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Former CIA Director: We're Not Doing Nearly Enough To Protect Against The EMP Threat

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Last week we were reminded of what Elliott Management's Paul Singer highlighted as the "one risk that stands way above the rest in terms of the scope of potential damage adjusted for the likelihood of occurrence" - an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). Specifically, we covered the release of an open letter written to President Obama on the country's concerning level of vulnerability to a natural or man-made EMP. What is stunning about the former CIA Director's comments below is not just the carnage an EMP could wreak, but the apparent rabid intransigence with which the electrical power lobby is fighting any responsibility for defending against one.

Submitted by Adam Taggart via PeakProsperity.com,

On Monday we covered the release of an open letter written to President Obama, issued by a committee of notable political, security and defense experts  -- which includes past and present members of Congress, ambassadors, CIA directors, and others -- on the country's concerning level of vulnerability to a natural or man-made Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP).

An EMP has very real potential for crippling much of our electrical grid instantaneously. Not only would that immediately throw the social order into chaos, but the timeline to repair and restart the grid in most estimated scenarios would take months to a year or more. Those curious on learning exactly how devastating an EMP can be can read our report on the topic from last summer.

This week, we've been fortunate enough to get several of the authors of that open letter to join us and explain in depth what they conclude needs to be done to protect against the EMP risk: former CIA Director and current Ambassador James Woolsey, Executive Director of the EMP Task Force Dr Peter Pry, and security industry entrepreneur Jen Bawden.

What's frightening in this story is not just the carnage an EMP could wreak, but the apparent rabid intransigence with which the electrical power lobby is fighting any responsibility for defending against one:

Chris Martenson:   Now, we’ve had a commission to assess the threat to the United States from an EMP attack, which delivered a report back in 2008. In fact, I found no less than two congressional commissions, a National Academy of Science report, other U.S. government sponsored studies, including your own. All have raised heightened concerns about this issue. All have found, all of them, that the EMP threat poses a significant and existential threat to the United States, and yet here we are still talking about this. Why is that?

 

Dr. Pry:   Well, the short answer to that is it’s called the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. They used to be a trade association or a lobby for the 3,000 electric utilities that exist in this country. And, their relationship with the federal government, with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, is a 19th century-type relationship. There is no part of the U.S. government that has the legal powers to order them to protect the grid. This is unusual, because in the case of every other critical infrastructure, there’s an agency in the U.S. government that can require them to take actions for public safety. For example, the Food & Drug Administration can order certain medicines kept off shelves to protect the public safety. The Federal Aviation Administration can ground aircraft and require protective devices, put locks on aircraft doors, for example, to protect people from having the aircrafts hijacked by terrorists.The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission doesn’t have those legal powers or authorities.

 

And, the NERC, which owns half of K Street and has got very deep pockets, has been successful in lobbying against legislation like the Grid Act and the SHIELD Act, both bipartisan bills supported almost unanimously by Democrats and Republicans. They’ve been able to stall for years and keep these bills held up. One time when we got a bill passed: the Grid Act actually, in 2010, unanimously passed the House. Everybody supported it. But Washington is so broken, one senator put a hold on a bill—if they know which senator to buy, they can buy that one senator and the person can put a hold on the bill so it can’t come to the floor for a vote and they can do it anonymously. The senator doesn’t have to identify themselves. So, you never know who stopped the bill.

 

And, that’s been the problem in Washington. We’ve been trying to overcome resistance by the electric power lobby to try to protect the grid.

 

They’ve basically been successful in stymying efforts at the federal level. Now, we’ve got another bill, Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, that we’re hoping will pass this year. Again, we’ve got a lot of support, but it’s already under attack by the utilities. And, they’re trying to change the language of the bill to basically gut the bill.

 

Ambassador Woolsey:  And, when NERC is studying a problem, it doesn’t exactly operate at breakneck speed. After the ’03 outage in Cleveland that started with a tree branch touching a power line and took out the electricity for several days of Eastern Canada and much of the northeastern United States, NERC was finally prevailed upon to do a study. And, they did one and focused entirely on how to cut tree branches so that they won’t interfere with electric power lines. And, that tree branch study took them three years and eight months. What’s interesting about that lapse of time is three years and eight months is exactly the amount of time the United States was engaged in World War II, from beginning to end. So, one wonders how many wars worth of time it would take NERC to deal with a more complicated problem such as say, squirrels.

