FOREIGN VIEWS OF ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE (EMP)
ATTACK
DR. PETER VINCENT PRY, EMP
COMMISSION STAFF
BEFORE THE UNITED STATES SENATE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, TECHNOLOGY AND HOMELAND
SECURITY
March 8, 2005
The EMP Commission sponsored a
worldwide survey of foreign scientific and military
literature to evaluate the knowledge, and possibly the
intentions, of foreign states with respect to
electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack. The survey found
that the physics of EMP phenomenon and the military
potential of EMP attack are widely understood in the
international community, as reflected in official and
unofficial writings and statements. The survey of open
sources over the past decade finds that knowledge about
EMP and EMP attack is evidenced in at least Britain,
France, Germany, Israel, Egypt, Taiwan, Sweden, Cuba,
India, Pakistan, Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Iran, North
Korea, China and Russia.
Numerous foreign governments have invested in hardening programs to
provide some protection against nuclear EMP attack, indicating that
this threat has broad international credibility. At least some of
the new nuclear weapon states, notably India, are concerned that
their military command, control, and communications may be
vulnerable to EMP attack. For example, an Indian article citing the
views of senior officers in the Defense Ministry (including General
V. R. Raghavan) concludes: The most complicated, costly,
controversial and critically important elements of [nuclear]
weaponisation are the C3I systems.... Saving on a C3I system could
be suicidal. With a no-first-use policy, the Indian communications
systems have to be hardened to withstand the electromagnetic pulses
generated by an adversarial nuclear first strike. Otherwise, no one
will be fooled by the Indian nuclear deterrent. (C. Rammonohar
Reddy, The Hindu, 1 September 1998)
Many foreign analysts perceive nuclear EMP attack as falling within
the category of electronic warfare or information warfare, not
nuclear warfare. Indeed, the military doctrines of at least China
and Russia appear to define information warfare as embracing a
spectrum ranging from computer viruses to nuclear EMP attack. For
example, consider the following quote from one of China s most
senior military theorists who is credited by the PRC with inventing
information warfare appearing in his book World War, the Third World
War Total Information Warfare: With their massive destructiveness,
longrange nuclear weapons have combined with highly sophisticated
information technology and computer technology today and warfare of
the looming 21st century: information war under
nuclear...Information war and traditional war have one thing in
common, namely that the country which possesses the critical weapons
such as atomic bombs will have first strike and second strike
retaliation capabilities.... As soon as its computer networks come
under attack and are destroyed, the country will slip into a state
of paralysis and the lives of its people will ground to a halt
Therefore, China should focus on measures to counter computer
viruses, nuclear electromagnetic pulse... and quickly achieve
breakthroughs in those technologies in order to equip China without
delay with equivalent deterrence that will enable it to stand up to
the military powers in the information age and neutralize and check
the deterrence of Western powers, including the United States.
(2001)
Some foreign analysts, judging from open source statements and
writings, appear to regard EMP attack as a legitimate use of nuclear
weapons, because EMP would inflict no or few prompt civilian
casualties. EMP attack appears to be a unique exception to the
general stigma attached to nuclear employment by most of the
international community in public statements. Significantly, even
some analysts in Japan and Germany nations that historically have
been most condemnatory of nuclear and other weapons of mass
destruction in official and unofficial forums appear to regard EMP
attack as morally defensible. For example, a June 2000 Japanese
article in a scholarly journal, citing senior political and military
officials, appears to regard EMP attack as a legitimate use of
nuclear weapons: Although there is little chance that the Beijing
authorities would launch a nuclear attack, which would incur the
disapproval of the international community and which would result in
such enormous destruction that it would impede postwar cleanup and
policies, a serious assault starting with the use of nuclear weapons
which would not harm humans, animals, or property, would be valid.
If a... nuclear warhead was detonated 40 kilometers above Taiwan, an
electromagnetic wave would be propagated which would harm
unprotected computers, radar, and IC circuits on the ground within a
100 kilometer radius, and the weapons and equipment which depend on
the communications and electronics technology whose superiority
Taiwan takes pride in would be rendered combat ineffective at one
stroke... If they were detonated in the sky in the vicinity of Ilan,
the effects would also extend to the waters near Yonakuni [in
Okinawa], so it would be necessary for Japan, too, to take care.
