A few months ago I downloaded some audio books to get me through a long car trip.  One of them was One Second After by William R. Forstchen.   In the story, a nuclear bomb from an unnamed enemy was exploded high in the atmosphere over the United States.  No one was injured by the bomb itself since the explosion was so high in the atmosphere.  However, the explosion caused an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) which instantly disabled much of the nation’s power grid.  All electronic equipment immediately stopped working – cars, cell phones, air conditioning, medical equipment, appliances.  

The main character, John Matherson, lived with his two daughters in a small town in North Carolina.  He quickly figured out what was going on, and they began to deal with the short-term and long-term effects – disease, lack of food and water, panic, lack of communication with others.  It was a fascinating book.  What would you do if suddenly the stores were empty (in the book, it only took a few days for that to happen), no food supply, no running water, and the only medical care available harkened back to that of the 1800s.

Since reading the book, I’ve read up on EMPs and came across the story of Roscoe Bartlett.  Roscoe Bartlett was a Congressman from Maryland’s 6th congressional district from 1993 to 2013.  He garnered fame (or infamy, if you prefer) while he served in Congress for his doomsday visions, particularly about the vulnerability of the nation’s power grid.  He felt that a well-placed terrorist attack could put an “end to life as we know it” in America.  Bartlett claimed that a nuclear weapon detonated high above the country or a violent solar storm could cause an EMP that would shut down the power grid for six months or more.  Every single critical infrastructure system, including food and agriculture, water and sewer, transportation, emergency services would screech to a halt.  Why?  Because they all are basically useless without electricity.

When Bartlett left Congress, he moved to a remote 153-acre property in West Virginia where he lives “off the grid” – no phone service, no outside power, no municipal plumbing.  He has “composting toilets,” and he grows much of the food for his extended family.

“People ask me ‘Why?’ . . . and I ask people why you climb Mount Everest.  It’s a challenge, and it’s challenging to think what life would be like if there weren’t any grid and there weren’t any grocery stores.  That’s what life was like for our forefathers.”

Many people think Bartlett might be a tad paranoid.  However, it turns out that Bartlett’s fears are shared by many – and not just the doomsday preppers among us.

When Janet Napolitano was leaving DHS, she warned of possible attacks – including EMPs. She had a warning for her successor:

A massive and “serious” cyber attack on the U.S. homeland is coming, and a natural disaster — the likes of which the nation has never seen — is also likely on its way.  So prepare, and bring “a large bottle of Advil.”

Former CIA Director, R. James Woolsey, discussed the vulnerability of the United States’ power grid.

“The problem mainly with the grid is that everything depends on it, and it itself has some very substantial vulnerabilities,” said Woolsey, “We need to move as quickly as possible to generating power where the load is.”

 “We have 18 critical infrastructures in the United States: water, food, electricity and so forth. All 17 of the others depend on electricity,” Woolsey said. “Everything depends on the electric grid.”

How long could you survive if the power grid went down? You can’t drive your car anywhere. You can’t make any phone calls. There is no running water or municipal sewer system. No internet. Will you have food and water to last a week? a month? 3 months? a year? Do you have a source of water? Do you have the means to protect yourself? The time to make those preparations is now.