 

Chris Martenson:  I understand that NERC is against this and they think this is overbearing regulation and they don’t want to be more highly regulated. I think possibly understandable concerns from any industry, but in this case, what kind of money are we talking about here? How much would it take to really begin to remedy this issue and how much time would it take? What is NERC fighting here?

 

Dr. Pry:  Sure. Interesting question, because there are different numbers, depending upon how much security you want to buy. One of my colleagues on the, who served on the EMP Commission, had a plan that would cost $200 million. That’s not billions, but millions with an ‘m’. Now, that would be a very minimalist plan, and it would just protect the extra high voltage transformers that service the major metropolitan areas. It would by no means—we would still be at a very high level of risk, but it would at least give us something like a fighting chance to save all those people in the big cities, in the hundred largest big cities from starving to death, if you just invested $200 million.

 

At this point, as I recently testified to Congress, I think the U.S. FERC is so broken and untrustworthy that we probably need to scrap the regulatory system we’ve got now and go to something completely different. I think what you’ve got is a situation of what’s called regulatory capture. You’ve got a rotating door between FERC and NERC and these guys are basically in cahoots with the electric power industry .

Click the play button below to listen to Chris' interview with Dr. Peter Pry, Jen Bawden, and Ambassador James Woolsey (48m:35s)

 

 

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Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:26 | 6181053 booboo
booboo's picture

My guns will work and I won't have to worry about being tazed. Win win

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:32 | 6181072 max2205
max2205's picture

There goes my Iwatch 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:47 | 6181106 nink
nink's picture

agree I work in IT and this is a huge issue.  Only defence departments have included EMP hardening in their cages and underground data centers.  I rarely see commercial data centers impliment EMP shielding. Personally I have a metal garbage bin in the basement, I wrap phones etc in tinfoil and I put them in the bin shielded from the sides with plastic.  Short wave Radio,  AM FM radio Old Nokia phone batteries etc.  

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:50 | 6181109 gladius17
gladius17's picture

"We're not doing enough...."

 

Speak for yourself, chump!

Your "we" does not include me!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:02 | 6181127 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

I have a solution, but most people wouldn't believe it until they seen it firsthand...

Scientist use to say, mankind will never fly, until the Wright Bros. handed them their lunch, and they also say that about perpetual motion machines...

https://youtu.be/ULy0vly9A2c

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:04 | 6181141 clymer
clymer's picture

Woolsey makes me cringe

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:42 | 6181229 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

The entire premise behind ZH is the movie "Fight Club" which had, at it's narrative heart, taking out all the banks and credit companies, essentially "crashing the system".  But in a much more controlled way than an EMP which would take out almost everything connected to the grid.

The damage from an EMP burst would not only be that you need to buy a new fridge and TV.  Power plants would take time to get up and running, the distribution grid even longer.  God forbid a nuke plant or two melts down in the middle of all of this.  Let's say it take months or maybe a year or so to fix all of that and cordon off the nuclear-affected areas.  Everything's OK then?  Nope.  All banks have already gone bust, many businesses, too.  (Governemnt still survives but only because they have the military to impose their will by force.)  If you had an an account with money in it... well, you don't any more.  But if you OWED money, you don't any more, either.  Basically, the whole country resets back to some point well before the gold standard was abandoned but with no creditors or debtors.  Oh, by the way, so does the rest of the world because their banks (and many of their businesses) have all gone bust, too, as the US defaults on abotu a bezillion debt obligations both public and private.  None of this financial bullshit will matter much except that supply lines of food and water will break not long into this and many will starve/kill eachother/rape/pillage and all sorts of other assorted nastyness.

This is the long way around the barn to say something very basic- nobody is going to EMP attack the US using traditional game theory logic.  EMP attack is almost no different in it's effects than a full-on thermonuclear attack with cities laid waste and millions killed.  The ONLY reason an EMP would be detonated over the US is because the elites decide it's time to cull the herd and reboot with a smaller population.  If it happens, it will be an inside job.

 

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:59 | 6181367 DeadFred
DeadFred's picture

A small contention on one of points, somebody may want to EMP attack the US if they think they can get away with being undetected. Who would the retaliation be directed against then? Three or four explosions without any fallout and the Western system is gone in a year.

