“It is an unsettling doomsday scenario: A ballistic missile is launched from a freighter near America’s shores, setting off a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere. The blast generates electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) that could take out the nation’s electrical grid and bring civilization as we know it ‘to a cold, dark halt.’ This warning comes from the former director of the CIA, James Woolsey, in little-noticed testimony recently before the House Armed Services Committee.”
Source: Is US vulnerable to EMP attack? A doomsday warning, and its skeptics (+video) – CSMonitor.com