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June 14, 2013 – Maine Leads the Nation in Dealing with EMP!

High Frontier Posting — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 20:05:23 +0000

High Frontier . . Building Truly Effective Defenses . . Reagan’s Vision Lives!

Flash Message 130614

June 14, 2013 – Maine Leads the Nation in Dealing with EMP!

By Ambassador Henry F. Cooper

June 14, 2013

I also serve on the Board of the Foundation for Resilient Societies, which on June 11 issued the following press release regarding an initiative by Maine State Legislator Andrea Boland (D-Sanford) which became law on the 69th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 2013, as highlighted in our June 7, 2013 email report: Remember Maine and June 6!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 11, 2013

NEW LAW REQUIRES MAINE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION TO EXAMINE ELECTRIC GRID THREATS FROM SOLAR STORMS AND ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE

MAINE LEADS THE NATION IN PROTECTING ITS ELECTRIC GRID

AUGUSTA ME—The State of Maine is the first in the nation to mandate a study of electric grid threats from solar storms and man-made electromagnetic pulse (EMP). A bill directing the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to examine measures to mitigate the effects of geomagnetic disturbances caused by solar storms and nuclear electromagnetic pulse on the state’s electric grid transmission system was recently passed by a unanimous vote of the Maine House of Representatives and a 32-3 vote in the Senate. This new law requires the PUC to identify the most vulnerable components of the State’s transmission system, and also identify potential protective measures, their costs, and probable timeframes to implement.

When sunspots erupt, they send masses of charged particles toward the earth. These particles interact with the earth’s magnetic field causing so-called “geomagnetic disturbances”. Solar storms can induce harmful currents in high voltage transmission lines. In March 1989, a relatively small solar storm plunged the Province of Quebec into a widespread grid blackout affecting six million electric customers. According to multiple U.S. Government reports, a five to ten-times larger solar storm—a historical example being the Carrington Event of 1859—could cause a years-long blackout for the State of Maine and much of the eastern United States.

Current operational procedures of ISO-New England for solar storms are inadequate to protect the Maine and larger New England electric grids, according to testimony heard at a March 21 work session of the Energy, Utilities, and Technology Committee of the Maine State Legislature.

A nuclear bomb detonated high in the atmosphere could send an electromagnetic pulse downward and permanently damage electric grid transformers, according to reports from the Congressional Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Commission and Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

“I am proud that Maine has taken the lead on an issue that paralysis in Congress has let go unattended for too long,” said Representative Andrea Boland of Sanford, sponsor of the bill. “Maine is particularly vulnerable to solar storms, due to its northerly latitude, geology, and proximity to the ocean. Legislators, the PUC, and the Governor understood what the experts were telling them, and responded.”

The $1.4 billion Maine Power Reliability Program (MPRP), a high voltage transmission system upgrade, would substantially increase the risk of long-term electric grid blackout from solar storms, according to John Kappenman, one of the nation’s foremost experts on the effects of sunspot eruptions on power grids. “While the new transmission lines add capacity, most of them parallel existing lines and terminate near existing substations,” said Mr. Kappenman. “As a result, the redundant lines could result in a near-doubling of harmful currents induced by these storms in transmission lines in Maine. The antenna will be twice as big, and the storm impact to the power grid is likely to be twice as severe.”

“Maine has narrowly missed blackouts due to solar storms, with numerous ‘trips’ of critical grid equipment,” said Thomas Popik, Chairman of the Foundation for Resilient Societies, a non-profit group that conducts scientific studies on solar storms and their effect on electric grids. “Our recent study of the New England grid shows that generation and transmission capacity likely to be lost during a solar storm is several times the available reserves. We look forward to the upcoming study of the Maine PUC on this important issue.”

“Maine has accomplished in less than six months what Washington has failed to accomplish in years. For a half decade, Washington has tried, and failed, to pass the GRID Act, the SHIELD Act, and other legislation to protect the national electric grid and the lives of millions of the American people from a natural or nuclear EMP Catastrophe,” exulted Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, Executive Director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, a Congressional Advisory Board. “Now Maine has succeeded where Washington has failed and is setting an excellent example that other states can follow by launching state initiatives to protect their own electric grids, instead of waiting for the leadership that Washington seems no longer able to provide. It is perhaps symptomatic of how deeply corrupt and incompetent Washington has become that billions of dollars are spent snooping through the phone calls and e-mails of average Americans, frisking grandmas and babies at airports, and living in fear of the next Underwear Bomber, while Washington ignores the truly existential threat from EMP, and leaves it up to the State of Maine to take the lead on EMP protection. In this Electronic Age, in this era of Cyber Warfare, the passage of LD-131 is akin to the charge of the 20th Maine at Little Roundtop during the Battle of Gettysburg that saved the Union. Once again the brave little State of Maine has come to the Nation’s rescue. I would add that protection of the Maine electric grid from EMP would make it the ideal site to locate the new high-tech military base on the East Coast to support the expansion of the National Missile Defense recently authorized by the House Armed Services Committee.”