One small correction for the article, there are no 'EX' CIA. This guy is still speaking for the company. bet on it.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 00:44 | 6181440 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

An EMP would be most damaging to power lines and transformers, due to the lenght of said lines (which would allow for very powerful self inducted currents in a strong variable elecromagnetic field, aka EMP). Imagine having to live a full month without electricity, then start calculating your chances of survival. For those with limited imagination, try reading "One Second After"...

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 02:09 | 6181546 crazytechnician
crazytechnician's picture

It would take years to replace those transformers.

A large enough EMP could trigger hundreds of Fukishima's , think 400 Spent Fuel Pools with no cooling. Extinction Level Event bitchez.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 09:21 | 6182093 LoadedBakedPotato
LoadedBakedPotato's picture

This may be a stupid question, but why are nuclear power plants not self sustaining in terms of electricity recquired to operate them and keep the cores cool?

Assuming the proper precautions were taken to harden individual nuclear powerplants against the impact of potential EMPs, why is it that nuclear plants need alternative sources of electricity to operate when they generate enormous amounts of electricity?

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 09:24 | 6182103 sleigher
sleigher's picture

I asked the same question a while back.  The answer I got was they are retrofitting the plants that are susceptible to melt down/cooling used rods with a power out situation.  There were something like 15 of them left?  Maybe 20?  Anyways, they have been working on it so that won't be an issue when the grid goes down.  I don't know if they ever finished...

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 09:21 | 6182094 sleigher
sleigher's picture

Just finished one second after a month or so ago.  Great book and likely a very good depiction of what life would be like.

Most would die is the jist of it unless you have done some serious preps.  

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 06:02 | 6181669 Serenity Now
Serenity Now's picture

NoDebt,

There are many countries that don't comprehend much less use traditional game theory logic.  North Korea being the first one that comes to mind.  EMP is a serious threat.

One Second After is a great book.  Author, William Forstchen.  

His new novella, Day of Wrath, is not quite as great (because it's more of a short story), but it is just as chilling.  It's about ISIS getting into the US.  

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:00 | 6181128 ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

< CIA most dangerous

< EMP most dangerous

"We're not doing nearly enough to protect against the CIA threat"

Sincerely ~ EMP

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:05 | 6181143 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

MIC + NIA(s) + NSA(s)  (There are 17 intelligence Agencies in the USA & these liars can't come up with a solution?)

There must be an equal number of departments in the NSA, surely, and the MIC Is connected to all of them...

(Being the absolute top, e.g., the Pentagon)

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:24 | 6181187 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

< MIC,
< Earth Events & EMPs

Or maybe Lobbying, Politicians, Money & Gifts in Politics, Lawyers, Bankers, Wealthy Interests, Ivy League Network, Masons, Vatican, Israel, Keretsu Legacy, Nazi Legacy, British-Zio-Fascism...

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:26 | 6181195 brockhardman
brockhardman's picture

Translation:  "We are working on an EMP."

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 09:56 | 6182203 weburke
weburke's picture

woolsey, who was former head of cia and quoted above in article, LIVES like he believes  in the threat.. HE, is in a home near DC region, ahd he has outfitted his house with solar and other prep stuff, and food and water, and reccomends you and I do the same. I say we should believe him. 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 11:56 | 6182703 Alvin Fernald
Alvin Fernald's picture

The potential damage from one or two emps is huge.
The potential damage from six or eight confirmed decades of the CIA?
The thought of surviving an extended lights out period begins to seem attractive.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:34 | 6181205 malek
malek's picture

dupe

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:33 | 6181216 malek
malek's picture

It's easy to shield a unused, turned off device.

But after the EMP, you take out your phone from your metal garbage can - and the cellphone towers will magically still work?
And how do you know there will be no second EMP after you took your stuff out of shielded stoarage.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:16 | 6181301 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

Garbage can-ammo cans---  Short waves, FRS radios, think ....  Oh, wait 120 nuke reactors and storage pools with no water circulation, aka Fukushima, ahhh never mind...

