Federal agencies still unprepared for weapons of mass destruction, 9 years after 9/11: Justice Dept

Federal agencies still unprepared for weapons of mass destruction, 9 years after 9/11: Justice Dept: "Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) focused on the possibility that terrorists would acquire a missile to detonate a nuclear device in the atmosphere over the U.S., releasing an electromagnetic pulse that would wipe out power grids and electronic devices.

'A relatively crude nuclear weapon mounted on a Scud missile, for example, could be launched from a ship in U.S. waters and inflict massive damage,' Kyl said.

Low Earth-orbit satellites would be disabled, along with ground systems, by an [electromagnetic pulse] burst, and 'recovery could take on the order of months to even years,' said Michael Frankel, executive director of a federal commission to assess the EMP threat."