AFF/ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE: CONDITIONS ARE RIPE NOW FOR AN EMP ATTACK

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This is even more important in light of the possible threat of high-altitude EMP blasts. All of the warning signs are present. The United States is increasingly reliant on vulnerable advanced electronics, and the weapons and missiles needed to mount an EMP assault are proliferating at a dangerous pace. Yet the U.S. military lacks a coherent policy on how to respond to an attack. America needs an authoritative voice--a blue-ribbon commission modeled after the Rumsfeld Commission--that can define the problem in realistic terms for Congress and recommend the steps to take to mount an adequate defense against the EMP threat.

MICROWAVE EMP WEAPONS ARE EASY TO MAKE

New Scientist 7/05/00 Electromagnetic Weapons,

The idea of weapons like these being used in warfare is disturbing enough, but what if criminals get their hands on them? According to Bill Radasky, an expert in electromagnetic interference with Metatech in Goleta, California, they may have already done so. A basic microwave weapon, he says, can be cobbled together with bits from an electrical store for just a few hundred dollars. Such a system would be small enough to fit in the back of a car and could crash a computer from 100 metres away.

EMP WEAPONS LEAVE NO "SMOKING GUN"

New Scientist 7/05/2000 Electromagnetic Weapons,

Electromagnetic weapons can be sneaky, too. You don't have to fry everything in sight. Instead you can hit just hard enough to make electronics crash--they call it a "soft kill" in the business--and then quietly do what you came to do without the enemy ever knowing you've even been there. "That could be useful in military applications when you just want to make [the opposition] lose his electronic memory for long enough to do your mission," Benford says. "You can deny you ever did anything," he adds. "There's no shrapnel, no burning wreckage, no smoking gun."

AN EMP ATTACK IS IN MANY WAYS A "PERFECT WEAPON"

New Scientist 7/05/2000 Electromagnetic Weapons,

This perfect weapon is the electromagnetic bomb, or e-bomb. The idea behind it is simple. Produce a high-power flash of radio waves or microwaves and it will fry any circuitry it hits. At lower powers, the effects are more subtle: it can throw electronic systems into chaos, often making them crash. In an age when electronics finds its way into just about everything bar food and bicycles, it is a sure way to cause mass disruption. Panic the financial markets and you could make a killing as billions are wiped off share values. You could freeze transport systems, bring down communications, destroy computer networks. It's swift, discreet and effective.