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The Real Threat Posed by EMPs

Pylons in the evening sun
Posted: August 22nd, 2019

By The Cipher Brief

The national security threat posed by an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is not the kind of thing you hear talked about often in Washington’s national security circles.  But it is a real threat according to experts, and one that the U.S. is woefully ill-prepared to tackle.

EMPs can render electronics over a large geographic area, useless.  They can occur naturally, or via targeted attacks. According to NASA, harsh weather in space can lead to damaged satellites and electrical blackouts, and in worse cases, changing magnetic fields that surround the Earth can lead to surges in power grids.

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