Local and state initiatives are needed to protect all Americans from some existential threats to the electric power grid, because leaders in the Federal Government are failing at their duty to “provide for the common defense.” Happily, much can be accomplished by such initiatives, but protection against ballistic missiles launched from vessels in the Gulf of Mexico requires action by the Federal Government to protect the entire nation. Read Full Story
A growing number of Americans are concerned that the once highly classified threat from an electromagnetic pulse is still not being addressed, even though the Pentagon has known about it for a half-century and most essential matters were made public in the 2008 EMP Commission report. Our civil infrastructure was never hardened, except for communication systems to assure connectivity from the President to our strategic forces. Read Full Story
“NORTHCOM was born because of the 9/11 attacks for there was no commander of the homeland. But we are not the commander in charge of defending against terrorist attacks for that is the mission of the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice. We are a supporting command to them in dealing with terrorist threats.” ~ Admiral William Gortney, Commander of Northern Command (NORTHCOM) Read Full Story
To follow is the National Review Online Article prepared by R. James Woolsey, William R. Graham, Henry F. Cooper, Fritz Ermarth & Peter Vincent Pry. Read Full Story
North Korea is reportedly preparing to launch a satellite with the potential of detonating a nuclear weapon a hundred miles or so over the United States — possibly soon to be followed by its strategic ally, Iran. The resulting electromagnetic pulse (EMP) could destroy our unhardened electric power grid — leading to the death of most Americans within the following year. It’s long past time to counter this threat! Read Full Story
Assuring the survival and assured restart capability of our nuclear power reactors should be a top priority objective of all who seek to counter the existential threat to the electric power grid posed by Cyber or Physical attack or from manmade or natural EMP threats. We are working with Duke Energy, the largest U.S. power company, to conduct a pilot study to demonstrate just such a capability. Read Full Story
“I agree with the intel community that we assess that they [the North Koreans] have the ability, they have the weapons, and they have the ability to miniaturize those weapons, and they have the ability to put them on a rocket that can range the [U.S.] homeland.” ~ Adm. William Gortney, Northcom Commander, responsible for defending the United States from long-range missile attack, in an October 8, 2015 address to the Atlantic Council. Read Full Story
“. . . [T]he entire population of the United States could be at risk. There would be no food. No water. Communications, transportation, industry, business and finance — all of the critical infrastructures that support modern civilization and the lives of the American people would be paralyzed by collapse of the electric power grid. Millions could die. ~ William R. Graham and R. James Woolsey Read Full Story
Last week two important ballistic missile defense (BMD) tests demonstrated significant improvements in the Navy’s Standard Missile that either is or will be deployed at sea on our and Japan’s Aegis BMD ships — and on land as the interceptor of the Aegis Ashore sites in Romania and Poland. These same interceptors also should be charged with defending Americans at home from ballistic missiles launched from off-shore vessels, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. Read Full Story
Yesterday was the 74th anniversary of the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, a classic “Black Swan” event in that it was unexpected but should have been, as concluded after the fact. Two years ago, I suggested we were courting another “surprise” attack that should be identified now and countered while there may still be time to prevent or defend against it. Two years have passed, the threat has grown and we seem to be beginning to address it—so, a “Gray” Swan? Will we respond in time? Read Full Story
We will be adding key policy briefs as we progress.