The American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) is dedicated to advancing the prosperity and security of the United States. AFPC’s Defense Technology Program launched the Strategic Primer initiative to educate Congressional staffers (and the general public) on technologies that affect U.S. national security. The Primers depict balanced representations of the potential benefits and limitations of a particular technology, its history and uses, and potential threats posed by adversarial use of the technology.
This work seeks to provide insights into the electromagnetic threats to U.S. security, particularly from a nuclear generated Electromagnetic Pulse attack, and public policy responses to them. The Primer provides a succinct and informative background of electromagnetic threats, U.S. protections and offensive capabilities of both the U.S. and our adversaries, it also discusses threats posed by EMP, and offers policy recommendations.