For more background, the following information and contacts are provided:

Representative Andrea Boland of Sanford, Maine is available for interviews on the newly passed bill. Email Ms. Boland at sixwings@metrocast.net, phone 207-432-7893.

John Kappenman of Storm Analysis Consultants is available for interviews on technical aspects of solar storm effects on electric grids. Email Mr. Kappenman at jkappenma@aol.com, phone 218-391-4015.

The research report of the Foundation for Resilient Societies, “Solar Storm Risks for Maine and the New England Electric Grid, and Potential Protective Measures,” can be found on the foundation’s website, www.resilientsocieties.org. Mr. Popik of the Foundation for Resilient Societies is available for interviews on costs of solar storm protection. Email Mr. Popik at thomasp@resilientsocieties.org , phone 603-321-1090.The Foundation for Resilient Societies does not endorse any specific legislative action in the State of Maine, or in other states, or in the U.S. Congress.

Dr Peter Pry of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security has written a recent article on protection of Maine’s electric grid from solar storms, “Maine’s Battle to Save America,” which can be found on the Family Security Matters website. Dr. Pry is available for interviews on how Maine’s effort to protect its grid may make it a prime site for a missile defense system. Email Dr. Pry at peterpry@verizon.net; phone 301-481-4715.

The full text of the bill can be found at:

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=HP0106&item=2&snum=126

All of us who worked to help Andrea are gratified by her success and hope it will lead other states’ legislatures and local authorities to follow suit—and, eventually, perhaps even the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee will get the message that all Americans need to be protected from this existential electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threat to our way of life and permit the The Shield Act to be voted upon by the full U.S. House of Representatives.

I believe that this D-Day success was due to Maine’s past experience with the effects of less than massive but still major solar storms and Representative Boland’s persistent public inquiry and sponsorship of expert public testimony. Her proposed Act was supported by the entire Maine House of Representatives and all but three Senators. In particular these factors helped foil the attempts of biased studies that have downplayed this existential threat—including studies by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which is supposed to be looking out for the public interest. The House Energy and Commerce Committee should follow her lead with a similar effort to expose the facts to the light of day.

As we have previously written, a recent international conference on this subject indicated that the United Kingdom and Israel have focused their activities to seriously deal with the EMP threat. See The Telegraph’s June 7 article that seeks to educate the U.K. on key factors of the solar storms that threaten them.

Meanwhile the U.S. interagency process seems dysfunctional, and is not dealing effectively with these issues. Thus, High Frontier has plans to take these issues to the American people in any way that we can, and inform them also of the things that can be done to deal with the threat—beginning at home, just as illustrated by Andrea! Ultimately, we must have effective defenses against this existential threat—which may come from either of two sources: one man-made, and one from natural causes. Please click here to learn more.

What can you do?

We can use your help in spreading the word to the grass roots and local authorities so that they will understand the existential EMP threat and press the powers that be to provide for the common defense as they in turn are sworn to do. Follow Andrea Boland’s example! Will you do your part?

Begin by passing this message to your friends and suggest they visit our webpage, www.highfrontier.org for more information. Also, please encourage your sphere of influence to sign up for our weekly e-newsletter!

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June 10, 2013—Can You See What’s Falling Through the Cracks?

High Frontier Posting — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 21:45:25 +0000

Amb. Henry F. Cooper, Chairman . . . Lt. Gen. Daniel Graham, Founder

High Frontier . . Building Truly Effective Defenses . . Reagan’s Vision Lives!

E-Mail Message 130610

Can You See What’s Falling Through the Cracks?

By Ambassador Henry F. Cooper

June 10, 2013

A little heeded but still very important conclusion from the 1998 Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States, chaired by later Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and unanimously supported by its bipartisan members, follows:

That the important warning about sea launch of “shorter range ballistic missiles” is still unheeded is astonishing, especially since Donald Rumsfeld was Secretary of Defense for over five years and did nothing about it, other than occasionally noting his concern about the threat. Note his embedded comments by clicking on this YouTube video of a possible attack by a SCUD launched off a vessel to attack Los Angeles.

