FROM OUR INBOX
government to protect us and keep us safe... and yet, when it comes to basics like protecting our infrastructure and grid, I’m fearful that the government is not doing what it needs to do. I’m committed to making sure those in D.C. start listening and will be reporting more on this issue in the future. Trish, Great job reporting on the EMP threat. Also for calling out the Facebook censuring of a critical issue. The U.S. military has been hardening its equipment and infrastructure against EMP for decades. They are fully aware, and pro-active, against this threat. That is one of the reasons the cost of military equipment often exceeds equivalent commercial-use equipment of a similar nature. Take a simple example such as Army trucks. Often criticized by congress for the high cost compared to commercial trucks. And yet when you peel the onion you find that these trucks must operate in any global climatic environment with short notice, be protected against EMPwhich involves the hardening of all electronic systems, and run on virtually any available fuel. I believe Texas has been at the forefront of pro-active hardening of their grid against EMP. Their recent issues with power outages aside, most of that the fault of Federal government meddling, and you will find a state house that is trying to address the problem. The feds may never be able to make it happen, nor should we count on them. This needs to happen at the state and local utility level, where the rubber meets the road. Thanks again for a great article. We are on the precipice of a disaster that would
EMP waves actually come in three distinct phases, which have different rise and fall times, durations, and intensity levels. It is quite possible to install fast switches in the electric grid that would open the circuits (cause a deliberate blackout) at the detection of the first phase pulse. This would prevent damaging currents from flowing through the electric grid. The other required condition, though, is that major electrical equipment, such as transformers, have been equipped with shielding, similar to a Faraday cage, so that the follow-on EMP pulses cannot induce high enough voltages inside the equipment to breakdown their electrical insulation. Again, we know how to do this, it simply costs time and money and has to be done. Beyond that, we need to ensure that data centers and other critical infrastructure are similarly shielded and isolated. There is no quick and easy solution – an EMP attack would knock the country off the grid, no matter what, and perpetuate a widespread blackout, but properly protected, the grid could be restored, along with the rest of our infrastructure, in a matter of days. We would need to maintain backup systems for the military and essential government agencies that could operate in the interim in order to provide a coordinated response to an attack, but that it also doable. But getting to this point requires extensive investment and preparations that we are not making. – Bert Trish Regan Response: Dear Bert, it’s pretty terrifying. We put so much faith in our
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May 2021
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