In September, the North Koreans not only tested what they claimed was a hydrogen bomb (indeed, it was much more powerful than anything they have tested before) – they also made an explicit threat to deploy a devastating EMP weapon against their enemies, i.e. us. An electromagnetic pulse weapon would detonate a powerful nuclear explosion in space above the intended target in order to destroy much of the electrical infrastructure and hardware below. A well-planned and well-executed EMP attack on the United States could render much of our electrical grid useless, plunging Americans into darkness (and worse) for months or even years. The former chairman of a U.S. government commission studying the threat posed by EMP weapons recently stated that a major attack, by destroying the basis of our economy as well as jeopardizing our food supply, could kill 90 percent of Americans “within a year.”
Although in truth the
