GSN March 2016 Digital Edition

Hazmat Science and Public Policy with George Lane
Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP):
Technology’s Worst Nightmare
By George Lane
“The supreme art of war is to subdue
your enemy without fighting”
(Sun Tzu 544 - 496 BC)
An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is
a super-energetic radio wave, an intense
burst of electromagnetic energy
caused by an abrupt and rapid acceleration
of charged particles that can destroy
or damage electronic systems by
overloading their circuits. EMPs are
harmless to people, but catastrophic
to critical infrastructure, such as
electric power, telecommunications,
transportation, and
banking, that sustain
modern civilization.
Nature generates
EMPs as solar flares
from the Sun, causing
great geomagnetic
storms on Earth with catastrophic
consequences. These natural events
occur every 150 years, with the last
recorded major storm 155 years ago.
A single nuclear weapon detonated
at high-altitude generates an EMP
that could cause catastrophic damage
across the entire contiguous U.S. Because
of U.S. unpreparedness for an
EMP event, it is estimated that within
12 months of a major EMP event,
from two-thirds to ninety percent of
the U.S. population could perish.
The national security threat
The nuclear EMP threat is not merely
theoretical. As Tom Clancy wrote, “it
is real, a clear and present danger”.
An EMP attack is the perfect asymmetric
weapon for state actors who
wish to level the battlefield by neutralizing
the technological advantage
of U.S. military forces. EMPs provide
rogue states or terrorists with a
nuclear weapon to cripple the U.S.
Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran
have already incorporated EMP attacks
into their military arsenals...
with a single blow. Russia, China,
North Korea, and Iran have already
incorporated EMP attacks into their
military arsenals, and openly describe
making EMP attacks against the U.S.
Rogue states and terrorists could use
short-range missiles that can deliver
a nuclear warhead to exact a catastrophic
EMP attack on the U.S. Iran
has practiced ship-launched EMP
attacks using Scud missiles, used by
30
scores of nations and even some terrorist
groups.
For the past decade, the “Commission
to Assess the Threat to the United
States from Electromagnetic Pulse
Attack”, chaired by Dr. William Graham,
has investigated the EMP threat
to the U.S. and how it can be reduced.
The Graham commission’s bottom
line is that an EMP attack can end
the functioning of the U.S. electrical
infrastructure and much of the hardware
that supports everyday life (William
R. Graham et al., “Report of the
Commission to Assess
the Threat to the United
States from Electromagnetic
Pulse (EMP) Attack:
Critical National
Infrastructures,” April
2008; www.empcommission.org/docs/A2473-EMP_Commission-7MB.pdf
).
North Korea could obtain
EMP weapons from Russia
South Korea’s National Intelligence
Service (NIS) reports that North Korea
is developing an EMP weapon.
A modest North Korean EMP could
damage electronic equipment south
of the Korean DMZ. At higher yield,