Think The Unthinkable And Prepare For It

The threat posed by an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) was once considered by the mainstream as simply the stuff of science fiction or lone nut jobs living in rooms lined with tin foil. But people are now coming to understand that an EMP — whether from natural causes or a weapon — poses a real threat to America's electronics and could send the country into a new Dark Age. Even the corporate media is on board, as the mainstream mouthpiece USA Today imagined in a recent article "What a US electric grid attack looks like." Hint: It would "come from a hostile power using a nuclear weapon targeting the special vulnerability that comes with electricity and computerization. The hostile power would not target cities, as in the past, but instead would detonate a nuclear bomb high in the atmosphere, creating an electromagnetic pulse (EMP)." The Hill writes: "US would be wise to prepare for EMP attacks on its cities." Even the Huffington Post wrote about "Understanding North Korea's EMP Threat." The possibility of and EMP has even knocked congress out of its self-absorbed stupor. The House has decided to reactivate a disbanded committee that was originally created to devise counter measures against a possible electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack by North Korea. An EMP could come from the sun as well. Solar flares, or coronal mass ejections, can disrupt radio waves, GPS coordinates and overload electrical systems. A large burst of energy could flow into high voltage power grids and permanently damage transformers. These huge flares have caused blackouts in the past. This just happened in September when two massive solar flares lit up the surface of the sun. Even though their energy was not directed at the Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center the flares resulted in radio blackouts. High-frequency radio experienced a "wide area of blackouts, loss of contact for up to an hour over [the] sunlit side of Earth," and low frequency communication, used in navigation, was degraded for an hour. In 1989, a relatively low level storm from the sun knocked out power for 6 million people in eastern Canada and the U.S. for 12 hours. Imagine what a nuke detonated in the upper atmosphere could do. There are reports that Iran and North Korea — which are being goaded into war footing by neocon warmongers, despite their posing no threat to the U.S. mainland so far — have nonetheless been working on an EMP weapon that could be launched from a ship or barge off the American coast. An EMP would shut down the nation's power grid, silence communications and render everything containing electronics — from hand-held games to cell phones to airliners — inoperable. Water would cease to flow as pumping stations shut down. Grocery store shelves would be bare within hours. The banking system would crash. Those in poor health depending upon machines to stay alive would be dead in minutes. Within days the weak and infirm would be dead from dehydration. As the crisis grew, riots would ensue and people would turn on one another. As an example for how bad it could get, remember the islands in the Atlantic ocean that were in the paths of hurricanes Harvey and Irma this past summer. Some of those islands have no people living on them anymore, and the ones that do — even the U.S. protectorate of Puerto Rico, are suffering terribly. According to The Heritage Foundation, the U.S. must take steps to: Prevent the threat. Regardless of the mitigation and response measures, a massive EMP impact could have a devastating impact on the United States. Washington must pursue an aggressive protect-and-defend strategy, including comprehensive missile defense; modernizing the U.S. nuclear deterrent; and adopting proactive nonproliferation and counter-proliferation measures, both unilaterally and in partnership with allies. Provide resilience. Measures must be adopted to ensure the resilience of the U.S.-Canadian electrical grid and telecommunications systems, including developing limited redundancy and identifying means for the timely replacement of essential damaged parts or their rapid substitution. Plan for the unthinkable. The U.S. must have robust pre-disaster planning — with practical exercises that include top officials who rehearse a wide variety of contingency scenarios — that integrates federal, state, local, private-sector, nongovernmental organizations, and international support. Protect the capacity to communicate. The U.S. must have the means to establish assured emergency broadcast as well as interactive communications both within the U.S. and across the globe. An EMP strike can easily obliterate America's electrical, telecommunications, transportation, financial, food, and water infrastructures, rendering the United States helpless to coordinate actions and deliver services essential for daily life. In the words of former Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, EMP "is one of only a few ways that the United States could be defeated by its enemies." Of all the things that government is considering, this is one concern that must be front and center. And expecting that Congress will screw it up — as they do most everything else — it's something that everyone must prepare for themselves. How to prepare? Consider what life will be like when your electronic conveniences — and necessities — are no longer available. Then store food, water, medicines, sundry items, guns and ammunition — and gold and silver for the barter economy that will develop. These are things that we warn about that many of our readers do not take seriously. But the time to prepare is now. One small example is that I have repeatedly advised to store food. It is not only basic to life, survival, and barter, but in time it will be classed as hoarding and will be a criminal act if caught. I will share with you the following list of items that I have in my food storage: Salt, water in gallon jugs, Clorox and Lugols iodine for disinfecting and purifying water (six drops per gallon of water), brown and white sugar, dry beans and pastas of all kinds, chili, mayonnaise, coffee, sardines, tea, olive oil, rice, baked beans and pork and beans, cereal, canned soups, kraut, salmon, canned white tuna in water, food bars, a few frozen dinners, olives, pickles and treats (chose those you like), minimum amount of cake mix, flour, cornmeal, seasonings for cooking, dried and canned milk, all paper products, cleaning products, basic patent medicines such as cough medicine, cough drops, Tylenol, eye drops. One of the best foods to store is vacuum sealed dry foods of all kinds. These will last for years and years. If you can't imagine being hungry in the midst of chaos then you will probably ignore this suggestion and others I make regarding true health and wealth, but you won't forget them. And they will haunt you if you fail to take action. But if you envision our possible futures, you will survive and prosper in the years ahead. Remember, my advice is to always prepare sooner rather than later. I will keep talking to you about the need for all types of preparedness in future Alerts. But in case you missed it, follow this link for a complete survival guide. Yours for the truth, Bob Livingston Editor, The Bob Livingston Letter™

