Foundation for Defense of Democracies

FDD’s Missile Defense Project focuses on the need to defend the United States and our allies from the threat of a nuclear missile attack by a rogue regime or a terrorist organization.  The project is led by FDD Adjunct Fellow Rebeccah Heinrichs, who formerly managed the House Missile Defense Caucus, a forum where Members of Congress learn about missile defense programs, the threat from ballistic missiles, and discuss U.S. defense initiatives.

Heinrichs has worked closely with FDD Chairman Jim Woolsey, the former CIA director under President Clinton, to examine the importance of missile defense to U.S. national security.  She has also written extensively on the need to increase missile defense funding and on other issues related to the testing and deployment of missile defense systems.

The project also pays attention to the threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.  Our reliance on electronics for every aspect of our lives makes the U.S. vulnerable to this real threat.

An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack could be triggered by a nuclear warhead detonated at high altitude over the United States. The resulting blast would create an EMP, a shockwave that could "cripple military and civilian communications, power, transportation, water, food, and other infrastructure" and lead to the deaths of millions of Americans.

This threat emanates most notably from Iran, whose president has promised that "a world without America" is possible and attainable. The Iranian regime is building up its ballistic missile and nuclear capabilities and has tested high altitude missile detonations.

For more information on the need for greater protections against an EMP attack, please watch FDD’s video on this topic and consider sharing it with your friends.

"Where the terrorist airliner attacks of 9/11 killed thousands, a terrorist EMP attack could indirectly kill millions and conceivably cause the permanent collapse of our entire society." - Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD)

"...many people may ultimately die for lack of the basic elements necessary to sustain life..."
- Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack, April 2008

"Iranian military writings explicitly discuss a nuclear EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States."
- Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack