A Menacing Threat
Dr. William R. Graham's testimony before the House Armed Services Committee July 10, 2008 - Chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack
Select quotes:
The electromagnetic fields produced by weapons deployed with the intent to produce
EMP have a high likelihood of damaging electrical power systems, electronics, and
information systems upon which American society depends. Their effects on critical
infrastructures could be sufficient to qualify as catastrophic to the Nation.
EMP and its effects were observed during the U.S. and Soviet exo-atmospheric nuclear
test programs in the early 1960s. During the U.S. STARFISH nuclear test at an altitude
of about 400 kilometers above Johnston Island,, some electrical systems in the Hawaiian
Islands, 1400 kilometers distant, were affected, causing the failure of street lighting
systems, tripping of circuit breakers, triggering burglar alarms, and permanent damage to
a commercial telecommunications relay facility that caused it to cease functioning.
What is significant about an EMP attack is that one or a few high-altitude nuclear
detonations can produce EMP effects that can potentially disrupt or damage
electronic systems over much of the United States, virtually simultaneously,
at a time determined by an adversary.
Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of international terrorism,
has practiced launching a mobile ballistic missile from a vessel in the Caspian Sea. Iran
has also tested high-altitude explosions of the Shahab-III, a test mode consistent with
EMP attack, and described the tests as successful. Iranian military writings explicitly
discuss a nuclear EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States. While the
Commission does not know the intention of Iran in conducting these activities, we are
disturbed by the capability that emerges when we connect the dots.
EMP have a high likelihood of damaging electrical power systems, electronics, and
information systems upon which American society depends. Their effects on critical
infrastructures could be sufficient to qualify as catastrophic to the Nation.
EMP and its effects were observed during the U.S. and Soviet exo-atmospheric nuclear
test programs in the early 1960s. During the U.S. STARFISH nuclear test at an altitude
of about 400 kilometers above Johnston Island,, some electrical systems in the Hawaiian
Islands, 1400 kilometers distant, were affected, causing the failure of street lighting
systems, tripping of circuit breakers, triggering burglar alarms, and permanent damage to
a commercial telecommunications relay facility that caused it to cease functioning.
What is significant about an EMP attack is that one or a few high-altitude nuclear
detonations can produce EMP effects that can potentially disrupt or damage
electronic systems over much of the United States, virtually simultaneously,
at a time determined by an adversary.
Iran, the world’s leading sponsor of international terrorism,
has practiced launching a mobile ballistic missile from a vessel in the Caspian Sea. Iran
has also tested high-altitude explosions of the Shahab-III, a test mode consistent with
EMP attack, and described the tests as successful. Iranian military writings explicitly
discuss a nuclear EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States. While the
Commission does not know the intention of Iran in conducting these activities, we are
disturbed by the capability that emerges when we connect the dots.
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