EMP Attacks Pose Real Risk To US – But Not The End Of The World

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – The reality about EMPs and the U.S. military. Every time we post a video about drones, radios, satellites, autonomous weapons and anything with a circuit, there are always people who say something like “Worthless, an EMP will take it out.”

Electromagnetic pulses, or EMPs, have been part of doomsday scenarios for decades. They pop up in television, movies and video games with catastrophic and often unrealistic effects. While EMPs are very real, they’re not the magic wands that can bring an entire country and its military to its knees. 

Most of America’s civilian infrastructure is not hardened against EMPs. Aging transformers, vulnerable SCADA systems, and our reliance on GPS for both navigation as well as timing for our networks make us especially susceptible to the effects of an EMP, whether that’s man-made or courtesy of the sun. 

The military isn’t as susceptible, but it’s also not invincible to EMP as some may believe. Strategic systems like ICBM launch sites, nuclear bombers like the B-2 and B-52, and deep bunkers are built to survive EMP effects in a nuclear war.

However, tactical gear like vehicles, radios, GPS receivers, and engine control units are vulnerable.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense stories ending the week from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

Not the President’s Daily Brief, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEFING – the PDB:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

FAA insider opens up about drone incursions over military bases. Last November, drones of an unknown origin appeared over Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. In the following weeks, waves of drones were reported all over the state, and there were incursions over military bases in the U.S. and overseas. A former top official at the FAA, Pentagon and White House discusses how adversaries are using drones to spy on our sensitive installations.

HOMELAND SECURITY

Trump administration reversed course and agreed to leave the Washington, D.C., police chief in control of the department, while Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a new memo, directed the District’s police to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement regardless of any city law.

Hundreds of National Guardsmen from three states are being activated to go to Washington, D.C. to aid the military law enforcement support mission in the nation’s capital.

Air Force veteran and left-wing DOJ employee, Sean Charles Dunn, 37, gained Internet fame but a felony arrest this week after hurling a sandwich at an ICE officer in Washington D.C.

U.S. suspends visas for Gaza residents after right-wing social media storm pending a “a full and thorough” review. A day after social media posts about Palestinian refugees prompted furious reactions from right-wingers.

Fort Bliss soldier was already under criminal investigation when he called a Russian Embassy to share the weaknesses of the Army’s tanks in exchange for Russian citizenship and a job in the country’s defense operations.

WOKE WATCH

Air Force says transgender airmen ousted under a recent Trump administration directive will no longer have the chance to argue before a board of their peers for the right to continue serving their country.

DEFENSE POLITICS

Mining for DOGE: Defense budget docs show $11B in ‘efficiencies,’ but what are they? Depending on who you ask, the Department of Government Efficiency has either been a radical effort that has saved taxpayers tens of billions of dollars, or a wild goose chase that has crippled the government for years to come.

US POWER OVERSEAS

U.S. carried out a series of airstrikes against al-Shabab in Somalia at the start of the month, the latest escalation of the U.S. involvement in the country.

MIDDLE EAST THREATS

Thousands of residents have fled Gaza City’s southern Zeitoun neighborhood, due to days of continuous Israeli bombardment.

Microsoft has launched an “urgent” external inquiry into allegations Israel’s military spy agency has used the company’s technology to facilitate the mass surveillance of Palestinians.

Trump wants to end the UN peacekeeping in Lebanon. Europe is pushing back. The future of U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon has split the U.S. and its European allies.

CHINA THREAT

Australia launched its largest military exercises with Philippine forces, involving more than 3,600 military personnel in live-fire drills, battle maneuvers and a beach assault at a Philippine town facing the disputed South China Sea.

Annual joint patrol by the Russian and Chinese Navies is well underway, with the countries’ warships sailing together through the La Perouse Strait and to the Sea of Okhotsk.

More imagery of Chinese ‘loyal wingman’ type drones, or at least mockups, that will make their official debut at upcoming military parade has emerged. The uncrewed aircraft are just one part of a massive reveal of new capabilities around this event, some possibly aspirational, but some very real.

RUSSIA THREAT – UKRAINE WAR

The much-anticipated summit between President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin began with a warm welcome and a flyover by screaming jets at a U.S. military base in Alaska but ended with a thud Friday after they failed to reach any agreements on how to end the war.

NATO-like protection in focus for Trump meeting with Ukraine, Europe.

European and NATO leaders will join Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his crucial meeting with Trump on Monday.

Britain’s top military officer has called for NATO to confront Russia across every front, warning that deterrence depends on showing strength in all areas of competition, from nuclear forces to economic pressure.

Ukraine has carried out an audacious drone strike on the Caspian Sea port of Olya, in Russia’s Astrakhan region, hitting one cargo vessel that Kyiv says was being used to transport arms from Iran.

SPACE THREAT

Space Force’s deep-space radar hit a testing milestone in recent weeks, using seven of its antennas to track multiple satellites in orbit from a site in Australia.

U.S. government must reduce environmental and other regulations to make it easier for commercial space companies to launch rockets, expand launch facilities, and perform “novel” space activities, according to a new Trump order.

How the Army plans to expand its reach into space.

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY

In his final public address as Chief of the Defense Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin cautioned against reducing the future of UK defense to what he called “simplistic ‘either / or’ debates.”

Beware ‘drone-tastic’ thinking: UK armed forces chief says ‘traditional’ capabilities still matter. Drones alone will not be enough to secure victory in future conflicts, but the aircraft offer an opportunity to “adjust the way that we’ve traditionally fought” today.

NATO’s short summit earlier this summer has generally been viewed as a qualified success. Mostly due to the new 5% defense spending commitment, but for the lack of major disruptions.

African Union has backed a campaign to end the use by governments and international organizations of the 16th-century Mercator map of the world in favor of one that more accurately displays Africa’s size.

US MILITARY

Navy is placing less weight on ‘optionally manned’ surface vehicles as it refines requirements for a new type of vessel that will support the surface fleet.

END of PDB

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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