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 00:24 | 6181408 CPL
CPL's picture

Yeah, suddenly those bunkers don't look so smart if you are going to hide underground for a couple of thousand years and deal with the complications of heavy background radiation.  Just look now, it's barely above a couple seiverts and most of the western world is sterile as mules or cranking out autists by the bus load.  If a handful of reactors go bust, it'll be a world where the living envy the dead.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:19 | 6181308 Enceladus
Enceladus's picture

you don't want metal touching anything in ur faraday cage. charges can still build. set things on wood not touching the sides of the can

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:28 | 6181332 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

The electromagnetic field strength inside of a faraday cage should be zero, but yeah for good measure put a tiny bit of nonconductive material between your EMPocalypse electronics and the inside of the cage.   Plastic baggies ought to do. 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 01:54 | 6181536 nc551
nc551's picture

Seems to me a full scale EMP event would societly be almost no different than the effects of Project Mayhem.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 02:22 | 6181560 Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day's picture

your bank accounts will be wiped out but your debt records will be secured by .gov and banksters. the politicians will go scott free as will the bankers and the blame will squarely fall on some mysterious islamic state to perpetuate the war for another 2 decades.  problems solved

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 04:33 | 6181631 Lurk Skywatcher
Lurk Skywatcher's picture

Yes, I find it hard to believe that everybodys debts would be wiped. The bankers are crazy, but they are not stupid - they spent all that time developing unbreakable shackles for the majority of humanity, there is no way they would let a little EMP spoil their control.

Deposits are electronic only, debts are carved in stone.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 04:50 | 6181640 Seek_Truth
Seek_Truth's picture

If you only knew what's coming.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:36 | 6181082 nmewn
nmewn's picture

Clearly this calls for ObamaEMP-Care.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 05:15 | 6181653 Global Observer
Global Observer's picture

If you like your EMP, you can keep your EMP.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:22 | 6181189 Evil Bugeyes
Evil Bugeyes's picture

Make the ganglia twitch!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:28 | 6181200 BullyBearish
BullyBearish's picture

EMP...hmmmm, a perfect way to wipe out citizen's bank balances without recourse and thereby solve the debt debacle

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:13 | 6181274 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

If, after one year w/o power, there is a societal collapse and a 90% population reduction because of it, TPTB won't be too worried.

Not when you consider that the Top 10% owns most Assets and Wealth in the country.  They'll simply retaliate and start over.

The key thing that even smart guys like Martensen, Woolsey & Friends are overlooking is based once again on System-Level Thinking (analysis and synthesis at system-level) to envision Outcome Scenarios.

As such, my 'on-board computer' tells me that the group or country that wins, is not the one that merely survives (by hiding and selfishly looking out for #1 like Lone Wolves), but the one that can rebuild faster than anyone else. 

It's ALL about getting back on the horse, or (if you prefer) all about climbing back up the Ladder of Civilization.  To do that, massive cooperation and pooling of skills will be required, before the Barbarian Hordes arrive (a la Attila the Hun) and wipe out all.  Even those smug, smart-ass Lone Wolves and micro communities, who delude themselves that being out in the countryside will save their bacon.  They might have survived the initial societal decimation, but they won't survive Attila.

If it were me, I'd want to be part of a Skillset Community that encompasses several dozen different skills (builders, farmers, tool makers/repairmen, health professionals, educators, tradesmen, craftsmen, scientists, engineers, project managers) that makes for a village of several hundred people.  And rug or basket-weaving will be more useful than feminine or GayBLT studies, accounting, or lawyers, realtors, brokers, insurance salesmen, or CFPs.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 00:07 | 6181375 DeadFred
DeadFred's picture

Or you can be in China where they have a lot of spare cities and stockpiles of fuel and ore and other necessities just waiting. One could almost think they are planning with this event in mind, but we all know dozens of empty citues is just because they're sooo stupid they they just want to build things that will never be used.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 00:46 | 6181444 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

The 10% won't survive without the 90% either, don't fool yourself...

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 07:42 | 6181787 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

Wow, Kirk.

Pretty damn clever. You just invented the small rural town.

City slickers...an amusing lot.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 11:16 | 6182500 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

Re-invented the small town, as this one has its residents entirely selected on value-add skill sets.

The weakness with small towns today, is that there are many people who depend on Gov jobs to get by, are retired, or have skill sets missing for a fully functional community that truly thrives and grows on its own. Having lived in a few small towns (in more than one country), I know what I'm talking about when I say "I know what's right and what's wrong with small towns, and there is definitely a lot of room for improvement"

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 09:01 | 6182019 AlphaBetaCFA
AlphaBetaCFA's picture

Galt's Gulch.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:27 | 6181061 Rehab Willie
Rehab Willie's picture

I bet you can build a whole lot of bunkers for $4 trillion.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:54 | 6181117 ZerOhead
ZerOhead's picture

I'll bet Obama's friends could build 20% more for an extra $10 trillion...

