A nuclear electromagnetic pulse (EMP) strike would be the US Electrical GridCommunication, transport and other critical infrastructure for months warned an expert.
Historian William Forstchen, a bestseller author of the New York Times and an expert in the field of EMPs, discussed with Fox News Digital how the US – and everyday Americans – can prepare for the “existential threat” that the attack is.
“This is a very real threat,” he said. “EMP is generated when a small nuclear weapon, 40 to 60 kilotones or about three times as large as a Hiroshima bomb, 200 miles is exploded in space above the United States. It states an electrostatic discharge on the earth’s surface, In the millions of kilometers of wires that become antennas, this feeds this in the wealth, the grid and blows it out. “
Forstchen, with reference to congress reports from 2002 and 2008, said that 80% -90% of Americans would be dead a year later if an EMP strike would take place.
An electromagnetic pulse is an eruption of electromagnetic energy that is produced by a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere, which is deemed capable of being able to be able to be capable of central, telecommunications and electronic equipment. (Department of Homeland Security)
Although an EMP strike at first sight seems to be more Science Fiction than fact, Forstchen said that the potential for such an attack was recognized decades ago.
“The thread of an EMP was first realized during the Starfish Prime at high height nuclear test of 1962. What happened was that it was about 500 miles away from Hawaii and 200 miles up,” he said. “They could return the system within a few days, but what would it be like if it took a month, six months, about five years to repair?”
The deceased Peter PryAn expert in nuclear weapons and former staff director at the Congressional EMP Commission agreed. Before his death in 2022, Pry warned that the launch of Kim Jung Un of a ballistic rocket at a great height was a test of the EMP possibilities of North Korea against the United States.
“Cars would be paralyzed,” Py told Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs tonight In May 2017. “Aircraft can fall out of the blue. You would have explosions of natural gas piping, nuclear reactor considerations. And the worst of everything, if you had a long -term blackout, it would be a serious threat to the American people survive . “
A geomagnetic disruption is a temporary disruption of the magnetosphere of the earth caused by a solar wind shock wave and/or cloud of magnetic field that interacts with the magnetic field of the earth. (Department of Homeland Security)
The threat of EMP pushed President Donald Trump during his first term in 2020 to publish a study at the Ministry of Defense (DOD) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
“Just the last few days, the Trump government has been talking about the iron dome of Israel, but in the United States,” he said.
Forstchen shared three ways in which the US could prepare for a potential EMP attack.
Attend the electric grid
Forstchen called the current electric grid ‘outdated’ and argued that it must be updated for the 21st century.
“It’s scary to realize that almost all our electricity is pumped on systems that are 30, even 40 years old,” he said.
Energy experts explode failed to do a billion dollar as ‘financial boondoggle,’ ‘disaster’
Joseph J. Brettel, communication consultant and former energy spokesperson, wrote in one Fox News Digital Opinion Piece That the electric grid “desperately needs investments and modernization.”
“This is not just an infrastructure problem; it is an economic opportunity,” he wrote. “By releasing enormous resources and problem -solving determination to the grid, the president could solve a decades of challenge and at the same time create thousands of direct and indirect jobs.”
Rockets fired from southern Lebanon are intercepted by the Iron Dome Air Defense System from Israel over the Upper Galilee region in North -Israel on August 23, 2024. (outside Mary/AFP via Getty images)
Make an American iron dome
Just like Israel, the US needs an iron dome, Forstchen said.
“Ronald Reagan It suggested in the 1980s, it was known as Star Wars, “he said.” But that was impossible at the time, but with the technology that we have today and boys like (Elon) Musk, it is quite possible that we can make one relatively small costs compared to some other things. “
Trump has ordered the construction of an advanced, the next generation of rocket defense shield to protect the United States against air raid. In January he signed an executive order that tasks Defense Minister Pete Hegseeth Drawing up plans to build an “Iron Dome for America” ​​that protects Americans against the threat of rockets launched by a foreign enemy.
Trump says that the construction of iron dome will be ‘immediately’, signs the executive order
In addition, Trump held a campaign bow to give priority to rocket defense.
“By the next term we will build a great iron dome over our country,” Trump said during a West Palm Beach event on June 14. “We earn a dome … It is a rocket defense shield and it will all be made in America.”
Stay safe during an emergency with these supplies. (Istock)
Stockpile emergency stocks
Forstchen encouraged people to prepare for the potential threat By storing supplies.
“With every American citizen I urge this to take this seriously and to prepare a bit. I am not talking about changing your house into a fort,” he said. “I say that I need for a month or two of emergency situations.”
As a resident of Asheville, North Carolina, Forstchen said that the destruction after hurricane Helene has been ‘horrible’, which still left homeless months after the natural disaster.
Click here to get the Fox News app
“And this is a small regional event, imagine it was the entire United States,” he said.
Fox News Digital has contacted the Department of Homeland Security and the Ministry of Defense for comment.
