Trump signs executive order to study the risks of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack on the US.

In an executive order signed Tuesday by President Trump, he directed federal agencies to coordinate in assessing the threats that EMPs pose, and find ways to prevent their impact. This includes protecting critical infrastructures like water, electrical grid, transportation, and communications that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) can seriously affect or completely eliminate.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that the order will create an environment “that promotes private-sector innovation to strengthen our critical infrastructure.”

“President Trump will always do what it takes to keep Americans safe. Today’s Executive Order — the first ever to establish a comprehensive policy to improve resilience to EMPs — is one more example of how the administration is keeping its promise to always be vigilant against present dangers and future threats.” – Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Officials have warned for years that the electric grid is not safe from an EMP attack — either one from a solar flare or a nuclear attack from countries with EMP weapons, including Iran, North Korea, China and Russia.

The Commission to Assess the Threat to the US from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack started in 2001 but funding for it was terminated by the Department of Defense in September 2017. Before being disbanded the committee did warn that an EMP attack on the East Coast would kill 90 percent of those in the area over a year due to the lack of food, money, fuel, electricity, and medical care.

Newt Gingrich once said that an EMP would “destroy the country’s ability to function.” If an atomic weapon were to be detonated high up in the air, the resulting explosion wouldn’t be powerful enough to kill people on the ground (at least, not in large numbers). But the electromagnetic interference would be powerful enough to shut down electronic grids.”

EMP attacks do not require accuracy, nor do the bombs require a re-entry vehicle, heat shield or shock absorbers like standard nuclear weapons, and they can be delivered through several methods – including satellites, short – medium – long range missiles, or even from a jet, commercial airliner or a meteorological balloon.

Read the Commission’s full report on the EMP threat here. And for a look at what life might be like if the electrical grid fails, read “Life Without Electricity – A report to the Commission to Assess the Threat to the US from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack ” by Dr. Peter Vincent Pry.