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:29 | 6181065 Toe Nails
Toe Nails's picture

It's only been about five hours since TPTB have scared someone, so this makes sense.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:31 | 6181067 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

Gotta start hangin with the Amish. EMP? Grid? they could give a fuck..........maybe they are pretty smart after all.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:59 | 6181131 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

I lived around Amish in Indiana and they are in fact pretty smart.    They stop schooling at the 8th grade but at that point they have a better math and english (AND German) education than most high school graduates.   They are required to work in the non-Amish world for several years.   They are not as naive as most people think they are. 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:49 | 6181242 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

FWIW... During that 2 year period they seem pretty normal and actually drink and check out girls (must be the German in them), which the Mormons do not.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:51 | 6181249 nuubee
nuubee's picture

I'd like them better if they seemed more prepared for zombies.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 00:11 | 6181382 DeadFred
DeadFred's picture

Zombie weed-whackers that can be recharged by a solar panel are the best... until a cloudy day.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 20:45 | 6184702 Alvin Fernald
Alvin Fernald's picture

Everybody knows that zombies will provide an energy source in the future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x0uL9ufxnQ

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:33 | 6181074 MarkD
MarkD's picture

Will I still be able to watch the Duggars?

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:15 | 6181299 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

You will need to be the Duggars. 

Strength in numbers and strength in skill-sets, Mark.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:36 | 6181080 Ms No
Ms No's picture

So... is this the CIA telling us what false flag is next?  They don't give a shit about us.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:37 | 6181083 reader2010
reader2010's picture

we need to spend the money we don't have for the things we don't need to enrich the folks we don't like. 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:39 | 6181085 xcehn
xcehn's picture

"Regulatory capture": the establishment catch-all for intentional insider crime. Sickening.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:39 | 6181088 Wild Theories
Wild Theories's picture

is EMP going to be as scary as Y2K? or ebola landing in the west? or...

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:53 | 6181119 IridiumRebel
IridiumRebel's picture

I bet you'd like to see a ban on cash too....

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:55 | 6181125 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

I don't know sounds like it will blow all communications and all cable even under the sea.

Pretty bad.

Mass Chaos as kids lose their games, computers, diversions, lights, sports, schools, shopping, cell phone, food, water, gasoline, electricity...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 01:21 | 6181493 onmail
onmail's picture

The EMP is the worst nightmare you can imagine.

(Other than the nuclear bomb over your head)

 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 08:05 | 6181837 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

Not at all.

People lived quite nicely all over the world prior to electricity.

Gosh, they even has cities and shit.

I'll even hire some of you non productive types to run on my hamster wheel sawmill for a bunk and beans, cornbread and fatback gravy twice a day.

Chitlins and hawgmaws on Sunday, if y'all behave.

 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 08:46 | 6181964 mastersnark
mastersnark's picture

.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 08:45 | 6181966 mastersnark
mastersnark's picture

Prepper newsletters are basically the Weekly World News without the bat/wolf kids.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 21:45 | 6181101 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Another thing that Israel and Dual Citizens should help patriotic Americans with along with our debt burden, Complex Credit Linkages, proliferating Securities, Economic Leakage, wasteful federal contracts, wasteful federal IT Contracts, wasteful Privatization contracts for the Federal Government, and Reversing Damage from contracting out, privatization, and raising federal costs through US Congressional BRAC Programs (Base Realignment and Closure) started in the 1980s.

Blowout of US Electrical Grid could take a year or 10 years to rebuild no one knows. Some say there are very unique nodes through the system for which the USA has no Manufacturing capability and which have to made unique.

repost:

Doesn't matter if it is currency war, economic war, financial war, boycotts, sanctions, seized Bank Accounts, Petro Dollar, Strategic Navy & Air Ports overseas, Resupply & Refitting for Navy Ships overseas, National Stock Piles, Strategic Reserves, or Hardening our Electrical Grid against EMP Attack/Coronal Mass Ejection from the Sun. The Banking System and Government are subject to 1) Cyber Attacks 2) Direct Infrastructure Attacks 3) Electric Grid Attacks.

- "Recent attacks on transformer substations and other critical parts of the electric grid have underscored one of America’s most serious vulnerabilities: If the power goes off and stays off, our nation and the vast majority of its population will cease to exist."