Moreover, I have repeatedly argued that the Rumsfeld Commission and this YouTube video understate the threat, especially given the possibility of using such a launch scenario to produce a high altitude electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that could kill hundreds of millions instead of a hundred thousand or so. And still we do nothing, today!

Current Defense Initiatives Still Ignore the Coastal Threat!

The Republican led House of Representatives clearly supports defending the United States against ballistic missile attacks—as evidenced by their plan to authorize additional 2014 funding, to begin building an additional land-based ballistic missile defense (BMD) site in the U.S. northeast to strengthen our existing ability to shoot down intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) launched from Iran (from our ground-based defense site in Alaska). The Obama administration agrees our existing capabilities need improvement, as illustrated by its decision to buy additional interceptors for our Alaskan BMD site to counter the growing Iranian ICBM threat. So any disagreement is about price, not principle.

Whatever the merits of these initiatives—and both initiatives have merits, there are no reports of any effort whatsoever to deal with the threat of missiles launched from vessels off our coasts—which, for example, also could be executed by Iran or Iranian surrogate terrorists—and sooner than by ICBMs coming at us from over the North Pole. As is well-known, SCUDs are relatively inexpensive and easily purchased.

And We Are Totally Vulnerable to Attack from the “South”.

For the threat case of SCUDs launched from ships off our coasts, our Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) ships can shoot them down if they are appropriately located and prepared to do so. Indeed, they have demonstrated an ability to shoot down even longer range missiles—and with needed forward sensor information, even a satellite moving faster than an ICBM. A few Aegis BMD ships are usually on our East and West Coasts—so, if they train to do so, they could protect us against nearby vessels that might launch ballistic missiles from the Atlantic and Pacific.

But our Aegis ships do not “sail” in the Gulf of Mexico—so we are absolutely vulnerable to attacks from the Gulf—or indeed, from Venezuela, which has cooperated with Iran on possibly threatening technology. (See the third paragraph in the above excerpt from the 1998 Rumsfeld Commission report.) To deal with those all too real threats, we advocate building Aegis Ashore sites on military bases around the Gulf of Mexico—no development cost would be required, because we are already developing this capability for sites in Romania and Poland to defend our NATO allies.

We Also Are Totally Unprepared for an Attack from Space!

Moreover, while we have a limited defense against ICBMs that approach the U.S. from the north, we have essentially no defense against nuclear armed satellites launched on missiles that put them in orbit over the South Pole, to be detonated over the U.S.—and both North Korea and Iran have launched satellites to their south and over the South Pole—so it is not a stretch for them to send an ICBM on that same course as well. Indeed, folks have called attention to this fact ever since 1957 when the Soviets used the same rockets to launch Sputnik and their first ICBM.

For a devastating EMP attack on the U.S., all Iran (or North Korea) has to do is to include a nuclear weapon as a passenger on one of their satellites for a little over half an orbit, and just detonate it a couple of hundred miles up—say over Omaha. A couple hundred million Americans could die as a consequence.

Hello??? Wake Up, Folks!

So . . . someone should pay attention to these threats from the South—and stop letting such important matters fall through the cracks!

Hello? Anyone home? Anywhere?

Grass Roots’ Victory in Dealing with the EMP Threat!

The persistent efforts of Representative Andrea Boland (D-Sanford) were rewarded on June 6 when her proposed Act (LD151, an “Act To Secure The Safety Of Electrical Transmission Lines”) became law in Maine. This success for her and numerous others who shared her vision and supported her cause will not only help protect the citizens of Maine, it also is an excellent pattern for other state representatives to follow. If they do, they can also assure their constituents are protected against the possibility that their segments of the electric power grid might today irretrievably fail due to an EMP attack or a major solar emission. Hopefully other states will find equally dedicated representatives to follow the lead of Maine’s Representatives and Senators on both sides of the political aisle.

And hopefully, key federal authorities and members of congress will finally begin to deal effectively with this existential threat.

And what can you do?

We can use your help in spreading this information to the grass roots and to encourage all “powers that be” to provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do. Will you do your part?

Please click here to read Past Weekly Udpates!

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June 7, 2013 – Remember Maine and June 6!

High Frontier Posting — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 03:03:21 +0000

High Frontier . . Building Truly Effective Defenses . . Reagan’s Vision Lives!

Flash Message 130607

Remember Maine and June 6!

By Ambassador Henry F. Cooper

June 7, 2013

Yesterday was the 69^th anniversary of the D-Day Landing on the Normandy Beaches, the beginning of the end for Hitler’s Nazi regime and a critical benchmark in the western allies’ ultimate victory in World War II. I was privileged to help honor the achievements of those who fought for our freedom—and many who died—by taking part of a ceremony at the National Defense University. Among other things, this ceremony was prompted by a gift to the NDU Foundation by now deceased Army Major General Milnor Roberts, who landed on Omaha Beach as a 24 year old Captain.

