2017-11-22

North Korea EMP Attack Threat Assessment, Decoding North Korea (video)

Empty Threat or Serious Danger: Assessing North Korea’s Risk to the Homeland

Homeland Security Committee Hearing streamed LIVE Oct 12, 2017: "North Korea’s recent provocations have raised concerns regarding the extent to which the regime has the capability to threaten the homeland. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has critical responsibilities to protect the homeland from an array of threats including cyber vulnerabilities, nuclear terrorism, and other risks. This hearing examines the risks posed by North Korea to homeland security and recommendations from private experts on how DHS can best prepare and mitigate these risks."

Chairman of the now defunded EMP commission William Graham and its former chief of staff Peter Vincent Pry have said an EMP attack would be devastating. “The result could be to shut down the US electric power grid for an indefinite period, leading to the death within a year of up to 90 per cent of all Americans.” Pry's LIVE testimony begins at 37:00 on the video above.

OPENING STATEMENTS
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), Subcommittee Chairman Opening Statement (pdf)

WITNESSES

Mr. Frank J. Cilluffo
Director
Center for Cyber and Homeland Security
The George Washington University
Witness Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Anthony Ruggiero
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Witness Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Patrick R. Terrell
Senior Research Fellow
Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction
National Defense University
Witness Testimony (pdf)

Mr. Jeff Greene
Senior Director
Global Government Affairs and Policy
Symantec Corporation
Witness Testimony (pdf)

Dr. Peter Vincent Pry
Chief of Staff
Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States From Electromagnetic Pulse Attack
Witness Testimony (pdf) embed below (highlighting added):

Pry has said  that at an altitude of 300 kilometers, the resulting electromagnetic pulse would affect all 48 contiguous states. A warhead fused for an EMP in a satellite or ICBM could work on a timer, via GPS, or using an altimeter. More info: Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) | Wikipedia.org.

The EMP Threat Facing the United States | RiponSociety.org: "America’s 16 Critical Infrastructures range from Water & Wastewater Systems to Food & Agriculture to Nuclear Reactors, Materials & Waste – and all of them depend upon electricity. America’s need for electricity creates the ideal conditions by which an adversary can take advantage of Sun Tzu’s “Supreme art of war,” which is “to subdue your enemy without fighting.” In 1999, with full recognition of this reality and enraged with American policy in the Balkans, Vladimir Lukin (the head of the Russian State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee) threatened a U.S. Congressional delegation by stating: “If we really wanted to hurt you with no fear of retaliation, we would launch a Submarine-launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM), [and] we would detonate a nuclear weapon high above your country and shut down your power grid.” See also: Trump warned of 'devastating EMP attack' | washingtonexaminer.com.

North Korea ‘Decoders’ Are Sounding Alarms

North Korea boasts about its nuclear weapons program by releasing photos and videos of its missiles. But in them are tiny clues to their true capability. A team of U.S. analysts, working outside the government, shows how they decode these images to determine when North Korea is bluffing – and when it is showing true power. Jeffrey Lewis's research is funded by Middlebury Institute at Monterey's Center for Nonproliferation Studies. The Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) video above published Oct 5, 2017.

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