Solar Flares And EMP, Two Serious Risks To The US

'GIANT MAGNETIC EXPLOSION ON SUN' RACING TO EARTH

Scientists warn of 'extreme' solar flare on its way now

Published: 13 hours ago

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Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration say an “extreme” solar flare has been detected and while Earth appears to be in the bull’s-eye, exactly which part of the planet will see the biggest impact isn’t yet known.

Such phenomenon can disrupt power grids, radio transmissions and other electronics, and in a worst-case scenario could actually take such systems down, perhaps for extended periods.

Officials with the federal agency said the flare is near the center of the sun and happened at 1:45 EDT Wednesday.

“Impacts to [high frequency] radio communications on the daylight side of Earth lasted for a little more than an hour. … Initial information suggests that [coronal mass ejection] is likely associated with this event, however, further analysis is underway at this time.”

Tom Berger, of the Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, told the Associated Press, “There’s been a giant magnetic explosion on the sun.”

He continued, “Because it’s pointed right at us, we’ll at least catch some of the cloud.”

He was referring to the plasma that spews out from the sun, sending waves of energized and magnetized particles through space.

He told AP it’s been several years since a solar storm this big has targeted Earth, and while the energy doesn’t harm people directly, it can create major complications with power infrastructure, from satellites and radio waves to energized power lines.

Berger indicated the flare is considered “extreme” on forecasters’ scale, but just barely

The report said the part of Earth that is facing the sun when the waves arrive will feel the impact.

WND reported only weeks ago that NASA described how the Earth had dodged a superstorm flare that “could have knocked out all unprotected technology and electrical grid systems around the world.”

F. Michael Maloof, a WND senior reporter and the author of “A Nation Forsaken – EMP: The Escalating Threat of an American Catastrophe,” candidly spelled out the threat that the Earth had faced: Damages of $2 trillion for the first year, and up to 160 million people left starving because of the collapse of food and fuel delivery systems, both dependent on various electrical and programmable systems.

There is a way to protect your electronics in an EMP event, the Faraday bags from the WND Superstore. Also featured there is “A Nation Forsaken,” an emergency radio, a personal water straw to clean water, a how-to guidebook for fleeing danger and a long list of supplies helpful for being self-reliant.

At the time, Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado had released findings about the July 2012 superstorm. Baker explained that if there had been a direct hit at that time, “We would still be picking up the pieces.”

The storms begin with solar flares that emit X-rays and other extreme ultraviolet radiation. If Earth is in the path, the flare would strike at the speed of light. A side effect would be a solar electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, that would affect everything from communications to vulnerable electrical grids.

NASA said the July 2012 solar flare was at least as powerful as the 1859 Carrington Event, named after English astronomer Richard Carrington. In the days that followed Carrington’s observation, there were intense geometric storms viewed from the Arctic to Cuba that caused global telegraph lines to spark, setting fire to some telegraph offices.

See the big list of EMP reports from WND.

Talk-radio icon George Noory, whose “Coast to Coast AM” show is the biggest overnight draw in North America, is so concerned about the issue of EMP attacks that he’s launched a campaign to work on persuading Congress to take action.

“I implore all individual states, the president and members of Congress to immediately develop a plan to protect our power grid,” said Noory. “The preservation of our great nation and the lives of its people are critical.”

Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, answered questions about the EMP threat that were prepared for his July 21 interview with George Noory on “Coast to Coast AM.”

He said scientists generally are in agreement that a natural or manmade electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, event “can be devastating to our unprotected electrical grid, electronics and automated control systems. Depending on its intensity, an EMP can have a catastrophic, cascading impact on all of the electricity-dependent critical infrastructures on which we rely for survival.”