Milnor willed his collection of impressive World War II memorabilia to the NDU Foundation so that many can better understand those important events in our history. At High Frontier, we for many years benefited from Milnor’s talents. He was a true patriot on many counts.

Though not as momentous, that important event provides symbolism for another June 6 event — a notable achievement for those of us fighting to defend America against the existential electromagnetic pulse (EMP) threat.

We have written about Maine State Representative Andrea Boland (D-Sanford) and her efforts to gain support for LD-131, an “Act To Secure The Safety Of Electrical Transmission Lines” from manmade and natural electromagnetic pulse (EMP). In our last report, we noted that it had passed the Maine House and Senate by overwhelming margins and was on the Governor’s desk.

As of yesterday, it is now the law in Maine—intended to begin protecting the Maine electric grid from the catastrophic consequences of an EMP—much more powerful than a lightning strike spread over a major area—even much larger than the entire state of Maine. This catastrophic effect can be generated by nuclear and non-nuclear weapons, and by a major emission of radiation from the Sun. It can cause irreparable damage to the electric power grid, with catastrophic consequences as we have previously discussed.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) previously agreed that, if LD-131 became law, they will provide Maine free of charge with a study of the most cost-effective options for protecting the Maine electric grid from EMP. Hardening the Maine grid can be accomplished cheaply, at only 1-3 percent of the cost of new construction and expansion of the Maine grid currently underway.

This is the first major success for those who have been fighting to get grass roots Americans to take this existential threat seriously and to deal with it. Hopefully, other states will find local authorities who also will take the initiative to follow Maine’s pattern, as discussed in some detail in a linked article by Dr. Peter Vincent Pry, who was the Executive Director of the non-partisan congressionally appointed EMP Commission.

Hope upon hope, perhaps even the Washington “powers that be,” who have thus far ignored the recommendations of the EMP Commission in 2004 and 2008, will finally begin to take the threat seriously.

In particular, it should be instructive to the members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which blocked pertinent actions in the last congress to do better in the current congress—by taking up the Shield Act, which died in committee in the last congress.

And hopefully, Dr. Moniz in his Secretary of Energy role will take very seriously his commitment to Senator Murkowski during his confirmation hearing to look seriously into what can be done by his department to deal effectively with both the man-made and natural EMP threats.

Maybe even the Department of Homeland Security will include EMP in its challenging threat scenarios that all government agencies are supposed to counter.

Maybe June 6, 2013 will be another day of beginnings to remember!

What can you do?

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June 4, 2013—Tilting to Northeast Asia

High Frontier Posting — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 22:08:06 +0000

Amb. Henry F. Cooper, Chairman . . . Lt. Gen. Daniel Graham, Founder

High Frontier . . Building Truly Effective Defenses . . Reagan’s Vision Lives!

E-Mail Message 130528

Tilting to Northeast Asia

By Ambassador Henry F. Cooper

June 4, 2913

Twenty-four years ago today, students and their supporters were struck down in Tiananmen Square by China’s Communist regime that could not tolerate the introspection demanded by China’s hopeful youth seeking freedom. Whatever we might have done then, or since, to help those students in their efforts in seeking freedom, recent and unfolding news of the day reveals growing concerns about the dangers emanating from China today. And they deserve serious attention as the Obama administration considers its recently announced new strategic policy that reportedly tilts to Northeast Asia. Whatever this means, we need to underwrite a serious “peace through strength” agenda in Northeast Asia with sound effective defenses.

It’s the Economy, Stupid.

There are concerns about China’s economic challenge, reflected in the growing massive debt that every U.S. citizen owes to China—last April, China and Japan each owned over a trillion dollars of our almost 17 trillion dollar national debt. Such numbers are hard to contemplate—perhaps, to understand our problem ‘s scope, it is better to note that each American family owes about $140,000 to cover this growing debt. Soon the largest item in our federal budget will be the interest on our national debt—which threatens to swamp us if overall interest rates grow, as some believe is inevitable.

In any case, I agree with former JCS Chairman Mike Mullen that our growing national debt, illustrated by this real time clock, is a major national security concern! But I digress.

