NotHardUp1
What? Me? Really?
OK, before you think I've read it on some conspiracy sight (I don't even know any), I was just watching a news story about Amazon electric delivery vehicles, and the increasing cutover.
It occurred to me, what happens when a bad actor detonates an electo-magnetic pulse (EMP) device over North America? Our first priority would be to restore critical infrastructure not shielded from such a pulse. Water/electric/gas utilities, hospitals, emergency vehicles, and agribusiness would be foremost. Most critical defense installations already have some shielding.
Admittedly, internal combustion automobiles contain electronics that would be blown away by an EMP, but I believe there would quickly be an aftermarket spring up in conversions that would a) shield car batteries, and b) bypass electronic controls with manual carburetors or whatever that could operate fuel injection without microchips.
Whether or not that's possible, I do believe that an enemy state, or terrorist (domestic or foreign) will eventually do this as a non-nuclear method of devastating the American economy, as everything would grind to a halt in a much more devastating way than any pandemic.
I know it sounds worry-warty, but it's a real threat. One of my prior jobs was on a project where EMP shielding was a very high priority, and the government wouldn't have been spending that kind of money for a non-threat. The only cold comfort is that a domestic terrorist isn't likely to have the access to rockets that could lauch a weapon high enough to knock out a large area.
It occurred to me, what happens when a bad actor detonates an electo-magnetic pulse (EMP) device over North America? Our first priority would be to restore critical infrastructure not shielded from such a pulse. Water/electric/gas utilities, hospitals, emergency vehicles, and agribusiness would be foremost. Most critical defense installations already have some shielding.
Admittedly, internal combustion automobiles contain electronics that would be blown away by an EMP, but I believe there would quickly be an aftermarket spring up in conversions that would a) shield car batteries, and b) bypass electronic controls with manual carburetors or whatever that could operate fuel injection without microchips.
Whether or not that's possible, I do believe that an enemy state, or terrorist (domestic or foreign) will eventually do this as a non-nuclear method of devastating the American economy, as everything would grind to a halt in a much more devastating way than any pandemic.
I know it sounds worry-warty, but it's a real threat. One of my prior jobs was on a project where EMP shielding was a very high priority, and the government wouldn't have been spending that kind of money for a non-threat. The only cold comfort is that a domestic terrorist isn't likely to have the access to rockets that could lauch a weapon high enough to knock out a large area.