He noted, “The importance of this problem became apparent after some members of Congress had been told by Soviet Duma, or parliament, members that the then-Soviet Union could ‘bring America to its knees’ with one EMP nuclear device exploded at a high altitude, destroying the U.S. grid. As a consequence, Congress in 2000 mandated the creation of an EMP Commission of prominent scientists to look at the effects of an EMP on our national grid and all of the critical infrastructures that depend on it.”

He explained, “In a 2004 preliminary finding and again in a 2008 final, more in-depth report, the EMP Commission showed in considerable detail the catastrophic impact an EMP would have on such critical infrastructures as telecommunications, banking and finance, petroleum and natural gas delivery, transportation, food and water delivery, emergency services and space systems.”

Those impacts could include “unprecedented cascading failures of major infrastructures.”

“Given the prospect of an EMP event over a wide geographical area of the country, it could push the nation back virtually to the 19th century, with our urban environment being the most severely affected. Some EMP experts suggest the urban centers of the United States could become extinct, given the high potential for disease as a result of a buildup of garbage and sewage due to the breakdown of sanitation, as well as other secondary effects, leading to the prospect of death and starvation to some 90 percent of the U.S. population,” he reported.

He also noted that an EMP can be manufactured – by a nuclear explosion at altitude over a country. That means an enemy with the capability to launch a nuclear bomb on even a traditional rocket potentially could cause a collapse of a nation’s infrastructure.

WND reported just a year ago that Earth was brushed by a coronal mass ejection that left behind bright auroras around the Arctic Circle.

NASA reports the potential for a solar storm maximum as the sun approaches the height of its 11-year cycle runs through 2014.

Flares are expected to continue into 2020.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/a-giant-magnetic-explosion-on-the-sun/#sJlRW3qAKcsDOX0J.99

EMP Is Major Threat To US Economy. Why Is Government Doing Nothing?

'END IS NEAR': RADIO STAR ISSUES EMP WARNING

'It is not a matter of if, but when we will experience an event or attack'

Published: 17 hours ago

 BOB UNRUH About | Email | Archive

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The threat of an electromagnetic pulse event or attack on the United States that could kill tens of millions of people has prompted George Noory, host of “Coast to Coast AM,” the most-listened-to overnight radio program in North America, to launch a campaign to prepare a defense.

“I implore all individual states, the president and members of Congress to immediately develop a plan to protect our power grid,” said Noory. “The preservation of our great nation and the lives of its people are critical.”

WND has reported extensively on the issue and is a partner in the campaign.

“I want to thank WND and Joseph Farah for joining this effort, which is imperative to our future,” Noory said.

The goal is to protect and insulate the U.S. power grid against an EMP event or attack from a solar flare, nuclear weapon or ballistic missile, all of which could endanger the lives of millions of Americans, according to Noory.

The work follows on the heels of a recent report from NASA scientists that Earth narrowly avoided a catastrophic X-class solar flare on July 23, 2012.

According to WND senior staff writer F. Michael Maloof, whose book, “A Nation Forsaken,” addresses the EMP threat, the United States could be turned into a virtual 19th-century agrarian society.

The problem is that an EMP would take out virtually all electronics. The controls that enable gas to be pumped into a vehicle, systems that control underground pipelines, the computers controlling financial systems, the electronics in vehicles, communications, emergency services, law enforcement and much more could all be rendered useless.

See the big list of EMP reports from WND.

Maloof wrote recently:”Under such chaotic conditions, there is no doubt that gangs may begin roaming neighborhoods and more rural locations, and individuals need to be able to protect their families and possessions. It will mean having a firearm as part of families’ survival items.

“People who have experienced the impact of temporarily having no electricity and no means of transportation in times of floods, hurricanes and past natural disasters know what such chaotic conditions are like,” he continued. “In the case of an EMP, people need to place themselves into a 19th-century existence and figure out what they will need in a household, such as a supply of stored food, water and medications on which they may need to survive for weeks, months and possibly years.”

Experts forecast an event could affect some 160 million people, take anywhere from four to 10 years to recover and cost upward of $2 trillion.

Noory’s campaign will feature scientific experts and government leaders on his program, which reaches more than 3 million listeners weekly.

There is a way to protect your electronics in an EMP event, the Faraday bags from the WND Superstore. Also featured there is “A Nation Forsaken,” an emergency radio, a personal water straw to clean water, a how-to guidebook for fleeing danger and a long list of supplies helpful for being self-reliant.

The goal is to inform the public of the vulnerability of America’s electronics-dependent infrastructure and the need to harden the facilities and build protections.

He will seek congressional action.

WND will leverage its reach of 6 million unique visitors each month and more than 40 million page views to support and promote efforts to improve defense capabilities.

“The preservation of our great nation and the lives of its people are critical. It is not a matter of if, but when we will experience an EMP event or attack. We need to be ready now. I want to thank WND and Joseph Farah for joining this effort, which is imperative to our future,” Noory said.

WND founder and Editor-in-Chief Joseph Farah stated: “I’m so grateful to George Noory for recognizing the threat to our grid as the No. 1 catastrophic threat to national security. If the grid goes down, it could spell the starvation deaths of tens of millions of Americans. It’s hard to top that threat. George Noory’s platform, coupled with WND’s, significantly raises the probability of getting Congress to take responsibility for addressing this threat, which, by all accounts, is not an expensive fix nor a technically difficult one. WND pledges its support to this important campaign.”

Maloof warned the U.S. has become increasingly vulnerable.

“The threat of an electromagnetic pulse event,” he said, “whether natural or man-made, to our vulnerable electrical grid and the life-sustaining critical infrastructures that depend on it will be added to the ongoing infiltration of al-Qaida-affiliated terrorists linked with drug cartels and MS-13 members known to be using the mass immigration influx as a cover to go to some 1,200 U.S. cities where the cartels and gang members already are present.”

He emphasized the “incredible thing is that these vulnerabilities can be fixed.”

“For less than $2 billion, we can harden our grid against an EMP if we can get SHIELD Act legislation passed soon. Once passed, it will take another five years to accomplish the task of hardening the national grid system if there are no hitches,” he said.

“We need to act now to remove all obstacles to fixing this vulnerability to our national security and way of life, and that would include recreating local civil defense facilities that can have stored water, food and medicines. People would then know to report to those facilities since we will have to assume there would be no communication or emergency services following an EMP event,” he said.

Experts warn an EMP event could do more than shut down the infrastructure, explaining it likely would produce explosions.

For example, when electronic Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, or SCADA, systems failed in the 1990s, 250,000 gallons of gas leaked into Hannah and Whatcom Creeks near Bellingham, Washington, and ignited. Three people were killed and eight more injured. The explosions also collapsed the banks of the creek and destroyed many buildings near the creek over a one-and-a-half mile section.

Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, recently joined Noory for a two-hour discussion about the problem.

Maloof, whose “A Nation Forsaken: EMP: The Escalating Threat of an American Catastrophe” is published by WND, talked about the potential dangers, why only a few members of Congress, the military and the scientific community are issuing warnings and what Americans need to do.

Noory also recently welcomed William R. Forstchen, professor of history and faculty fellow at Montreat College in North Carolina and author of “One Second After,” to discuss updates on the dangers of an EMP event, as well as steps to prepare.

“Coast to Coast AM” broadcasts Monday through Sunday from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Eastern Time and can be heard on more than 570 stations. Noory, a longtime veteran of broadcasting, joined the show in 2003, and is author of “Talking to the Dead,” “Journey to the Light” and “Worker in the Light.”

WND.com is the original independent news source on the Internet and remains the largest. One of the top 500 websites in the U.S., it was founded as a committed watchdog on government waste, fraud, abuse and corruption. Farah is the only independent online news entrepreneur with a long track record in the press. He served for six years as the executive news editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He was editor-in-chief of the Glendale Newspapers before becoming the editor-in-chief of the Sacramento Union. He founded WorldNetDaily, later known as WND, in 1997.

Maloof has explained that in the case of a natural occurrence, a storm begins with solar flares that emit x-rays and other extreme ultraviolet radiation. If Earth is in the path, the flare would strike at the speed of light. A side effect would be a solar electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, that would affect everything from communications to vulnerable electrical grids.

In the case of a deliberate attack, such an EMP signal can be generated by a nuclear explosion in a fairly low position in the skies over the United States. A missile could be launched from a ship off the nation’s coast.

In a 2008 report from the EMP Commission, it was revealed in detail the catastrophic impact an EMP would have on such critical infrastructures as telecommunications, banking and finance, petroleum and natural gas delivery, transportation, food and water delivery, emergency services and space systems.

In issuing the 2008 report, which made a series of recommendations, EMP Commission Chairman William Graham said that an EMP event, whether natural or man-made, would cause “unprecedented cascading failures of major infrastructures.” In that event, he said, a regional or national recovery would be long and difficult.

Principal backers of EMP legislation so far include Reps. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and the other members of the bi-partisan Congressional Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Caucus, who have introduced the SHIELD Act and CIPA in the House.

There are several proposals pending:

• H.R. 2417 Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage (“SHIELD Act”). 113th Congress (introduced June 18, 2013).
• H.R. 3410 Critical Infrastructure Protection Act (“CIPA”). 113th Congress (introduced Oct. 30, 2013).
• Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act (“GRID Act”). 113th Congress (introduced March 26, 2014)
• Senate Bill S. 2158
• House Bill H.R. 4298

Some of the proposals call for actual protections for the grid. Another simply would have the government include an EMP event in its planning procedures for various scenarios.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/08/end-is-near-radio-star-launches-emp-warning/#3KMVDCwMLisFBM5y.99