Mike Huckabee to Headline Bizarre Conference on Electromagnetic Pulse Attacks

Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress at 8:00 AM on August 25, 2009.

 In May, the Wonk Room’s Matt Duss noted that, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich — citing a fictional novel — told the 2009 American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference that the threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse attack against the United States was why he was in “favor” of “taking out Iranian and North Korean missiles on their sites.” The next month, the New Republic’s Michael Crowley reported that the “scientifically valid,” but “not strategically realistic” scenario was being used by “a cadre of conservative hawks” to argue for “familiar hobbyhorses” like missile defense and preemptive military strikes. Now, Dave Weigel reports that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is set to headline an upcoming conference on the threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse attack against the United States, titled “EMPACT America”:

 The conference will also be addressed by such right-wing luminaries as Gingrich, former GOP Rep. Curt Weldon, Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), and Frank Gaffney.

Tagged as: gop, mike huckabee, frank gaffney, emp, electromagnetic pulse, whedon

Matt Corley is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.