One Second After...in San Diego: The story of an EMP attack and recovery - Softcover

Thayer, Mr. William A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1508734836 ISBN 13: 9781508734833

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2015

Synopsis

A very good book, "One Second After...", describes the effect of an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) attack from the point of view of Black Mountain, a small town the mountains of North Carolina. In response to the attack, the community retreats into itself and finally fights to defend its dwindling food supplies with its own militia. I totally disagree with this response. To recover from an EMP attack, the whole country has to pull together to restore water, food, communication, transportation and other essential services. In this book, the EMP attack is told from the point of view of San Diego, California. The military, specifically the Navy and Marines, take the lead in starting the recovery in San Diego. The military has two huge advantages over Black Mountain. First, they are organized. Second, their equipment is designed to be radiation hardened which will withstand an EMP attack. However, the military is not trained to restore water, food, transportation, power, healthcare and other services. They have to learn by doing and improvising. This book describes some of their problems, successes and failures.

About this title

About the Author

Why would William Thayer have any qualifications to write a book on surviving and recovering from an EMP attack which wipes out all electric power and microchips? Well, it turns out that 25 years ago, I did a 10 day backpack on the John Muir Trail with my 10 year old son. There was no electricity, no refrigerator, no water faucet, no toilet, no microwave. We essentially had to survive with what we carried on our backs -- drylite food, a camp stove and a water pump for filtering water. It was essentially the same conditions that the US would face after an EMP attack. That was a starting point. Educationally, I have a BS in Math from Stanford, an MS in Aerospace Engineering and MBA from USC. I worked in the aerospace industry for 30 years with most of my time on satellites. These satellites have to work in the radiation environment of space and, consequently, the chips in those satellites have to be rad hard. It is similar to what our military has to prepare for. While an EMP will wipe out every cellphone, it won't wipe out military communications, especially the communications satellites. During my years working on satellites, I acquired some familiarity with chip production and have one friend that actually ran an entire chip line. Another friend ran a chip design group. They gave me some important insights. Additional friends in the Water Department, FBI, a pharmaceutical company and other organizations also gave me important insights. Finally, living in San Diego has given me some firsthand experience with disasters and their recovery -- the Witch Creek Fire of 2007 in which a half million people (including me) were evacuated and an electrical power failure in 2011 which shut down the entire city.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1508734836
• ISBN 13: 9781508734833
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 250