Battleland

Rep. Chicken Little (R-Ariz.)

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Amid the real wars, the real lagging economy, the real budget crunch and the real turmoil in the Middle East, it’s great some lawmakers have time to go all Buck Rogers on us:

The threat of an electromagnetic pulse weapon represents the single greatest asymmetric capability that could fall into the hands of America’s enemies. Should a nuclear weapon from a rogue state such as Iran be detonated in Earth’s atmosphere at a sufficient height above the continental United States, the blast of electromagnetic energy could immediately cripple America’s electric power grid. Currently, the vast majority of the United States’ infrastructure is unsecured and exposed. According to some experts, just one properly placed EMP blast could disable so large a swath of American technology that between 70-90% of the United States’ population could become unsustainable.

That’s the warning sounded this week by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. So he’s stepping up to the plate by establishing the Congressional EMP Caucus and introducing H.R. 668, the Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage — SHIELD — Act. With all the real problems facing our country these days, it’s nice that some folks remain preoccupied with the more dubious challenges facing us.