No one really knows what would happen if there was a large-scale EMP attack on this country because it's never been done (yes, I know about Starfish Prime- that doesn't count). If you detonate a nuke in low orbit, it'll create an EMP due to interfering with Earth's magnetic field, but the size and potency depends on many factor such as the yield of the nuke, its altitude at detonation, your distance from the blast, etc. It would be hard to predict what would happen but it could be very bad or not-so-bad.
A lot of what you'll see and read is based on the worst-case scenario: permanent loss of power due to damaged power plants/transmission lines that could take months or years to repair. Once power is gone, so is fuel, sewage, food, and just about everything else. Anything you think you witnessed during a bad hurricane or earthquake will pale by comparison.
As for who has that kind of capability, the answer is anyone with a space program or anyone who could pay to access one.
No one really knows what would happen if there was a large-scale EMP attack on this country because it's never been done (yes, I know about Starfish Prime- that doesn't count). If you detonate a nuke in low orbit, it'll create an EMP due to interfering with Earth's magnetic field, but the size and potency depends on many factor such as the yield of the nuke, its altitude at detonation, your distance from the blast, etc. It would be hard to predict what would happen but it could be very bad or not-so-bad.
A lot of what you'll see and read is based on the worst-case scenario: permanent loss of power due to damaged power plants/transmission lines that could take months or years to repair. Once power is gone, so is fuel, sewage, food, and just about everything else. Anything you think you witnessed during a bad hurricane or earthquake will pale by comparison.
As for who has that kind of capability, the answer is anyone with a space program or anyone who could pay to access one.