Since there has never been a test of rebooting the US Electric Grid no one knows how difficult it would be to Restart. Last blast from the Sun destroyed all telephone lines to Europe, 1859, and world wide telegraph systems.

Sheathing the Power Grid may only cost $2 Billion, but the cost if hit might destroy all commerce, all communications, all eduction, all food & Water distribution, and all transportation & Emergency Response Vehicle communications.

https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/2158 -

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/111/hr5026 -

This is the Corporation that is Responsible:

http://www.nerc.com/Pages/default.aspx

NERC’s jurisdiction includes users, owners, and operators of the bulk power system, which serves more than 334 million people.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:00 | 6181135 IridiumRebel
IridiumRebel's picture

EMP would "get our Georgia Guidestones on".

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:04 | 6181142 Bennie Noakes
Bennie Noakes's picture

The government protection racket: hand over all your money and your freedoms and we'll protect you from problems that we caused.

John Leonard Orr is former arson investigator for the Glendale fire department who is suspected of setting nearly 2000 arson fires between 1984 and 1991. Afer his arrest, the number of brushfires in the nearby areas decreased by over 90%.

One way to greatly reduce the risk of an EMP attack might be to adopt a less bellicose and belligerent foreign policy.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:14 | 6181168 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

The Rumor is that Russia and the USSR hardened their Electric Grid decades ago as they planned to survive nuclean war.

In the USA we only hardened the Military Systems not the civilian systems. Nuclear hardening is another way to describe the situation.

Well if the USSR & Russia are prepared for Nuclear war by Nuclear Hardening of their Electrical System... why would our leaders ignore this safety precaution if a complete black out from shore to shore would be unknown territory and obviously disrupt civil order and all essential systems??

But I am a Cynic. I don't see US Congress protecting anybody even if you do. Greed rules USA and Greed is how we solve problems.

Cyber Attack includes: 1) Computer Virus & hacking attacks 2) Individual attacks on US Soil on infrastructure 3) EMP Attacks, nuclear weapons detonated above the USA

"Just before dawn the next day, skies all over planet Earth erupted in red, green, and purple auroras so brilliant that newspapers could be read as easily as in daylight. Indeed, stunning auroras pulsated even at near tropical latitudes over Cuba, the Bahamas, Jamaica, El Salvador, and Hawaii. "

Happened in 1859.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 00:50 | 6181452 angel_of_joy
angel_of_joy's picture

It's not a rumour. James Woolsey himself is claiming the same thing in the above interview. It's both Russia and China, by the way...

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 02:28 | 6181566 Nostradumbass
Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:06 | 6181146 essence
essence's picture

Note to former CIA director:

We're not doing near enough to protect ourselves against a run amuck CIA.
Safest option would be to break it into a thousand pieces and start again.
This time with actual oversight and NO BLACK BUDGETS.

 

 

 

 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 01:05 | 6181469 onmail
onmail's picture

CIA == Cabal Intelligence Agency

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:28 | 6181198 q99x2
q99x2's picture

In the event of an EMP go directly after the Banking families and arrest them.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:33 | 6181215 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Israel OWES US. If they want our power to protect them, they need to Invigorate a US Movement to Ensure the survival of the USA... take us back from the brink... use activism & Lobbying to take the corruption out of our Accounting, Financial Ratings, Complex Bank Credit Links, and Toxic Assets and Federal & Other Excessive Debt.

Sorry Israel... We are going to Endo. We have little Integrity as you know and as your agents have ensured. Our Integrity is gone. We will collapse and you will have few friends.

Sorry Dumb ass. Thanks for thinking about yourself for 60 years and killing the Golden Goose. Dumb Ass.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:53 | 6181253 Savyindallas
Savyindallas's picture

Israel has no real power by itself. It is simply a safe harbor- a nuclear base for the Internationalist Banksters and Zionist Jews. A significant minority of their people are prety decent - oppose the genocide of palestinians, support peace, etc. Don't give netanyahu much credit  -like Obama, he is a figurehead-a puppet of his Masters who rule largely behind the scenes. 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:35 | 6181218 Latitude25
Latitude25's picture

I've worked for utilities for over 25 years and all of them are overburdened with regulations from NERC and most of those regulations came after the NE power outage.  I can guarantee one thing and that is that the claim that NERC spent 4 years investigating a tree branch is totally inaccurate.  There are literally hundreds of pages of new NERC regulations regulating how utilities operate and protect their systems and most are a result of that NE blackout.  Utilities face fines that can amount to millions of $ per day for violations of their regulations.  I think it's totally inaccurate to claim that utilities are in bed with NERC.  I've seen utilites scramble, suffer and pay in a big way to meet NERC regulations.