Those in Taiwan, having lost their advanced technology capabilities,
would end up fighting with tactics and technology going back to the
19th century... They would inevitably be at a disadvantage with the
PLA and its overwhelming military force superiority. (Su Tzu-yun,
Jadi, 1 June 2000)
An article by a member of India s Institute of Defense Studies
Analysis openly advocates that India be prepared to make a
preemptive EMP attack, both for reasons of military necessity and on
humanitarian grounds: A study conducted in the U. S. during the late
1980s reported that a high-yield device exploded about 500
kilometers above the ground can generate an electromagnetic pulse (EMP)
of the order of 50,000 volts over a radius of 2,500 kilometers
around the point of burst which would be collected by any exposed
conductor. Such an attack will not cause any blast or thermal
effects on the ground below but it can produce a massive breakdown
in the communications system.... It is certain that most of the land
communication networks and military command control links will be
affected and it will undermine our capability to retaliate. This, in
fact, is the most powerful incentive for a preemptive attack. And a
high-altitude exo-atmospheric explosion may not even kill a bird on
the ground.
Although India, Pakistan, and Israel are not rogue states, they all
presently have missiles and nuclear weapons giving them the
capability to make EMP attacks against their regional adversaries.
An EMP attack by any of these states even if targeted at a regional
adversary and not the United States could collaterally damage U. S.
forces in the region, and would pose an especially grave threat to
U. S. satellites.
Many foreign analysts particularly in Iran, North Korea, China, and
Russia view the United States as a potential aggressor that would be
willing to use its entire panoply of weapons, including nuclear
weapons, in a first strike. They perceive the United States as
having contingency plans to make a nuclear EMP attack, and as being
willing to execute those plans under a broad range of circumstances.
Russian and Chinese military
scientists in open source writings describe the basic principles of
nuclear weapons designed specifically to generate an enhanced-EMP
effect, that they term Super-EMP weapons. Super-EMP weapons,
according to these foreign open source writings, can destroy even
the best protected U. S. military and civilian electronic systems.
Chinese military writings are replete with references to the
dependency of United States military forces and civilian
infrastructure upon sophisticated electronic systems, and to the
potential vulnerability of those systems.
For example, consider this quote from an official newspaper of the PLA: Some people might think that things
similar to the Pearl Harbor Incident are unlikely to take place
during the information age. Yet it could be regarded as the Pearl
Harbor Incident of the 21st century if a surprise attack is
conducted against the enemy s crucial information systems of
command, control, and communications by such means as...
electromagnetic pulse weapons.... Even a superpower like the United
States, which possesses nuclear missiles and powerful armed forces,
cannot guarantee its immunity... In their own words, a highly
computerized open society like the United States is extremely
vulnerable to electronic attacks from all sides. This is because the
U. S. economy, from banks to telephone systems and from power plants
to iron and steel works, relies entirely on computer networks....
When a country grows increasingly powerful economically and
technologically... it will become increasingly dependent on modern
information systems.... The United States is more vulnerable to
attacks than any other country in the world. (Zhang Shouqi
and Sun Xuegui, Jiefangjun Bao 14 May 1996)
Russian military writings are also replete with references to the
dependency of United States military forces and civilian
infrastructure upon sophisticated electronic systems, and to the
potential vulnerability of those systems. Indeed, Russia made a
thinly veiled EMP threat against the United States on May 2,
1999. During the spring of 1999, tensions between the United States
and Russia rose sharply over Operation ALLIED FORCE, the NATO
bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. A bipartisan delegation from
the House Armed Services Committee of the U. S. Congress met in
Vienna with their Russian counterparts on the Duma International
Affairs Committee, headed by Chairman Vladimir Lukin. The object of
the meeting was to reduce U. S. -Russia tensions and seek Russian
help in resolving the Balkans crisis. During the meeting, Chairman
Lukin and Deputy Chairman Alexander Shaponov chastised the United
States for military aggression in the Balkans, and warned that
Russia was not helpless to oppose Operation ALLIED FORCE:
Hypothetically, if Russia really wanted to hurt the United States in
retaliation for NATO s bombing of Yugoslavia, Russia could fire a
submarine launched ballistic missile and detonate a single nuclear
warhead at high-altitude over the United States. The resulting
electromagnetic pulse would massively disrupt U. S. communications
and computer systems, shutting down everything. (HASC Transcript On
Vienna Conference, 2 May 1999)
Iran, though not yet a nuclear weapon state, has produced some
analysis weighing the use of nuclear weapons to destroy cities, as
against Japan in World War II, compared to information warfare that
includes electromagnetic pulse... for the destruction of unprotected
circuits. An Iranian analyst describes terrorist information warfare
as involving not just computer viruses but attacks using
electromagnetic pulse (EMP). (Tehran, Siyasat-e Defa-I, 1 March
2001)
An Iranian
political-military journal, in an article entitled Electronics To
Determine Fate Of Future Wars, suggests that the key to defeating
the United States is EMP attack: Advanced information technology
equipment exists which has a very high degree of efficiency in
warfare. Among these we can refer to communication and information
gathering satellites, pilotless
planes, and the digital
system.... Once you confuse the enemy communication network you can
also disrupt the work of the enemy command and decision-making
center. Even worse, today when you disable a country s military high
command through disruption of communications you will, in effect,
disrupt all the affairs of that country.... If the world s
industrial countries fail to devise effective ways to defend
themselves against dangerous electronic assaults, then they will
disintegrate within a few years.... American soldiers would not be
able to find food to eat nor would they be able to fire a single
shot. (Tehran, Nashriyeh-e Siasi Nezami, December 1998
-January 1999)
Iranian flight-tests of their Shahab-3 medium-range missile, that
can reach Israel and U. S. forces in the Persian Gulf, have in
recent years involved several explosions at high altitude,
reportedly triggered by a self-destruct mechanism on the missile.
