NBC Shows U.S. Life After EMP Blast

Network reveals warring tribes, militias, private armies

A new network television drama is presenting the cataclysmic consequences of an EMP attack, but the United States government is still ignoring the threat.

The new NBC television show “Revolution” portrays life in the former United States 15 years after an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) disables all electronics. Society collapses almost instantly and the country devolves into a collection of mutually hostile self-styled militias, private armies, and warring tribes. 

Former members of the Marine Corps become warlords. Google executives become rifle-toting soldiers. Insurance salesmen transform into militia members.

Basic necessities that Americans take for granted such as widely available food and clean water become inaccessible as millions die from starvation, disease, or widespread violence.

The premise of the show sounds fantastic. However, as national security expert F. Michael Maloof points out in his upcoming book “A Nation Forsaken,” the show may actually downplay the threat.

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is caused by an explosion of charged particles, such as the detonation of a nuclear weapon in high altitude. The resulting wave wipes out electronics throughout the affected area.

Because of American society’s reliance on computers and electronic equipment, this would mean that financial, medical, security, and logistical systems would fail simultaneously. The result could be a wholesale breakdown of civil society.

Prominent political leaders such as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., have warned for years about the danger posed an EMP.

But media outlets such as the New York Times have disparaged these views and downplayed the EMP threat, characterizing it as improbable science fiction. As Maloof writes in “A Nation Forsaken,” media attention to the threat is downplayed only when preparation efforts are advocated by conservatives.

In contrast, the producers of “Revolution” seem to take the threat seriously, noting, “We did our homework and came up with something that’s actually plausible.”

An EMP attack does not require an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in order to be effective. A short-range rocket launched from a ship would be sufficient to knock out the electric grid of most of the United States.

Maloof points out that North Korea already has this capability and Iran is developing it. Countries such as Russia and China already could make such an event happen.

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