrical systems across much or even all of the continental
United States, for months if not years.

Few if any people would die right away. But the loss of power would
have a cascading effect on all aspects of US society. Communication
would be largely impossible. Lack of refrigeration would leave food
rotting in warehouses, exacerbated by a lack of transportation as
those vehicles still working simply ran out of gas (which is pumped
with electricity). The inability to sanitize and distribute water
would quickly threaten public health, not to mention the safety of
anyone in the path of the inevitable fires, which would rage
unchecked. And as we have seen in areas of natural and other
disasters, such circumstances often result in a fairly rapid breakdown
of social order...

American society has grown so dependent on computer and other
electrical systems that we have created our own Achilles' heel of
vulnerability..."

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