The Western press has described these flight-tests as failures,
because the missiles did not complete their ballistic trajectories.
Iran has officially described all of these same tests as successful.
The flight-tests would be successful, if Iran were practicing the
execution of an EMP attack.
Iran, as noted earlier, has also successfully tested firing a
missile from a vessel in the Caspian Sea. A nuclear missile
concealed in the hold of a freighter would give Iran, or terrorists,
the capability to perform an EMP attack against the United States
homeland, without developing an ICBM, and with some prospect of
remaining anonymous. Iran s Shahab-3 medium-range missile, mentioned
earlier, is a mobile missile, and small enough to be transported in
the hold of a freighter. We cannot rule out that Iran, the world s
leading sponsor of international terrorism, might provide terrorists
with the means to execute an EMP attack against the United States.
In closing, a few observations about the potential EMP threat from
North Korea. North Korean academic writings subscribe to the view
voiced in Chinese, Russian, and Iranian writings that computers and
advanced communications have inaugurated an information age during
which the greatest strength, and greatest vulnerability, of
societies will be their electronic infrastructures. According to
North Korean press, Chairman Kim Chong-il is himself supposedly an
avid proponent of this view. (M. A. Kim Sang-hak, development of
Information Industry and Construction of Powerful Socialist State,
Pyongyang Kyongje Yongu, 20 May 2002)
The highest ranking official ever to defect from North Korea, Hwang
Chang-yop, claimed in 1998 that North Korea has nuclear weapons and
explained his defection as an attempt to prevent nuclear war.
According to Hwang, in the event of war, North Korea would use
nuclear weapons to devastate Japan to prevent the United States from
participating. Would it still participate, even after Japan is
devastated? That is how they think. Although Hwang did not mention
EMP, it is interesting that he described North Korean thinking about
nuclear weapons employment as having strategic purposes nuclear use
against Japan and not tactical purposes nuclear employment on the
battlefield in South Korea. It is also interesting that, according
to Hwang, North Korea thinks it can somehow devastate Japan with its
tiny nuclear inventory, although how precisely this is to be
accomplished with one or two nuclear weapons is unknown.
Perhaps most importantly, note that the alleged purpose of a North
Korean nuclear strike on Japan would be to deter the United States.
At the time of Hwang s defection, in 1998, North Korea s
longest-range missile then operational, the No Dong, limited North
Korea s strategic reach to a strike on Japan. Today, North Korea is
reportedly on the verge of achieving an ICBM capability with its
Taepo Dong-2 missile, estimated to be capable of delivering a
nuclear weapon to the United States. In 2004, the EMP Commission met
with very senior Russian military officers, who are experts on EMP
weapons. They warned that Russian scientists had been recruited by
Pyongyang to work on the North Korean nuclear weapons program. They
further warned that the knowledge and technology to develop Super-EMP
weapons had been transferred to North Korea, and that North Korea
could probably develop these weapons in the near future, within a
few years. The Russian officers said that the threat to global
security that would be posed by a North Korea armed with Super-EMP
weapons is unacceptable. The senior Russian military officers, who
claimed to be expressing their personal views to the EMP Commission,
said that, while the Kremlin could not publicly endorse U. S.
preemptive action, Moscow would privately understand the strategic
necessity of a preemptive strike by the United States against North
Korea s nuclear complex.
This concludes my statement. Thank you for the opportunity to share
this information with the U. S. Senate and the American people.
