In a July 29 article on MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Blog, Steve Benen reported on exchanges between Senators and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, presumably associated with the technical issues of assuring the verifiability of the Deal with Iran, which alleges to block Iranian nuclear weapons for at least a decade. He ridiculed Senator Ron Johnson’s question of whether Secretary Moniz was familiar with electromagnetic pulse, noting that question had nothing to do with the “Deal” and challenged Senator Ted Cruz’s references to his previous testimony. Benen then proceeded to make numerous false or misleading claims based on a chorus of other also ill-informed or incompetent, poorly researched related commentaries masquerading as press accounts.

In the first place, Mr. Benen apparently is not aware of the fact that the Iranian Military is authoritatively reported to consider EMP as an element of its military doctrine, as briefed by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) to the recent international Electric Infrastructure Security (EIS) Summit in Washington:

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“As for the nuclear EMP threat, the National Intelligence University translated an Iranian military doctrine called Passive Defense from 2010, which emphasizes the importance of targeting critical infrastructure in warfare and references 22 times the use of EMP as a weapon to damage or disable the civilian electric grids of potential opponents.  The Iranian doctrine states that Nuclear and non-nuclear EMP weapons operate differently but morally are the same. 

“The conclusion of this doctrine is that nuclear EMP is ‘an advanced and useful weapon in modern warfare:’”

QUOTE “As a result of not having the other destructive effects that nuclear weapons possess, among them the loss of human life, weapons derived from electromagnetic pulses have attracted attention with regard to their use in future wars…The superficiality of secondary damage sustained, as well as the avoidance of human casualties, serves as a motivation to transform this technology into an advanced and useful weapon in modern warfare.”  UNQUOTE

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Therefore, it is obvious that EMP is pertinent to the merits of a “Deal” that is supposed avoid such threats for a decade. As Senator Cruz stated in his question to Secretary Moniz, the lives of tens of millions of American are at stake. See the link to this exchange in Benan’s article. (I prefer to say that up to 9-out-of-10 Americans are at risk to an EMP attack as often reported in my High Frontier messages—based on the authoritative reports of the congressionally mandated EMP Commission and the testimony of Commissioners.)

This fact was further obscured by a debate with Senator Cruz in which Secretary Moniz clarified that he knew what EMP was (from airburst nuclear weapons by the way), but not the recommendations of the 2008 EMP Commission Report—an astounding admission since the congressionally mandated commission’s report is the most authoritative report on this threat—which, by the way is maximized by nuclear weapons detonated above the atmosphere, not from airbursts as implied by Moniz’s response.

Notwithstanding Secretary Moniz’s qualifications as a PhD Physicist from MIT and alleged knowledge of nuclear weapons, it seems that little has changed his response to a direct question on EMP by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) in over two years since his April 9, 2013 confirmation hearing. He then indicated he was not so well informed and needed more study about the EMP threat to assure the “robustness and resilience” of the electric power grid in dealing with natural and unnatural threats. See 4:39 into the linked video to see the exchange.  Unkept promises. 

Moreover in the recent hearings, he indicated that there would be no problem assuring that Iran is complying with the Deal by employing inspections after 24-days (rather that the promised “anytime, anywhere” inspections). Really????

Then upon direct questions after it was learned that Iran and the IAEA were making “side deals” on aspects of these inspections, he indicated he did not know those details. The U.S. is not represented on the IAEA, by the way. 

Secretary Moniz said he is confident in the IAEA because it must “maintain the integrity of its reputation, the integrity of the process …” Right …

In my day as a negotiator with the Soviet Union, we used to say “The Devil is in the details.”  And as President Reagan famously insisted, “Trust but verify!” Secretary Moniz should heed this guidance.

Benen goes on to ridicule Presidential candidates Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson (and by implication others in the “vast right wing conspiracy” (as Hillary Clinton famously called us years ago) for calling attention to the EMP threat, indicating that it is such an “unlikely” event that it should be ignored—with references to articles by fellow travelers:

• Michael Meloy who claimed an EMP attack is “not likely to happen because getting a nuclear weapon into the atmosphere above the United States is an insanely complicated and sophisticated task with a low probability of success;” and
• Max Fisher who wrote, “Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons are a nonsense science fiction ’threat’ and a longtime point of obsession among certain conservatives, such as Newt Gingrich…. [This] line of questioning, to a top-of-his-field nuclear physicist, is a little like asking Neil Armstrong if he thinks the moon landing might have been faked.”

Intended humorous rhetoric by the uninformed for the uniformed . . .  on both counts.  

How would these “know nothings” explain that the Department of Defense is spending over $700 million to harden our key strategic systems to EMP… made clear in a recent press briefing by Admiral William Gortney, the Commander of the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) Command? (Click here for my May 5, 2015 message on this important public announcement—and an associated Wall Street Journal article by Peter Pry and myself.) By the way, Admiral Gortney indicated that North Korea is, and Iran may be, nuclear capable.

If this EMP threat is such a laughing matter, why would we be spending such precious resources in this way—as we have been doing for half a century? 

Of course, the threat is real. Furthermore, we know how to protect against it.

Thus, a better question is: “Why are we not spending the needed resources to protect the American people from the existential threat of an EMP attack on our electric power grid?”

Part of the answer certainly is that the “know nothing” crowd—in and out of government—frustrates serious actions by “the powers that be,” who are ignoring this urgent question.

The “no nothing” crowd is unlikely ever to answer that question—or to provide solutions. 

They are like Sergeant Shultz from “Hogan’s Heroes” famously claiming, “I know nothing!!!!”

Click here for a few “black and white TV” memories . . .

Bottom Lines.        

Unfortunately this is not a funny situation—and the American people should not be confused by the apparent ignorance—if not incompetence—of many of our so-called leaders . . . and the uninformed press that publishes such garbage masquerading as enlightened commentary.

The chattering classes are focused on the pursuit of a deal with Iran that will, if enacted, leave the world in a much more dangerous place—including a likely nuclear arms race between Sunni and Shia factions in the Middle East. 

While allegedly seeking a decade free of Iranian nuclear weapons, our leaders are ignoring the near term existential threat  from Iran (and North Korea) posed by nuclear weapons detonated in space over the United States. This threat already exists from North Korea—and may exist from Iran. This deal will do little if anything to reduce that threat.

Still the Washington “powers that be” continue to ignore this existential threat reality. The American people need to inform themselves of these realities and demand that their representative provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do.

The key question is, “Do we have the will and time to do so?” 

Near Term High Frontier Plans.

In addition to continuing to press for building the most cost-effective ballistic missile defenses possible, we will continue working with South Carolina folks to build a coalition to engage constructively with private citizens and their local and state representatives and other authorities to work with the SC National Guard in understanding and responding to the existential threats to the electric power grid.

What can you do?

Join us in praying for our nation, and for a rebirth of the freedom sought, achieved and passed to us by those who came before us.

Help us to spread our message to the grass roots and to encourage all “powers that be” to provide for the common defense as they are sworn to do.

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.

Encourage them to review our past email messages, posted on www.highfrontier.org, to learn about many details related to the existential manmade and natural EMP threats and how we can protect America against them. I hope you will help us with our urgently needed efforts, which I will be discussing in future messages.

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E-Mail Message 150804

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