Regarding EMP protection there are some relatively inexpensive methods to protect against damage to high voltage transformers.  Some of the largest of these are so specialized that it would take years to build and replace them.  IEEE has published articles detailing the ways to protect these and it should be a utility, government and NERC priority to see that this protection is implemented.  

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 00:19 | 6181393 Condition 1SQ
Condition 1SQ's picture

I've worked in that field as well.  From my experience, NERC sets general guidelines but utilities have a million and one excuses to not follow them.  For example, it is literally impossible to properly set every protective relay (transformer, line diff, distance, plain old overcurrent, etc) in order to protect the grid under all circumstances.  There's just no way to derive the settings, let alone have an army of engineers and techs go out there and reprogram the relays.  Then you've got complicated dynamic stability issues resulting from the interplay of power system stabilizers, generator controllers, transformer inductance, wave traps, cap banks, etc.  It is literally an intractable problem.  All the utilities can do is sorta kinda maybe get it right.  Utilities have all sorts of plausible deniability when it comes to power outages.

The NERC says "thou shalt have unique passwords on every relay".  The utilities say "uh, yeah, we'll get right on that".  It's more like compliance theater.  The only time we were ever concerned about getting a NERC fine was when my crew and I would do SCADA work and briefly cut out NERC's data feed to a critical substation.  To the NERC, that looks like an outage and generally results in an automatic whopper of a fine - because they can easily trace it back to someone making a dumb mistake.  Slam dunk.  However, most significant incidents not involving an act of God are way, way too complicated for the NERC to dissect.

Regarding an EMP, it all depends on the strength of the magnetic field coupled into not only the power line conductors, but the control wiring in the substations and power plants.  For those of you who haven't worked in a substation / power plant before, it is like working in electrical archaeology.  Generation after generation of product shoehorned in there to work with each other.  At some stations, you've got equipment dating back from the 1950s to present day.  Good luck replacing all of that shit if it gets a nifty voltage pulse from an EMP!

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 02:25 | 6181561 ILLILLILLI
ILLILLILLI's picture

Right you are on the shoehorned shit...

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 06:43 | 6181697 Latitude25
Latitude25's picture

NERC certainly isn't perfect and they have awhole lot of inefficiency but to say they are captured by the industry is just plain wrong.  It would be more accurate to say that NERC now has better control of the industry than ever before.

It appears that you were a relay tech leader and are not really exposed to the NERC compliance attacks that happen at the engineering and operations level.  I can assure you that they are very aggressive and all utilities now have a compliance department to deal with nothing but NERC headaches.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 11:46 | 6182653 malek
malek's picture

Isn't it a bit simplistic to look only at the EMP magnetic field effects on transformers and power lines?

To my understanding the EMP electric field will have fried all electronics (SCADA etc.) long before, so unless you can operate your relays by hand it won't matter much if the high-power electro-machanical components survived.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:40 | 6181223 Savyindallas
Savyindallas's picture

The elites who own this country - Wall street, the mainstream media, the corrupt Congress and Presidency - they don't give a shit about the EMP threat. We are the engine that runs globalism -when these devils have succeeeded in taking out the international opposition - then we are next. I am more concerned about an EMP attack from the devils who run and control this country than I am from Russia or China or anyone else. Population reduction  -by 90% is the ultimate goal and plan of these Luciferians who are now in control. EMP attacks are much cleaner and less harmful to the planet than nukes. 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:22 | 6181315 Calmyourself
Calmyourself's picture

"EMP attacks are much cleaner and less harmful to the planet than nukes."  Really, how do the 120 civilian reactors NOT melt down??

 

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:43 | 6181224 Kirk2NCC1701
Kirk2NCC1701's picture

When did Martensen go over to the Dark Side?  I guess being a Libertarian Financial Adviser didn't work out for him, after 3 years of beatings on the Gold funds and stocks.

Run away, run away... here come the EMPutees.  <--- something that Monty Python would say.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 22:53 | 6181255 snblitz
snblitz's picture

Bring it on!

