There is a small industry around a bizarre idea. Nuclear weapons are known to emit a powerful electromagnetic pulse when they explode. So grifters, cheap novel-writers, and proponents of moar defense spending push the idea that a random bad actor would detonate a nuclear weapon at high altitude over the United States and WIPE OUT ALL OUR ELECTRONICS!
This is a dumb idea, for many reasons. I have debunked it many times. The group referred to as “Nuclear Twitter” regularly mocks it.
Kelsey Atherton, a New Mexico friend, has written what should be the last word on EMP. The title says it all:
Electromagnetic Pulses Are the Last Thing You Need to Worry About in a Nuclear Explosion
But if you’d like more detail, Kelsey has it for you.
Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner