Electronic Armageddon on National Geographic Tuesday Night

Check out "Electronic Armageddon" Tuesday 15 June at 10 PM on National Geographic Channel. The 4 minute teaser above provides a brief introduction.

What do future presidents need to know about existential dangers this country could face? Explorer investigates the science behind the dangers of a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse, or HEMP. Picture an instantaneous deathblow to the vital engines that power our society, delivered by a nuclear weapon designed not to kill humans but to attack electronics. What could happen if an electromagnetic pulse surged to earth, crippling every aspect of modern society's infrastructure? _NG

It is fairly certain that if President Obama was unprepared for an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, he is unlikely to be up to the challenge of an Electronic Armageddon. But then, maybe we'll be lucky, and it won't happen.

EMPACT America -- information clearing house on EMP attack

Nuclear weapon EMP effects from FAS

"One Second After" site -- web headquarters for William Forstchen's exciting novel graphically describing the effect of a surprise EMP attack against the US, from the perspective of one semi-rural community.

Links to a number of reports from the US EMP Commission

As Iran and North Korea hone their nuclear explosive and warhead delivery skills, the risk for an untraceable surprise EMP attack against Europe or the US is not subsiding at all. And with Hugo Chavez expressing a wish to join the nuclear club, the problem potential oozes ever closer to North America.

Up to 90% of the US population could be dead within 1 year of an effective EMP attack that destroyed large scale equipment underlying the US electrical grid, without massive outside aid. That is how much modern societies depend upon electricity for their survival. But how realistic would massive outside aid be, if the world was suddenly plunged into global war at the same time?

15June2010 More: The US Congress is working on bills to protect the US energy grid from an array of attacks -- including hacker attacks, and solar storm hazards. But there is no sign that their efforts are anywhere proportionate to the threat.