My main subject in this email is China, which uses our dollars to buy up American interests, including here at home. Some are of strategic importance—as illustrated long ago when China purchased controlling interests for both ends of the Panama Canal, or just growing their business interests within our nation and culture—e.g., as noted in last Friday’s report that China is buying Virginia’s Smithfield Foods, Inc. for almost $5 billion. As a Southern lad who grew up on a diet of salt cured ham such as Smithfield hams, I think I object.

Still this important economic issue is not my main concern; rather, it is China’s more direct military, national security threat.

It’s the Naval Threat.

Consider “America’s China Mistake,” an excellent Los Angeles Times article last week, written by the author of The Coming Collapse of China, Gordon G. Chang, and Retired U.S. Admiral James A. (Ace) Lyons, Jr. former Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. They argue that Washington has misplaced its hopes that military-to-military relations with China will somehow relieve tensions, even as Beijing becomes more bellicose. They argue persuasively that the Obama administration’s invitation to include China in the 2014 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) naval exercise is ill advised and should be withdrawn.

Chang and Lyons emphasize that Beijing is configuring its forces — especially its navy — to fight ours. China has often employed aggressive tactics, including regularly harassing unarmed U.S. Navy reconnaissance vessels in international waters, blocking the Impeccable in the South China Sea in 2009, downing of a Navy EP-3 in 2001 and, in 2006, surfacing a Song-class attack submarine in the middle of the Kitty Hawk strike group near Okinawa. And they note China’s new leader Xi Jinping’s bold war talk to senior officers and colonels who say they relish combat — a “hand-to-hand fight with the U.S.,” as one of them put it in 2010.

Perhaps, when the leaders meet in California this coming weekend, President Obama might wish to ask President Xi Jinping about what he had in mind in his discussion with these Naval officers — along with discussing Beijing’s high-tech spying, the cyber threat, and other threats to the U.S. economy and national security—and urging him to tamp down China’s longtime partner, North Korea—and its proliferation partner, Iran.

Then there’s Space.

China’s help to North Korea and Iran is obviously linked to our missile defense concerns, as emphasized in several recent High Frontier email reports. But it is also important to understand that China is doing more than simply aiding and abetting rogue states and their surrogate terrorist partners. After all, China is pursuing strategic modernization efforts and major advances in high technology applications—including others beyond those mentioned above.

For example, we have previously noted that China’s 2008 antisatellite (ASAT) demonstration contributed most of the space debris about which China joins others in feigning concern about a debris threat that the U.S. might cause in deploying space based defenses. Furthermore, recent reports of new Chinese ASAT program—and tests of a larger more capable rocket launcher suggest that Chinese ASATs might be able to reach U.S. high altitude satellites. And we still delay comparable developments.

Meanwhile, some Chinese have talked about a Chinese Astronaut planting China’s flag on the Moon within a decade—while our NASA manned space program languishes and rents launch capability from others to shuttle our astronauts to and from the International Space Station in low earth orbit. China understands the importance of controlling the “high ground”—or as we say the “high frontier,” and no doubt is clear headed in pursuing superiority there as best it can.

To deal with the growing global ballistic missile threat, we need to revive the space-based defense programs that were President Ronald Reagan’s top priority effort in his Strategic Defense Initiative. As Air Force Lieutenant General Jim Abrahamson, the first SDI Director, and I argued recently in our article, “The Dividends of SDI,” published in the Journal of International Security Affairs, the most effective missile defense system to be pursued during the SDI decade (1984-93) was a space-based defense concept called Brilliant Pebbles. It was cancelled in early 1993 for ideological not technical reasons—as then Defense Secretary Les Aspin said, he “Took the stars out of Star Wars.”

Meanwhile we can count on China, Russia and others—regrettably including American naysayers, who will seek to block the revival of the most cost-effective ballistic missile defense concept to come from the SDI program. But China and Russia will not ignore the accomplishment, and as our peer adversaries they will try to copy it when they can. It will take grass roots Americans to demand that Reagan’s vision be revived. More for another day.

Bottom lines:

Chang and Lyons persuasively argue against helping China increase their naval effectiveness with invitations to RIMPAC and other exercises—we should recognize the serious threat China poses to America and our way of life. It is foolish to count them as friends or allies in joint operations and hope for the best. Rather, we should pursue “peace through strength”—by reversing the current directions to the U.S. Navy to reduce its fleet, currently at 283 deployable ships. And we should modernize our other defenses, including in space to deal with the growing threats to America.

In any case, imagining that military-to-military relations with China will somehow relieve tensions with the Chinese is another triumph of hope over experience.

Grass Roots’ Advance for Dealing with the EMP Threat!

