The former Director of the CIA, who worked on one of the Congressionally sponsored committees to study the EMP threat (there have been several, Congress just never acts on their recommendations), warned that an EMP attack that takes down our fragile electric system could result in the death of 90% of the U.S. population. It will take over a year to recover, with little economic production, little to no functioning municipal water systems, and a long breakdown in society, loss of law and order that will result in many starving and massive marauding and loss of life. The threat is well known, the solutions as well, but politicians unwilling to call for hardening and changing our electric grid so it is survivable due to the big increases in electric bills that would result. So we are poised for big disaster.