A terrorist attack on the Pakistani
national grid plunged more than 140 million people into darkness before
power was restored, prompting U.S. experts to warn that terrorist cells
and “lone wolves” in the United States could cause similar damage to the
vulnerable national electric-grid system.
The blackout in Pakistan affected more than 80 percent of the
country’s population and all public services in all the major cities,
including the capital, Islamabad.
A separatist group in the Naseerabad district of Baluchistan province
in the country’s southwest caused the blackout by blowing up a major
transmission line connected to the national grid.
It was the third such attack in two weeks.
“It shows the bad guys definitely do know what they’re doing when
they want to – in a country with upwards of 100 nuclear weapons,” said
Clare Lopez, vice president for research and analysis at the
Washington-based Center for Security Policy.
In the latest attack on a major transmission line in Pakistan, two
nuclear plants went offline after the outages while problems occurred at
the country’s main international airport in Lahore.
Experts (including Bolton): 'The end of US civilization as we know it'
A conference of experts fears that the United States is already under threat of an electromagnetic pulse attack from Iran. But before we go to the conference, here's former US Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton talking about the threat of a nuclear Iran.
Let's go to the videotape.
Now, about that conference, at which Bolton was one of the speakers....
An EMP attack by Iran, explained Schwartz, would have the power to
“shut down our electrical grid, and thus, end our civilization as we
know it.”
“Iran has repeatedly called for a world without America,” Schwartz
continued, “and has practiced this type of EMP attack from barges in
the Caspian Sea.” He went on to describe various plausible scenarios
for a high-altitude EMP detonation, describing the repercussions as
“catastrophic.”
“The opportunity and time for diplomatic efforts has been exhausted,”
declared Schwartz. “The U.S. must act militarily to stop Iran, to
prevent them from becoming a nuclear-armed existential threat to
America.”
Schwartz went on to explain how successful stalling tactics on the
part of Iran over the last 20 years have brought the U.S. to this
critical juncture, and how the ineffectual foreign policy of the Obama
administration has exacerbated an already perilous situation,
necessitating a “muscular response” to the Iranian threat.
A presentation by foreign affairs expert Frank Gaffney provided
additional context for understanding the present situation with Iran.
Citing reports by a national German newspaper, Gaffney pointed to a
military collaboration between Iran and Venezuela, which would enable
Iran to launch an attack on the United States even before obtaining
intercontinental ballistic missiles. One tactic, launching a strike
from a cargo ship sitting off the U.S. coast, dubbed the
“Scud-in-a-tub,” was deemed a particularly worrisome possibility. It is
an attack vector, says Gaffney, for which we “neither have any missile
defense, nor, for that matter, any warning systems.”
Seeking to drive his point home and demonstrate that his concerns
were not an exaggeration, Gaffney recalled an incident last July in
which a ship, sailing through the Panama Canal under the North Korean
flag, was intercepted and found to be carrying two surface-to-air
missiles concealed within its cargo.
Fox News contributor and former ambassador John Bolton
offered insights on the inner machinations of the Iranian regime. He
characterized the superficially democratic aspects of Iranian government
as nothing more than a ruse. Describing how the true power lay with the
Ayatollah Khamenei and the nation's mullahs, he explained the position
of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani as that of a secondary leader.
Tongue firmly planted in cheek, Bolton helpfully suggested that
his listeners think of Rouhani as “Iran's Joe Biden.”
“And when you think of it that way,” Amb. Bolton elucidated,
“watching President Obama chase Hassan Rouhani around New York at the
opening of the (U.N.) General Assembly in September was more than an
embarrassment; it was a strategic mistake. Because Iran correctly read
Obama's efforts, first with the photo opportunity, then to even have
even a telephone conversation, as signaling weakness in the American
position, as signaling desperation to reach some kind of cosmetic deal
with Iran on the nuclear weapons program.”
This in turn, claims Bolton, has enabled the mullahs to maintain a significant advantage in the negotiations held since then.
