Larry Poole - EMP Survival: How to Prepare and Survive, When an Electromagnetic Pulse Destroys Our Power Grid

Copyright 2011

All Rights Reserved

ISBN-13: 978-1456521356

Reproduction or translation of any part of this work without permission of the copyright owner is unlawful.

We wish to thank the scientists and political leaders who have presented evidence of the EMP threat in numerous hearings since 1997. Some day in the future, we hope their concerns will be recognized and the nation will be protected.

The nation should thank the following leaders who have testified at congressional hearings about the EMP threat.

Dr. Lowell L. Wood, Jr,

Dr. William R. Graham,

Dr. Peter Vincent Pry,

U.S. Representative Roscoe Bartlett,

Dr. Gary L. Smith,

U.S. Senator John Kyl,

U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke,

U.S. Representative Curt Weldon, and

Dr. Michael J. Frankel,

We also want to acknowledge all the members of the EMP Commission that produced the Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack,

Dr. John S. Foster, Jr.,

Mr. Earl Gjelde,

Dr. William R. Graham, Chair,

Dr. Robert J. Herrmann,

Mr. Henry M. Kluepfel,

Gen. Richard L. Lawson, USAF retired,

Dr. Gordon K. Soper,

Dr. Lowell L. Wood Jr.,

Dr. Joan B. Woodard

The bipartisan EMP Commission was established in 2001 and re-commissioned again in 2006 to examine potential threats, vulnerabilities of the U.S. military and civilian infrastructures and recommend measures to counter EMP threats. The EMP Commission has expired.

Military strategists in four countries have boasted about their ability to cripple the U.S.

A low cost, short range missile from an ocean freighter launched 12 miles off the U.S. coast could achieve an EMP effect.

Our power grid is not protected. A widespread power outage could last months or years.

We wrote this book after reading Congressional testimony about the EMP (electromagnetic pulse) threat in hearings from 1997 to 2010. Our nation continues to be vulnerable. It will be up to the individual American family to survive.

Boxed Text excerpts throughout the book are from the 2008 Critical National Infrastructure report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)

In an instant, everything could change. We would no longer be a superpower, but a pre-industrial nation. Mass hunger, mob violence, and rampant diseases could change our way of life for decades.

There will be no sound and no warning. In an instant, cars will stop, computers and radios will shut down and electronic devices will cease to function. Many devices will be permanently damaged, their wires and circuits fried. In our utility industries, the electric power grids, telecommunication networks, public water systems, public sewer treatment, transportation systems, and emergency services could suffer irreparable damage.

Dependent on the nature of the damage, the exposure of the electronics, or the height of the detonation, the electricity may come back in a few hours, or years.

Repairs could take days or years, depending on the ability of crews to measure the damage without electronics and obtain the replacement parts, no longer made in the U.S. If the electricity is off for more than a year, the loss of life would run into the tens of millions. i

Four nations now boast that they have developed an EMP weapon that they plan to use to attack the U.S. It is not surprising, 128,000 nuclear warheads have been built since 1945 and many are not accounted for. Over 10,000 missiles owned by 30 countries are capable of lifting a nuclear weapon over the U.S. ii There are about 35,000 Scud ballistic missiles at the present time. Scud missiles can be purchased for $100,000 by anyone. iii Terrorist organizations own ocean freighters. Enemies potentially have the weapons, the launchers and the vehicles to launch an attack just miles off the U.S. coast.

Enrico Fermi, the brilliant WWII Manhattan Project physicist, predicted that a nuclear explosion would generate strong electromagnetic fields over a large area.

In 1962, during atmospheric testing of a small nuclear device, U.S. scientists were surprised by the electromagnetic pulse affect over a few million square miles in the mid-Pacific. Radio stations were shut down, cars stopped, phone systems were burned out, traffic lights turned off nearly 1000 miles away from the blast.iv

The Soviets were reportedly surprised at the 600 km (373 miles) range of electrical damage in overhead and underground cables from an EMP after a nuclear test in 1962.v Surge arrestors burned out, fuses blew and power supplies broke down in each of three tests. The three test detonations were at heights of 60km, 150 km and 300km.vi (37, 93 and 186 miles)

Both of the countries experienced damage worse than expected. The extent of the damage is because an EMP can travel through metallic conductors, railroad tracks, power lines, and communication lines.

The EMP is used as a strategic weapon by inducing damaging voltages and currents that electrical circuits are not designed to withstand. EMPs are lethal to electronic systems. The smaller and more sophisticated electronics are especially prone to damage.

Nuclear EMP weapons detonated at high altitude can span continents. The EMP weapons affect electronics at least within the line of sight of the detonation. The higher the altitude at detonation, the wider the impact. The EMP attacks can reach a radius of 1500 miles, causing widespread electronic destruction.

Dr. Lowell Wood, a leading EMP researcher and member of the EMP Commission described the following about the nature of EMP in his statement to the U.S. House, Armed Services Committee in 1999. The following is a brief summary based on his prepared statement.vii

1. EMP is really severe static electricity, everywhere all at once- since the damage occurs thousands of times more swiftly than a lightning strike, the lightning protective devices are essentially useless

2. EMP can blanket an entire U.S.-sized continent from a single source. It originates from the interaction of gamma radiation from a nuclear explosion with the Earths atmosphere.

3. EMP doesnt linger. It lasts for milliseconds.

4. EMP isnt sensed by people and doesnt damage the human body.

5. EMP is more threatening to big electrical systems than to small ones physically large systems comprised of metal lines, cables, wire and dish antennae often manifest great vulnerability to EMP damage

6. EMP is much more threatening to modern electronics than to old-fashioned ones. The shrinking size of electronic parts increases their vulnerability.

7. EMP affects in space, is different and more damaging.

8. EMP defenses are simple. Hardening may consist of metallic shielding of a tinfoil like covering.

Some scientists claim that terrorists lack the expertise to carry out an EMP attack. A scud launcher with a crude nuclear weapon on a tramp steamer operated by a terrorist group is all that is necessary.viii They dont have to be technical geniuses. If they miss by 100 miles, it doesnt matter.ix The missile does not have to strike a specific target, only to detonate a weapon at least 40 km (25 miles) in height to create an EMP. The U.S. early warning satellites and radar systems may not have enough time to react to a missile launched from a ship.