We have periodically reported on Representative Andrea Boland’s efforts in the Maine Legislature to pass her Bill (LD151) to assure an upcoming major power grid investment in Maine will be properly protected against consequences of a major solar emission—which will occur; it is only a question of when. Congratulations are due to Rep. Boland (D-Sanford)! Not only has her bill passed Maine’s full House, it passed the Senate with only three opposing votes, and now is on the Governor’s desk for signing. Until it is signed, we will withhold some of the cheers, but it is not too soon for generous applause to Andrea for her persistence in getting this important legislation to the home stretch—and for the others who supported her efforts. Hopefully other states will find equally dedicated representatives to follow her lead.

And what can you do?

Join us at High Frontier in seeking to alert the public to the existential threats posed by both man-made and natural EMP events—and what can be done about these threats.

We can use your help in spreading the word to grass roots and local authorities to press the powers that be to provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do. Will you do your part?

Please click here to read Past Weekly Udpates!

Please help High Frontier continue this important and timely work!

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May 31, 2013 – Anchors Aweigh, My Boys!

High Frontier Posting — Fri, 31 May 2013 10:37:59 +0000

High Frontier . . Building Truly Effective Defenses . . Reagan’s Vision Lives!

Flash Message 130531

Anchors Aweigh, My Boys!

By Ambassador Henry F. Cooper

May 31, 2013

Yesterday, the Associated Press published a prescient article, subsequently picked up in several publications in various depth and with various titles: e.g., see Navy Ships Form First Line of Missile Defense, and Navy Ships Growing in Capability Amid Missile Threats from Iran, North Korea. This information is getting well deserved wide distribution, because of the increasingly important role being played by the Aegis cruisers and destroyers deployed around the world. I’d like to supplement the information in these articles, just a little.

These articles note there are 28 Ae gis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) ships now at sea, 16 in the Pacific and 12 in the Atlantic—I believe with the funded total to grow to around 35 later in this decade. And more of the approximately 80 Aegis ships available could be given missiles defense capability for less than $50 million a ship during their normal overhaul cycle. There is no better missile defense buy for the American taxpayer—and we should improve the capabilities we have and buy more upgrades to improve our coverage around the world. Furthermore, some of the new capabilities should include an ability to shoot down nuclear armed satellites that would approach the United States from over the South Pole.

It should be understood that even the Aegis ships without onboard missile defense interceptors can still participate in an essential role in a worldwide, or global, missile defense capability that is needed to deal with all the threats that we may confront around the world.

Each of these ships carries the Spy-1 radar which, depending on a given ship’s location, can provide warning and important tracking information that can be exploited by defense interceptors however they may be based—e.g., on other ships, on land, etc. That information can be integrated with other sensor information that begins with tracking the initial launch of an attacking missile. Needed are primarily serious operations protocols and effective crew training.

In mentioning training, I can’t help but applaud the Navy’s discipline in testing the Aegis missile defense system. Every system test since day one in that impressive program has been performed by the actual crews of operational Aegis Cruisers and Destroyers—usually without an advance cue to identify when an “test” attack is to be initiated. No other missile defense system can make this claim. And it no doubt contributes to a testing track record that no other missile defense system can match—26 successful intercepts out of 32 attempts, including shooting down a dying satellite in 2008 to assure the toxic fuel carried by that satellite fell over the ocean rather than being distributed over populated areas.

And not only is this system capable at sea. Its components are destined to be deployed as an “Aegis Ashore” system in Romania (2015) and (2018) to protect our NATO allies from Iranian ballistic missiles. As we have argued in previous High Frontier messages, this Aegis Ashore system could be deployed (in an area about the size of a football field) at military bases around the Gulf of Mexico—to protect the U.S. from attacking missiles that might be launched from vessels in the Gulf to attack the U.S.—particularly in detonating a nuclear weapon at 200-300 miles over the central U.S. and creating an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that could kill several hundred million Americans within the following year.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Aegis Ashore

See the Aegis Ashore Fact Sheet (PDF*)

Aegis Ashore is the land-based component of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) System. Aegis Ashore leverages the present and future Aegis BMD capabilities to adapt to the evolving ballistic missile security environment. Aegis BMD and Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) upgrades are being phased into deployed Aegis BMD ships and land-based facilities during this decade. Each Aegis BMD upgrade provides capability for countering ballistic missile threats. The land-based system is designed to be removable to support worldwide deployment. In addition to Aegis BMD at sea, Aegis Ashore is part of the administrations approved Phased Adaptive Approach (PAA), Phases II, and III.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Finally, I would argue that it is none too soon to move rapidly to take full advantage of these capabilities of the Aegis system. Iran is feeling its oats, as their election approaches and there are no signs of things improving. The mullahs are in charge—so the election next month will not move anything of note to lessen the well-known priority to kill Israelis (the Little Satan) and Americans (the Great Satan). Don’t expect any improvement to come with their recent ascension to the Chair of the UN Committee on Disarmament—U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said “making Iran the head of world disarmament is like putting Jack the Ripper in charge of a women’s shelter.”

