Former Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative missile defense program, Henry Cooper claims that Iran and North Korea could place a satellite in orbit with a nuclear payload to unleash an electromagnetic pulse that could destroy the US power grid and most electronic devices.

Axar.az reports citing to Sputnik Iran and North Korea could place a satellite in orbit with a nuclear payload to unleash an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that could destroy the US power grid and most electronic devices, former Director of the Strategic Defense Initiative missile defense program, Henry Cooper, said in congressional testimony.
"Both nations could deliver an EMP attack on the United States by simply detonating a nuclear weapon carried by one of their satellites as it passes over the United States," Cooper stated before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Thursday.

The EMP weapon would require no hardened re-entry vehicle or accurate guidance system as with an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Moreover, both Iran and North Korea have successfully launched satellites into orbit, Cooper explained.

The cyber threat would come from a power surge generated by the EMP phenomenon, Cooper and a panel of scientists told the committee. While there would be no immediate impact on humans, damage could require replacement of much of the power grid and billions of electronic devices, according to well-documented studies that date back to US nuclear tests in the 1950s.