U.S. power grid to be taken down by EMP attack

Monday, January 11, 2016 by: J. D. Heyes
Tags: EMP attack, US power grid, infrastructure

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(NaturalNews) National and homeland security experts, as well as some financial analysts, are becoming increasingly concerned that U.S. power grids are at risk of being targeted by electromagnetic pulse attacks that would essentially return the country to a time before electricity was prevalent.

In a piece he posted on his webpage, talk radio host Dave Hodges, creator of The Common Sense Show, noted that a growing number of potential U.S. adversaries -- Russia, China and North Korea, in particular -- have the capacity to deliver EMP attacks via high-altitude nuclear explosions.

Hodges went on to note that North Korea, as a proxy for China, could also launch a cyber attack against American power grids, which would have the same practical effect as an EMP attack.

"The warnings are clear and these dire warnings which tell of a threat upon our power grid have been delivered by very powerful people and as of today,these [sic] warnings have been ignored," he wrote.

He pointed out that former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned of such an event as she stepped down from her position in 2013.

"Unimaginably disastrous results"

As reported by ABC News at the time of her announced departure:

The outgoing Homeland Security Secretary has a warning for her successor: A massive and "serious" cyber attack on the U.S. homeland is coming, and a natural disaster -- the likes of which the nation has never seen -- is also likely on its way.

So prepare, and bring "a large bottle of Advil," Janet Napolitano told her yet-to-be-named replacement in a farewell address Tuesday morning.

"Many things still need tending, and my successor will most certainly have a full plate on his or her hands," she said after announcing she was leaving DHS after four years in her post.

She is far from being alone in sounding the alarm regarding such incidents.

In November, Newsmax reported that top U.S. officials warned that North Korea could soon possess the capacity to deliver a miniaturized nuclear device and explode it "with unimaginably disastrous results."

The website further reported:

In what Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., refers to as a "scud in the tub" scenario, a relatively small and primitive 500-kiloton atomic bomb launched from an ordinary-looking freighter ship and exploded [sic] in the atmosphere 25 to 300 miles above Chicago will overwhelm all systems or circuits that draw or transmit electricity over a large distance.

Were that to happen, the nation's various power grids would shut down and cease sending electricity to water pumping and sanitation stations, communications, manufacturing and healthcare institutions.

"Catastrophic"

Newsmax further reported that Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of all U.S. forces on the Korean peninsula, said in October that Pyongyang is now capable of producing a nuclear warhead small enough to be placed atop a KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile.

In May, the House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies held a hearing on the potential damage that could be caused by an EMP attack. Several experts who appeared before the panel to provide testimony warned of the damage that such an attack would cause.

"Some would say it's low probability, but the damage that could be caused in the event of an EMP attack, both by the sun, a solar event, or a man-made attack, would be catastrophic," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, during the hearings. "We talk a lot about a nuclear bomb in Manhattan, and cybersecurity threat to the power grid in the Northeast, and all of these things would actually probably pale in comparison to the devastation that an EMP attack could perpetrate on Americans."

Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., described casualties from such an attack as "catastrophic," reported the Washington Free Beacon.

Sources:

http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com

http://abcnews.go.com

http://www.newsmax.com

http://freebeacon.com