Congress Warned 'Catastrophic Danger' Looming -'Political Gridlock' Could Get Millions Killed

F. Michael Maloof / WND

The lack of a will among politicians in Washington to protect America’s future, and potentially the lives of millions of Americans, is the reason why there is no plan to secure America’s national grid system from an electromagnetic pulse attack, according to testimony delivered to Congress on Wednesday.

Such an attack could come through nature, such as a massive solar flare that puts Earth in a bull’s-eye, but also could come through a nuclear explosion at altitude in the atmosphere above the U.S.

Such an explosion would not necessarily have to be incredibly high-tech, experts have confirmed – simply a nuclear bomb that would produce those EMP waves that could kill much of America’s power grid.

At a joint hearing Wednesday before the subcommittees on national security and the interior, under the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, subject matter expert Peter Pry said, “Political gridlock in Washington is preventing the federal government from implementing any of the several cost-effective plans to protect the national grid.”

Pry, executive director of the EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security, a congressional advisory board, said there is so little effort to address the danger that most state governments aren’t even aware they have options to protect their portion of the grid, and so protect their citizens from the “catastrophic consequences of a national blackout.”

Learn about how ill-prepared America is to survive an electromagnetic pulse attack – read “A Nation Forsaken: EMP: The Escalating Threat of an American Catastrophe” – from WND Books

There are few options to overestimated the potential loss. WND previously has reported that a 303-page report from the Department of Homeland Security warns a massive EMP event could leave more than 130 million Americans without power for years. No heat, no communications, no food deliveries, no fuel, and more.

Pry told members of Congress the electric grid is the “keystone” system that is needed to recover all other critical infrastructures.

George Baker, a senior professional on the congressionally mandated 2008 EMP Commission and now a professor emeritus at James Madison University, joined the testimony, explaining the EMP signal would attack long connecting lines most significantly, which is why the power grid and communications networks are at risk.

“Thus, attention to the electric power grid and long haul communications structures would bring major benefits to national resiliency,” he said. “Of these two the electric grid is arguably the most important. All other infrastructures ride on the electric power system.’

Also testifying was Michael Carusa, the director of government and specialty business development for ETS-Lindgren Inc., which provides systems and components to monitor electric energy.

“It is my sincere belief we as a nation will someday in the not too distant future face an EMP attack,” he warned.

Read more at WND:

http://www.wnd.com/2015/05/congress-warned-catastrophic-danger-looming/