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently reported that it cannot “conduct effective verification.” Surprise! The IAEA already reported in November 2011 “that Iran has carried out activities that are relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.” Now the Agency says it “has obtained more information which further corroborates the analysis.” Expecting a happy outcome from all this is like anticipating the arrival of the tooth fairy.

And the “Red Line” for us—and for Israel—is if/when Iran gets a nuclear weapon and can mate it with a long range ballistic missile.

The “powers that be” should be providing the resources to the Navy to make Aegis BMD all is can be—and as soon as possible!

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May 28, 2013 – Potpourri: Countering an Existential Threat To All We Hold Dear

High Frontier Posting — Mon, 27 May 2013 21:00:00 +0000

Amb. Henry F. Cooper, Chairman . . . Lt. Gen. Daniel Graham, Founder

High Frontier . . Building Truly Effective Defenses . . Reagan’s Vision Lives!

E-Mail Message 130528

Potpourri: Countering an Existential Threat

To All We Hold Dear

By Ambassador Henry F. Cooper

May 28, 2913

Supporters have urged High Frontier to publish a summary report of its important messages during the past six months. This message is, in effect, a first draft framework—a collection several previous messages on the existential threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack and what we might do to counter it. We have provided a printed version to friends for whom we have no email address—hopefully, they will also join our social media family to get our more frequent emails. This version, provided to those for whom we do have email addresses is preferable to the written version because it provides links to referenced reports and papers—to support additional study. All criticisms are welcome!

Please click here to link to our full report.

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Key points from “How North Korea Could Cripple the U.S.”

High Frontier Posting — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:34:22 +0000

Key points from “How North Korea Could Cripple the U.S.”

by R. James Woolsey and Peter Vincent Pry, Wall Street Journal, May 21, 2013 –

Click here for or the full article!

In 2006 and 2008, former Secretary of Defense William Perry and now-Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter urged President Bush to pre-emptively destroy North Korea’s long-range Taepodong 2 missile on its launch pad—the Obama administration should reconsider this recommendation that was rejected by the Bush administration.
Neither the Bush nor Obama administrations distinguished themselves in preventing North Korea from gaining nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Miniaturizing a warhead to fit on a missile is not an overwhelming technical obstacle.
The Obama administration ignored Defense Intelligence Agency’s estimate that North Korea may have a miniaturized nuclear warhead to be carried by a ballistic missile or satellite.
North Korea has launched satellites over the South Pole toward the U.S. The U.S. currently has no missile defense assets, no early warning radars and no interceptors devoted to stopping a nuclear armed missile or satellite coming from the south. North Korea orbited its satellites at an altitude optimum for an EMP attack on the contiguous 48 United States.
An EMP attack would collapse the electric grid and other infrastructure that depends on it—communications, transportation, banking and finance, food and water—necessary to sustain modern civilization and the lives of 300 million Americans.
The Obama administration canceled the only two U.S. boost-phase interception programs, declining even to fund further study of boost-phase or space-based defensive systems.
The Obama administration should pursue the Perry-Carter recommendation to pre-emptively destroy North Korean ICBMs and space launchers on the ground.

May 24, 2013 – Taking Stock: An Important Week in Review!

High Frontier Posting — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:47:57 +0000

High Frontier . . Building Truly Effective Defenses . . Reagan’s Vision Lives!

Flash Message 130524

Taking Stock: An Important Week in Review!

By Ambassador Henry F. Cooper

May 24, 2013

I hope you will have a memorable family time over this Memorial Day weekend—and that you remember those who spent their last ounce of courage to defend America and guarantee our liberty. I hope you will commit with us to continue in that same spirit to encourage the powers that be to deal with the existential threat of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that could literally end our way of life.

