Defending a country against EMP
An EMP attack
While the media is quick to report Iran's nuclear program could potentially develop a nuclear weapon that could destroy its neighbours and threaten the West, many security experts feel that the bigger threat could be if nuclear weapons are used to cause high-altitude electromagnetic pulses (EMPs).
If detonated in the high atmosphere, a nuclear weapon releases a massive burst of electromagnetic radiation that causes electronic systems to produce crippling current and voltage surges. Such blasts are known as EMPs.
If a weapon was used over the likes of London or New York, it would cause computer system to completely crash plunging the city, and in turn the world, into an economic shutdown, not to mention the chaos caused by traffic, communication and energy networks shutting down.
As such the British and American governments have begun to look into ways to defend against such an attack. In America, the International EMP Council is dedicated to coming up with ways to protect the US's infrastructure against the risk of an EMP attack. The group includes scientists from around the world as well as government and security officials.
On Monday, Avi Schnurr, the president of the International EMP Council, attended a briefing in London regarding the threat of a High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse. He confirmed that if such an attack took place power, water and phones could fail, essentially plunging the country into The Dark Ages.
He also said that the worldwide economy could be shut down with full recovery taking between four to eight years. As such, the monitoring of such a potential attack is a high priority to the US, who believe the greatest likelihood of such an attack comes from North Korea and Iran.
In terms of the West's defence against such a weapon, Mr Schnurr stated that it was "just at the thinking and planning" stage and more action needed to be taken.
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