The commander of U.S. military forces in the Pacific said this week that North Korea’s
KN-08 missile — a new road-mobile, intercontinental-range weapon — is a
serious threat with the potential to hit the United States with a
nuclear warhead.
The comments by Navy Adm. Samuel Locklear
to foreign reporters on Tuesday were made as a report provided new
details on the six KN-08 missiles — initially thought in 2012 to be
mock-ups — that now appear to be hard-to-locate and easy-to-fire mobile
intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
“From a military
planning perspective, when I see KN-08 road-mobile missiles that appear
in a North Korean military parade, I am bound to take that serious, both
for not only the peninsula, but also the region, as well as my own
homeland, should we speculate that those missiles potentially have the
technology to reach out,” Adm. Locklear said.
North Korea wants the United States to believe it has strategic missiles, and the strategic threat cannot be ignored, he said.
The KN-08's have not yet been tested.
Meanwhile, North Korea is also reported to be developing an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon.
A new twist on the threat of a North Korea
missile strike on the United States was disclosed Monday in Seoul.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service revealed that Pyongyang is
developing an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon.
The intelligence service stated in a report to the South Korean legislature that North Korea has purchased Russian-made EMP technology for developing its own pulse arms, Agence France-Presse reported.
EMP
was first discovered in the 1950s during nuclear tests in the Pacific.
After large nuclear test blasts, all electronics in areas up to 1,000
miles from the point of detonation were disrupted.
In recent
years, EMP simulators have evolved from test equipment — used to check
the survivability of electronics on nuclear and other weapons — to
offensive weapons that can create EMP waves without nuclear blasts. The
United States, China, Russia and North Korea are believed to be working on EMP weapons.
Former CIA Director R. James Woolsey Jr. and Peter Pry, a former U.S. intelligence officer who took part in a congressional EMP commission, stated in a recent article that North Korea’s long-range missiles appear “capable of making a catastrophic nuclear EMP attack on the United States.”
North Korea’s
2012 satellite launch shows that a warhead-equipped satellite in polar
orbit at a height of around 310 miles could be detonated over U.S.
territory. The satellite bomb would be “ideal for making an EMP attack
that places the [disruption] field over the entire contiguous 48 United
States,” they wrote on the Family Security Matters website.
Analyst Mark Langfan says that if North Korea has these weapons, so does Iran.
Arutz Sheva analyst Mark Langfan, who has been warning of
the EMP threat for a long time, notes that North Korea and Iran have
long been cooperating in the nuclear field, and that technology that
reaches Pyongyang can be assumed to have reached Iran as well.
Langfan recently predicted
that Iran will use an EMP bomb to take control of the Shiite-majority
areas of eastern Saudi Arabia where almost 100% of Saudi oil is located.
One Iranian EMP bomb can knock out the Saudi and American defenses in Saudi Arabia, he noted.
I don't know why, but when I read about the CHAMP (Counter-Electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project), it made me think about napalm. Napalm, for those of you who are too young to remember Vietnam, is a thickening/gelling agent generally mixed with petroleum or a similar fuel for use in an incendiary device, initially against buildings and later primarily as an anti-personnel weapon. "Napalm" is a combination of the names of two of the constituents of the gel: naphthenic acid and palmitic acid.
Colloquially, napalm has been used as the generic name of several flammable liquids used in warfare, often forms of jellied gasoline, such as to be expelled by flamethrowers in infantry and armored warfare.
In 1980, the use of napalm against civilian targets was banned, although its use against military targets is still permitted.
During the Vietnam war, however, there was a perception that napalm destroyed the 'things' but left the people alive, until we saw a photo of a young girl (who survived) fleeing from a napalm attack.
Aircraft manufacturer Boeing successfully tested the weapon on a one-hour flight during which it knocked out the computers of an entire military compound in the Utah
desert.
It is thought the missile could penetrate the bunkers and caves believed to be hiding Iran’s suspected nuclear facilities. But experts have warned that, in the wrong hands, the technology could be used to bring Western cities such as London to
their knees.