There were several notable inputs this past week that encourage an expectation of progress. Consider the following brief summaries, with links to the full publications:

On Monday (May 20), I was interviewed on two radio shows. The first was with Donna Hearne of the Constitutional Coalition on her St. Louis program (Sorry, I do not have a link to the session.), and I was able to cover EMP issues, hopefully so that her audience could understand the threat and what can be done to deal with it. The second interview was with Dick Morris on his daily radio program, and I had the opportunity to discuss many of the EMP issues included in our recent publications—particularly the threat from Iran that flies over the South Pole to detonate over the U.S. and the possibility of using Aegis sea-based defenses in the near term as a defense against such a threat. Dick was particularly interested in the possibility that space-based defenses could be revived to provide unique capabilities for shooting down ballistic missiles in their boost phase.
The May 21 Wall Street Journal published an excellent article by Former CIA Director Jim Woolsey and Dr. Peter Pry, who among other things was Executive Staff Director of the EMP Commission that warned the nation on the EMP threat a decade ago. They cued off of the North Korean launch of six short range ballistic missiles earlier this week to emphasize that while these might be threatening to regional stability in the Far East, North Korea actually poses a much more serious threat to the United States, including a nuclear weapon carried over the South Pole to circumvent our missile defenses deployed to defend against ballistic missiles that come at us from over the North Pole. This weapon would be detonated over the United States to produce an EMP that could shut down our electric power grid. Notably, Woolsey and Pry disputed the Obama administration’s position discounting the Defense Intelligence Agency’s view that North Korea currently may have a miniaturized weapon to use in such an attack. Since our current defenses are unprepared to deal with this threat, they advocated that the U.S. be prepared to attack North Korean space launchers on their launch pads, as former Defense Secretary Bill Perry and current Deputy Defense Secretary Ash Carter advocated several years ago.
Also on May 21, Woolsey testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in much greater detail about this threat to the electric power grid. In a rather lengthy hearing on the cyber threat, he noted that such an attack, not considered a cyber threat in Western doctrine, is in the playbooks for an Information Warfare Operation of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. Their military doctrines include as a dimension of cyber warfare a wide spectrum of operations beyond computer viruses, including sabotage and kinetic attacks, up to and including nuclear EMP attack. Thus, he argued that nuclear EMP attack should be included in the cyber and information warfare doctrine assumed for potential adversaries, based on the work of the Congressional EMP Commission that analyzed this threat for nearly a decade (2001-2008). The Congressional Strategic Posture Commission and several other major U.S. Government studies independently arrived at similar conclusions, and represent collectively a scientific and strategic consensus that nuclear EMP attack upon the United States is an existential threat. And Woolsey observed that, during the Cold War, Moscow developed a secret Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) that used a Space Launch Vehicle designed to carry a nuclear warhead southward—away from the United States initially, but to deliver the warhead on a satellite on a south polar orbit, so the nuclear attack would approach the U.S. from the south. As we have emphasized, he observed that Iran recently launched satellites on just such orbits. Furthermore, he discussed the proliferation pathway—including for “Super EMP weapons”—from Russia to China to North Korea to Iran.
Also on Tuesday, May 21, The Washington Times published Frank Gaffney’s article on the natural EMP threat—“The night that all the lights go out,” which set the stage for a two day international conference in Washington, DC: the Electric Infrastructure Security Summit, attended by specialists and other interested parties from ten or so nations as well as senior U.S. officials. Click here for the two day agenda and main speakers. Frank’s article gives an excellent summary of some of the problems and the hopes for improvement this year, including a reference to the Shield Act that will again be sponsored this year by the leaders of the EMP Caucus, Reps. Trent Franks (R-AZ) and Rep. Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY). As we have repeatedly noted, this will be the third try to get legislation through both houses of congress—hopefully this year we won’t strike out.

I was unable to attend this important conference, but the feedback from several friends who did suggests that it was a good exchange and there is growing awareness of the threat, though not much action yet—at least in the U.S. to deal with the key issues. I was impressed that Lloyds of London, a co-sponsor for the Conference, has provided a serious report about how the insurance industry might view the risk and adjust to the possibility of major “solar storms” impacting North America. I was also impressed to learn that the United Kingdom and Israel have assigned a single agency to deal with this problem—a step that the U.S. powers that be might consider to bring focus to the currently dysfunctional U.S. interagency process. As we have repeatedly urged, I believe the Energy Department is a good candidate for taking that leading role—and hope that Dr. Ernest Moniz, our new Energy Secretary, will take the initiative to assume the leadership role.

All in all, this was a good week for those of us trying to get out the word on this important threat—from both manmade and natural causes. But we still have a ways to go before we can rest in getting real measures to deal with what is increasingly clear to many to be a truly existential threat.

Again, to close as I began—I hope you and yours have a pleasant Memorial Day weekend—and that you take the time to thank God for our nation and those who have died to keep us free.

What can you do?

We can use your help in spreading the word to grass roots and local authorities to press the powers that be to provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do. Will you do your part?

Please help High Frontier continue this important and timely work!