Let’s start these posts with a big bang.
I was working as a developer on the Nuclear Planning System at the Pentagon from the Fall of 1985 until Winter 1988. As this is a highly classified/compartmented field, I can’t tell you how many people work in nuclear planning.
My best guess is that at any one time there are several hundred to a few thousand involved. When you included operations, maintenance, security, and manufacture of nuclear weapons, we may have a million or more workers contributing overall.
With the Ukraine situation going on, I’ve seen several news items about nukes, and sadly they are misinformation based on WW2 thinking.
Based on our attack on Japan in 1945, you’re probably aware of the blast, heat, radiation, and fallout damage caused by these weapons.
I’d never heard the term Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) during my time at the Pentagon. Our government has known about EMP since at least the Starfish Prime test in 1962 if not before that.
After 9/11, Congress created the EMP Commission to review the threat of an EMP attack and recommend steps to protect us. They released an Executive report in 2004 and a Critical Infrastructure Report in 2008.
While the EMP Commission site is still up, the security certificate has expired so your browser won’t like going there. This site has the original reports plus some new ones that were release in 2018:
Three New EMP Commission Reports Released
It was when that 2008 report was released that I found out about EMP and how it could end our civilization. A similar effect can be created by a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) of a certain magnitude directed at Earth.
I believe Putin understands the EMP issue and has stated that a nuclear war would be the end of civilization. I’m not sure the Biden administration understands EMP. At least Trump issued an Executive Order on it.
If a foreign power wanted to take out prime military targets (bases and weapon manufactures) based on WW2 thinking - it would require dozens of warheads be delivered around the country.
Using a high-altitude blast (no blast/heat/radiation/fallout damage on the ground) - the power grids of the Continental US (CONUS) and many electronic devices - could be destroyed with just ONE warhead.
I’d use a minimum of 3 (one for each grid - East Coast, West Coast, Texas).
If you wanted to take out the world’s power grids, it might be done with as few as a dozen warheads - and there a several countries that have that inventory.
There is no need for a highly targeted delivery to destroy a hardened asset - just altitude over a general area.
You’d likely have no warning that an attack had been launched. The first thing you’d notice is the power going out. Only this time the power won’t be coming back on in your lifetime - no matter how short or long that would be.
There are a few tribes in the world that would be unaffected (at least initially) as they not only live off-grid but also off the supply chain.
While the Amish have some good skills that have been lost since industrialization happened, they too rely on the supply chain.
EMP and CME are not the only ways we can lose the grid. There are about a dozen large transformers in the US, that if destroyed would result in the grid going down. We were less than 5 minutes away from losing the Texas grid to weather in February 2021. Had they not instituted rolling (extended) blackouts, the power generation and transmission gear would have been damaged - causing the grid to be down for months - which would’ve resulted in the deaths of millions of Texans.
The EMP Commission reports will give you details, but no grid means no:
Food
Water
Sanitation
Medical Care
Communication
Heating and Cooling
And more.
There is no stockpiling to prepare for such events. You need the skills humans used to have before industrialization (raising and preserving food, clothing, shelter, etc.) and be able to do so without our modern supply chain and power tools.
These skills require a community/tribe, and they take time to learn and many years to master.
I’ve been trying to prepare for a grid down situation since 2008. My efforts so far to find or create such a community have been futile.
Humans lived for thousands of years without a power grid and modern supply chain, but we enjoy everything that science and technology have given us. It looks like American churches turned their backs on God’s way about 150 years ago, with European churches do so about 70 - 100 years before that.
I would hope that some young Christians out there will follow the example of the first Christians recorded in Acts - turn your back on the world, sell what you own, and make your own community. Learn the skills that we’ve forgotten. I’ve found no other viable way to prepare.
You can’t wait for an accident to start before you put on your seat belt.
Even if our “leaders” get through the current crisis, we are about due for another Carrington Event (1859).
Don’t just wait and hope - take action.