During Boeing’s experiment, the missile flew low over the Utah Test and
Training Range, discharging electromagnetic pulses on to seven targets,
permanently shutting down their electronics.
Boeing said that the test was so successful even the camera recording it was disabled.
What if Iran launches an EMP attack against the US?
America is a relatively safe place. However, a regime halfway around the world could destroy our way of life.
From
the beginning, the current Iranian regime made it clear that America is
public enemy #1. One way to seriously damage America would be a nuke,
and one terrifying scenario is a nuclear bomb detonated at high
altitude. This is an issue that Congressional commissions and others
have investigated, and concluded that it is a credible threat. This
would cause severe damage or catastrophic destruction to the electric
grid across America.
In this day and age, everything ultimately
depends on electric power: communications, transportation, banking,
finance, food and water. The result of such an attach would mean that
within a short amount of time, it will be nearly impossible to get food
and water, pump gas, provide medical care, withdraw money or use
cellular phones. Moreover, without electricity, nuclear power plants
melt down. If their containment buildings are breeched, the areas
around them could become uninhabitable for centuries. Anarchy.
Starvation. Disease.
As long as the current Iranian regime is in power, we are NOT SAFE..
Unnamed analysts are reported to be saying that Israel may be planning an electromagnetic pulse attack against Iran. The arguments sound plausible, and that's why I am reporting it here even though it is essentially unsourced. The writer is Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the office of the secretary of defense.
Analysts say because Israel now believes diplomacy has failed to halt Iran’s nuclear program and the Jewish state’s very survival is at stake, Israelis have not ruled out a Jericho III missile launch to detonate a single electromagnetic pulse warhead at high altitude over central Iran.
...
Given that Iranian sites may be hardened against a conventional military attack, several Israeli and foreign sources believe that Israel has a nuclear device to create an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, that would produce little radiation on the ground but could knock out all of Iran’s electronics.
Israel also is assessed to be able to launch nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles from its German-supplied Dolphin electric submarines that could carry a one-kiloton or more device and explode over Iran, effectively neutralizing all of Iran’s electronics.
This would include Iran’s command and control capabilities and its ability to launch ballistic missiles in retaliation to a pre-emptive Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, which Western intelligence has assessed is a cover to make nuclear weapons.
Sources say that an Israeli EMP attack also would effectively halt Iran’s ability to launch its forces to block the Strait of Hormuz, which the Islamic republic has threatened to do if it is attacked, along with targeting a number of U.S. military facilities in the region, as well as Israel.
An electromagnetic pulse occurs following a nuclear weapon exploded at a high altitude, creating a very strong electrical field that can overwhelm all electronics, knocking out or seriously damaging any electronic devices connected to power sources or antennas, including communications equipment, computers, electrical appliances, automobile and aircraft ignitions systems. Experts say it also can adversely affect a person’s implanted heart pacemaker device.
...
Another scenario discussed among some Israeli leaders is the detonation of an EMP over the entire Middle East, including Israel, whose military infrastructure has been hardened against such attacks. This would allow Israel to fly its jets directly to Iran without concerns about detection. Though it would also turn out the lights in Israel, sources there say the Jewish state could bring power back for civilians in a matter of days. A detonation at an altitude of up to 250 miles not only would affect all electronics in Iran but could damage electrical systems from the Middle East and much of Europe, these experts add. Such an EMP event also would dramatically affect all U.S. military facilities in the region.
Of course, the other upshot of doing it this way is that when and if Hezbullah, Hamas or Syria strike back, Israel's entire air force is ready to hit them back.
This is a four-part video that presents the possibility that Iran already has a nuclear weapon.
Former government experts provided a realistic assessment of Iran's nuclear weapons program and warned that the threat deserves urgent attention.
For those who don't have time to watch the whole thing, the last five minutes or so of the 4th video are especially interesting.
In Part 1 (of four parts) Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, president of EMPact America, starts the conference by reading a written statement from Congressman Trent Franks.