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:24 | 6181321 Perimetr
Perimetr's picture

No one is talking about what EMP would do to a NUCLEAR POWER PLANT

 

You destroy the circuits in the reactor, the REACTOR MELTS DOWN.

 

You destroy the cooling system for the spent fuel pool, the water in the pool heats up, boils off and

the SPENT FUEL RUPTURES and IGNITES

 

all US spent fuel pools contain several times more long-lived radioactivity than is contained in the reactor cores

thus a spent fuel pool fire will RELEASE VAST AMOUNTS OF RADIOACTIVITY

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 08:16 | 6181864 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

Meh.

Didn't you see the Kittycats of Chernobyl documentary?

They were all doing fine unless the mutant wolves show up.

Tue, 06/09/2015 - 23:43 | 6181352 GRDguy
GRDguy's picture

EMP==Elitist Management Pact

Much more damaging than electrical pulses.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 00:48 | 6181434 TomGa
TomGa's picture

IMHO, SCADA hacking presents much more of a threat than an EMP.  EMP? Yada, yada, yada.....

 

In any event, a loss of grid power for a year or so would simply weed out those who aren't prepared or who are downwind of any of our conventional nuclear plants when their backup diesel generators eventually run out of fuel.

 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 01:01 | 6181467 onmail
onmail's picture

Thumbs up to EMP attack on Satan Amkreeeka ,

the destroyer of nations

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 01:22 | 6181496 are we there yet
are we there yet's picture

My worry is if the fed replaces the NERC that it would resemble FEMA in mismanagement by political appointees as payback for campaign favors.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 01:31 | 6181507 JoJoJo
JoJoJo's picture

And how much money have  the EPA Nazis  diverted away from electrical power companies from investing in security, infrastructure, and research and development? Shutting down hundreds of coal companies has also  caused massive loss of  revenues. Obama promised to shut down coal and cause energy costs to "skyrocket." It all goes back to 0.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 02:26 | 6181562 Nostradumbass
Nostradumbass's picture

An EMP/solar flare will likely be blamed but in reality, it is the backdoor access into virtually ALL of the SCADA software used worldwide that will bring the ultimate collapse of every system.

An utter nightmare is in the works...

http://truthsector.net/2015/04/14/japans-311-in-miyagi-and-fukushima-whe...

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 04:39 | 6181633 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

Long night vision headgear.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 06:54 | 6181715 corbeau
corbeau's picture

So, go shield yourselves, idiots. Take a credit, and run to WallMart to buy a 10cm thick iron pants. Thus, the EMP would not fry your family jewels.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 07:44 | 6181793 Last of the Mid...
Last of the Middle Class's picture

They're Back!!!!! Someone's about to ask for a massive amount of $$$$$ to protect us poor little citizens. Wow, this act never goes out of style. .

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 08:43 | 6181953 esum
esum's picture

really..... but but obumbler says CLIMATE CHANGE is the BIGGEST THREAT....

how do i invest in EMP...???

 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 08:55 | 6182004 BeaverCream
BeaverCream's picture

Such bullshit, this is their latest false flag buildup. 

1. Cut power

2. Set off a harmless blast somewhere, Blame EMP

3. WWIII

Easiest false flag ever

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 09:40 | 6182147 dexter_morgan
dexter_morgan's picture

Well, you can only do so much and we have that much more imminent threat we have to piss money away on - climate change.

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 15:47 | 6183059 Atticus Finch
Atticus Finch's picture

Actually, EMP is second.

The Marine Extinction Level Event in the Pacific caused by the ongoing radioactivity dumping from Fukishima is a far greater threat to all of mankind. Recent research discloses the plutonium nano particles are floating Eastward along with Tritium. These are killer elements not just to sea life but to all the people living along the Pacific coast. Apparently, nuclear weapons development was going on at Daichi.

Japan has announced there is no engineering knowledge to stop the radioactivity pouring from Fukishima, " maybe in 200 years" was the announcement.

Some researchers are saying that in 20 years life along Pacific coast line will be extinct.

Arnie Gunderson an expert in nuclear fission says that the most extreme scenario is that Fukishima has the potential to render the Northern Hemisphere uninhabitable.

Of course, none of this is on MSM.

Thu, 06/11/2015 - 02:58 | 6185509 Cryogenic
Cryogenic's picture

I guess people wearing pacemakers should be worried.

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