EMP has the Government Worried

[Moped]

Hmmmm,,, Wonder what has them all stirred up.  Nothing on the horizon, I hope!  I think I have said it before, but this is my worst fear. If the grid goes down, our goose is cooked.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/04/military-eyeing-former-cold-war-mountain-bunker-as-shield-against-emp-attack/

 

 

[Ted S.]

An EMP? Here? In the greatest nation in the history of Statism? Naw. Not here. Can't happen. We're too good. ;)

[Fourtyfive]

We give 2 Billion a year to Pakistan ? For what ? Microsoft phone support ? Comcast ? Edited May 7, 2015 by Fourtyfive

[Randall53]

"It's (ie...the grid) not adequately protected from cyber or physical sabotage," Pry said in an interview with Fox News.

This is the more realistic threat and is just as real. I've said it before on another thread here on this subject. Power transformers (161KV 500kv and up) are made to order due to cost to manufacture with a 2 year turnaround. EVERYTHING else on the grid is there to protect these transformers. A syncronized attack could put the grid in the dirt in a heartbeat. Utter disaster wouldl follow in days.

[Ted S.]

"It's (ie...the grid) not adequately protected from cyber or physical sabotage," Pry said in an interview with Fox News.

This is the more realistic threat and is just as real. I've said it before on another thread here on this subject. Power transformers (161KV 500kv and up) are made to order due to cost to manufacture with a 2 year turnaround. EVERYTHING else on the grid is there to protect these transformers. A syncronized attack could put the grid in the dirt in a heartbeat. Utter disaster wouldl follow in days.

 

And the government has known  for years about how prone the grid is to an EMP or coordinated attack. And look what they're doing about it... :ugh:

[Hershmeister]

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-threat-to-melt-the-electric-grid-1430436815

[DaveTN]

Oops, we made a mistake; we never should have moved out of Cheyenne Mountain. Now not only have we wasted the massive amount of money the new facility cost; we would like $700 million (that number will triple before it’s done) to update the old facility before we move back in.

Typical government waste.

As far as an EMP attack goes though; no one is going to create a mega EMP. If we experience an EMP it will come from a nuclear blast. What country is going to commit suicide?

[Ted S.]

Don't forget a good X class CME. The sun can have it out for us, too....

[Grayfox54]

I noticed that they didn't mention what bad shape our power grid is in. Our current grid is overloaded, seriously out dated and poorly maintained. There is real concern that something as simple as a large storm could cause a cascade failure which could take out large parts of the country. 

 

In all the possible disaster scenarios, This one scares me the most. In a physical disaster, tornado, earthquake or even an attack of some sort, people tend to pull together to dig out, help each other and put things back together. 

But if the power were to suddenly go out, no TV, radio or internet. No information.  Confusion would turn to fear. Fear would turn to panic as supplies started to dwindle. And then we would start turning on each other. Scares the hell outta me.

[Randall53]

I noticed that they didn't mention what bad shape our power grid is in. Our current grid is overloaded, seriously out dated and poorly maintained. There is real concern that something as simple as a large storm could cause a cascade failure which could take out large parts of the country. 
 
In all the possible disaster scenarios, This one scares me the most. In a physical disaster, tornado, earthquake or even an attack of some sort, people tend to pull together to dig out, help each other and put things back together. 
But if the power were to suddenly go out, no TV, radio or internet. No information.  Confusion would turn to fear. Fear would turn to panic as supplies started to dwindle. And then we would start turning on each other. Scares the hell outta me.

Yep. I agree. hundreds of thousands if not several million people would die in a matter of hours and more in just a few days due to loss of medical care and equipment that requires electricity. The supply chain of everything we need to live would be broken and chaos would break out everywhere. This would overload everything and I seriouslly doubt even martial law would have any affect. This could be started in a heartbeat from an attack from an ISIS cell hidden here for that very mission. Imagine what would happen when ALL the underground ISIS cells that are here started attacking all over the USA? With our Southern boarder open like it is, anyone who doesn't believe that ISIS has made there way here I think is living in a dream world.

[suspiciousmind]

Reading One Second After really opened my eyes to all this.

Hunting season would be all year long. Various waves of death. Most wouldn't survive in the first year.

I'd probably load up my guns and ammo and trek south to the coast where my family and fishing is. Edited May 5, 2015 by suspiciousmind

[Fourtyfive]

Thank God my Aimpoints won't need batteries till the grid is back .....

[Erik88]

Thank God my Aimpoints won't need batteries till the grid is back .....

Wouldn't the emp fry those?

[Fourtyfive]

Wouldn't the emp fry those?

They are protected....

[Rob 2.0]

Wouldn't the emp fry those?

 

That's actually a good question.  Mentally preparing for a possible EMP has led me to accept the loss of standard electronics, but I hadn't given thought to personal defense electronics.

 

It seems though, only circuit boards and sensitive electronics would be in danger of an EMP.  Not basic battery powered electrical devices, yea?

 

(someone offer me some comfort here)

Edited May 6, 2015 by Rob 2.0

[Ted S.]

Closed circuits.

[Jonnin]

The sheep would not take well to losing power for 3 months or more,  but I am confident we could survive an emp attack better than people think.   It is called a grid for a reason ... its hard to take down the entire internet and power grids ... they are awfully large things to take down without a very large scale attack.  Certainly, some nutcase could probably manage to darken a lot of people for an extended duration (fixing everything after an emp gonna suck bad) and some would die from various side effects, but  I think we would get through a *terrorist level* emp attack pretty well.   A major world power attacking with emp is another story -- and about as likely as being nuked into the stone age.  It *could* happen, but we have been worrying about it for over 70 years now, and it has not happened...  a major emp attack is serious, absolutely, but worrying about one is on par with running around arm-waving about a germ/chemical/nuclear/emp/whatever else end of the world scenario.   The biggest difference is that emp can actually be defended against -- you can store some backup electronics and a generator in a emp safe container.   So its actually less scary than say a nuke or a nice engineered plague.   You can also defend your working electronics, if you really wanted to be paranoid and spend big bucks defending against unlikely threats.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Jonnin

[Ted S.]

No need to be a fun-sucker. :) Preparing for unlikely threats is fun, like Disneyland without all the people.

[JPR1959]

Reading One Second After really opened my eyes to all this.

Hunting season would be all year long. Various waves of death. Most wouldn't survive in the first year.

I'd probably load up my guns and ammo and trek south to the coast where my family and fishing is.

 

Unless you have an old car (no computer) you wouldn't make it unless you walked or rode a horse.

[suspiciousmind]

Unless you have an old car (no computer) you wouldn't make it unless you walked or rode a horse.

Yep. Thank God for horses.

[Moped]

Or a bicycle.

[Trekbike]

Or a bicycle.

Yep. Those sure beat walking...

[JPR1959]

Or a bicycle.

 

You'd get a ticket unless you had a helmet!!! :rock:

[Moped]

Bug out Bike

http://www.bugoutsurvival.com/2013/03/bug-out-bikes.html?m=1

[Grayfox54]

With any form of transportation, be it a working vehicle, bicycle or horse, you might as well put a huge target on your back. Everyone is going to want it and they'll be more than willing to kill you to get it.