In a chilling revelation, a prominent space policy expert has cautioned that the potential consequences of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) are far graver than most Americans realize.
This warning comes in the wake of Russia and China officially categorizing EMPs outside the scope of nuclear arms treaties, thereby enabling the use of these infrastructure-devastating weapons against Western nations with minimal direct casualties.
"Gen Z is gonna learn how to make a fire and sharpen spears," the expert ominously predicted.
Greg Autry, a space policy expert and former advisor to the Trump administration, informed Blaze News that the technology behind EMPs and their devastating effects have been understood for over half a century.
"EMP is an electronic, magnetic pulse weapon and it's usually initiated with a large nuclear blast, typically at high altitude outside the atmosphere in space," Autry elucidated. "You basically detonate a nuclear bomb, it ionizes or charges atoms in the atmosphere and it creates a large electrical field on the ground that can basically destroy all the electronics in a city or a wider area."
He added, "We know this works because the Russians and the United States both actually detonated a lot of nuclear weapons in space in the early 1960s, particularly during the Cuban Missile Crisis to kind of show each other we could."
The unsettling history of EMPs includes testing nuclear arms off the southwest coast of Hawaii, which resulted in observable effects in Honolulu such as auroras in the sky and the disabling of parts of the city's electric grid and radio systems.
Autry highlighted the real concern for modern society: our extensive dependence on electronics. "If somebody did one of these today, your phone would be a brick. Anybody with a pacemaker would drop dead, instantly. Every piece of your electronics... your laptop computer, your internet router, would be gone, and most of the relays in our power grid would be gone so there would be no power."
The threat is further exacerbated by the probable inability to replace some of the serviceable parts that would be destroyed in such an attack. Autry rhetorically asked, "Guess what? The people most likely to have sent that EMP to us are the Chinese, and they're not sending you any more iPhones or letting anybody ship them. Guess what? They make all of our electrical transformers, or if they don't, they make the steel that's required to make the electrical transformers. There's only one U.S. company left that can make that steel."
Autry also noted that electrical vehicles could be transformed into "fireballs," while "every internal combustion car on the road is going to be dead because they're all run by computers and electronic ignition system."
"We are instantly transported into the Stone Age," Autry described, adding humorously that in his book "Red Moon Rising," he joked that "Gen Z is gonna learn how to make a fire and sharpen spears" without the assistance of a YouTuber.
Autry expressed further concern over the way America's adversaries have refrained from classifying EMPs in the same category as nuclear weapons. "Both Russia and China have classified these weapons not as strategic nuclear weapons but as cyber weapons, and they've made it clear that they consider the use of them not to impinge upon any obligations they may have made, or any treaties involving nuclear weapons. They can just use these things as cyber tools."
Autry disclosed that he views previous cyber attacks from the aforementioned nations as potential acts of war, but he prefers to concentrate on solutions rather than dwell on past events.
The policy expert stated that the "Space Force is not unaware" of the potential for an attack and that the government agency's role is to "develop defensive systems against such an attack" that would protect assets on the ground.
"We could do a lot better at the state level, and the federal law could help mandate that our critical infrastructure be protected from EMPs. It's not actually super hard to do. You need to put these things inside what we call a faraday cage, which is a metal box or or even a mesh box."
Faraday boxes, which are commercially available, can be somewhat expensive for larger units. However, companies like Defender Shield and SLNT have emerged to sell products for a few hundred dollars. Phone sleeves, laptop carriers, backpacks, and duffle bags that block magnetic waves and RFID signals are recommended for the average consumer.
Autry also expressed concern about the United States being drawn into a conflict by another nation using an EMP. He provided examples like Russia against Ukraine or China against Taiwan, suggesting that these countries could act as if it wasn't a real attack on the population because there would be limited casualties.
One thing he was certain of is that both the state and the individual could stand to be a lot more prepared.
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