The first speaker is Mr. Reza Kahlili, who is in disguise and uses a voice distorter to protect his identity for security purposes, as he is a former spy, working for the CIA on the inside of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
November 1, 2011, Press Conference and Q&A with Expert Panel
Location: Capitol Hill, Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2456
Watch Part 2 of this press conference to hear Dr. Peter Vincent Pry give his own statement, followed by statements from Lt. Col. (retired) Tony Shaffer and Mr. Ken Timmerman.
Let's go to the videotape.
Part 3 of this conference includes statements from Mr. Chet Nagle and Mr. Peter Huessy.
Let's go to the videotape.
Part 4 closes the conference with Dr. Peter Vincent Pry reading a statement from Mr. Frank Gaffney and then taking questions from those in attendance.
It wasn't very secret before and it's even less secret now: US intelligence officials have told Eli Lake that Israel plans to attack Iran using electronic warfare.
A U.S. intelligence assessment this summer, described to The Daily Beast by current and former U.S. intelligence officials, concluded that any Israeli attack on hardened nuclear sites in Iran would go far beyond airstrikes from F-15 and F-16 fighter planes and likely include electronic warfare against Iran’s electric grid, Internet, cellphone network, and emergency frequencies for firemen and police officers.
For example, Israel has developed a weapon capable of mimicking a maintenance cellphone signal that commands a cell network to “sleep,” effectively stopping transmissions, officials confirmed. The Israelis also have jammers capable of creating interference within Iran’s emergency frequencies for first responders.
In a 2007 attack on a suspected nuclear site at al-Kibar, the Syrian military got a taste of this warfare when Israeli planes “spoofed” the country’s air-defense radars, at first making it appear that no jets were in the sky and then in an instant making the radar believe the sky was filled with hundreds of planes.
Israel also likely would exploit a vulnerability that U.S. officials detected two years ago in Iran's big-city electric grids, which are not “air-gapped”—meaning they are connected to the Internet and therefore vulnerable to a Stuxnet-style cyberattack—officials say.
A highly secretive research lab attached to the U.S. joint staff and combatant commands, known as the Joint Warfare Analysis Center (JWAC), discovered the weakness in Iran’s electrical grid in 2009, according to one retired senior military intelligence officer. This source also said the Israelis have the capability to bring a denial-of-service attack to nodes of Iran’s command and control system that rely on the Internet.
Tony Decarbo, the executive officer for JWAC, declined comment for this story. The likely delivery method for the electronic elements of this attack would be an unmanned aerial vehicle the size of a jumbo jet. An earlier version of the bird was called the Heron, the latest version is known as the Eitan. According to the Israeli press, the Eitan can fly for 20 straight hours and carry a payload of one ton. Another version of the drone, however, can fly up to 45 straight hours, according to U.S. and Israeli officials.
Great news: North Korea on verge of completing nuclear weapons, electromagnetic pulse bomb
North Korea is much further along the road to nuclear weapons than anyone believed until now.
Let's go to the videotape.
But that might almost be the good news. North Korea is also on the verge of developing an electromagnetic pulse bomb.
Since March 4, Pyongyang has been trying to disrupt GPS receivers critical to South Korean military communications apparently in protest of the ongoing joint military training exercises between South Korean and U.S. forces. Strong jamming signals were sent intermittently every five to 10 minutes.
The scope of the damage has been minimal, putting some mobile phones and certain military equipment that use GPS signals on the fritz.
Large metropolitan areas including parts of Seoul, Incheon and Paju have been affected by the jamming, but "the situation is getting wrapped up, no severe damage has been reported for the last two days," Kyoungwoo Lee, deputy director of Korea Communications Commission, said.
The jamming, however, has raised questions about whether the Korean peninsula is bracing for new electronic warfare.
The North is believed to be nearing completion of an electromagnetic pulse bomb that, if exploded 25 miles above ground would cause irreversible damage to electrical and electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, radio and radar, experts say.
"We assume they are at a considerably substantial level of development," Park Chang-kyu of the Agency for Defense Development said at a briefing to the parliament Monday.
Park confirmed that South Korea has also developed an advanced electronic device that can be deployed in times of war.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
