Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack
Today’s society places an ever-growing reliance on technology. Modern infrastructures such as power, telecommunications and water systems, businesses, industries and services are now interdependent to a very significant degree, and disruption can therefore spread very quickly as the effects cascade through connected systems. A failure of the national grid for example, would inevitably have repercussions for a wide range of businesses and services, from energy supplies, water processing, traffic control and logistical systems and even parts of the finance sector. Similarly a growing reliance is placed on satellite-based technology such as GPS (global positioning system); for instance the operation of financial markets relies on accurate timing supplied by GPS. The military are greatly reliant on a range of electronic communications and navigation systems. All these make the world vulnerable to an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. An EMP is a high-intensity burst of electromagnetic energy caused by the rapid acceleration of charged particles. In an attack, these particles interact and send electrical systems into chaos in three ways: First, the electromagnetic shock disrupts electronics, such as sensors, communications systems, protective systems, computers, and other similar devices. The second component has a slightly smaller range and is similar in effect to lightning. Although protective measures have long been established for lightning strikes, the potential for damage to critical infrastructure from this component exists because it rapidly follows and compounds the first component. The final component is slower than the previous two, but has a longer duration. It is a pulse that flows through electricity transmission lines-damaging distribution centers and fusing power lines. The combination of the three components can easily cause irreversible damage to many electronic systems. EMP has been dubbed a "weapon of mass disruption" because of its ability to devastate its target by disrupting electronic infrastructure. An EMP detonation could affect car and truck engines, aircraft ignition systems, hospital equipment, pacemakers, communications systems, and electrical appliances. Road and rail signaling, industrial control applications, and other electronic systems are all susceptible to EMP. Electromagnetic energy on a radio frequency will travel through any conductive matter with which it comes into contact-from electrical wires to telephone wires, even water mains-which can spread the effects to areas far beyond ground zero. A successful EMP attack could result in airplanes literally falling from the sky; vehicles could stop functioning, and water, sewer, and electrical networks could all fail-all at once. Food would rot, health care would be reduced to its most rudimentary level, and there would not be any transportation. Rule of law would become impossible to sustain; police departments would be overwhelmed. Communication abilities would be limited, preventing federal, state, and local governments from communicating with one another-severely limiting abilities to shift needed resources around the country. A threat is too big to be ignored. The international community should: -perform more research on the threat. Although there are numerous methods to harness EMPs capable of affecting electronic systems, there is still a theoretical limit to what damage they can produce in terms of both geographic size and intensity. - perform electro-magnetic hardening of the infrastructure, which involves making digital equipment and power supplies "hardened" to resist high electrical fields, using optical fibers rather than metallic cables for network connections, and putting protection devices into antenna feeds and mains power interfaces. There is little point in this being done by individual home users since having a working computer without a working network or power grid is not very helpful. Hardening requires legislation to make it mandatory for all critical national infrastructure, spanning both government services and commercial service providers, across all industry sectors. Will it be expensive? That depends on how the problem is tackled. If equipment is built hardened from the outset, the cost penalty may be as little as 10-20% of the build cost. Replacing copper networks with fibre will be costly, but it is also an impending necessity to get genuinely high data rates across national network infrastructures, and reduce urban/suburban background noise levels. -incorporate EMP Attacks into National Planning Scenarios. The National Planning Scenarios are all-hazards planning scenarios used by federal, state, and local officials in disaster response exercises. The exercises can determine capabilities and needs and address problems before a disaster instead of after the fact. Given an EMP attack's unique nature and its ability to paralyze any country, individualized preparation is necessary. EMP must be added to the list. -develop a National Recovery Plan. The key power grid and telecommunications infrastructure must be identified. Certain infrastructure is key to recovery after an EMP attack. By taking measures to protect this infrastructure, we can lessen the recovery time from an attack. Given the pervasive use of highly interconnected digital infrastructure in developed nations and its resulting vulnerability to such attack, and the relative simplicity of such weapons technology, the use of E-bombs is ultimately, inevitable. Determining how soon such weapons will be deployed by terrorists is a trickier proposition, since they tend to operate in secrecy. Once we see E-bombs deployed by military forces as standard tactical or strategic weapons, which will happen through this decade, the odds of a terrorist organization acquiring them with or without the consent of the deploying nation go up enormously. With proven and robust weapon designs in circulation, terrorists then have the option of reverse engineering them or using them directly. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2008/10/electromagnetic-pulse-emp-attack-a-preventable-homeland-security-catastrophe http://www.ausairpower.net/E-Bomb-FAQ.html
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