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Is it possible to do a Pearl Harbor sneak attack in the modern era

The main component of any surprise attack. The tactical component that makes a surprise attack successful.
Is the speed at which information can be communicated to command authority.

A successful attack on a nation’s satellite coms would functionally help carry out a surprise attack.
But does the attacking nation just limit anti-satellite attacks to military sats.
Or must they assume the defending might also have covert surveillance and emergency coms hacked into commercial satellites as well.
 
william said:
Of course it would not be easy. I do think it is possible in the modern era though. Everything I laid out in my little scenario is available today. The only question I think is, would the subs launch under the threat of chemical and biological weapons being used on US cites after the collapse of the political and military leadership? free online games
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I think the biggest uncertainty would be the decision-making chain after an attack, rather than whether an adversary could create initial disruption. Even under extreme circumstances, I’d expect surviving command structures and established authorization procedures to matter enormously.

The chemical/biological threat scenario is interesting as a question of deterrence, but I’m skeptical that a collapse in conventional leadership would automatically translate into a nuclear launch. The survivability and redundancy built into those systems are specifically intended to prevent one chaotic situation from becoming an uncontrolled response.
 
william said:
And how would you do it? Thoughts.
Let's war game this. (y)
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9/11 was already proof of concept of this, and what I learned from it is that if I were going to launch a surprise attack against the US, I would go low-tech:
  • Half a dozen EMP weapons on cargo planes flying standard routes detonated simultaneously over key points in the US
  • EMP weapon on a weather balloon or a nuclear weapon that can be dropped from a weather balloon (already proven feasible by China)
  • Nuclear warhead(s) in shipping containers
  • Missiles or drones launched from cargo ships in the Gulf of Mexico and off each coast
  • Specially trained teams entering across the Canadian and/or Mexican border with the following missions:
    • simultaneously storm every maximum security prison in the US, providing a weapon to every prisoner, creating a highly motivated army on US soil
    • attack key power substations, causing as much damage to the national grid as possible
    • simultaneously detonate IEDs in every state on buses, subways, shopping malls, churches, and other soft targets
    • steal tanker trucks carrying anything explosive and detonate them in heavily populated areas
    • derail as many trains across the country as possible, with a bonus mission of detonating tanker cars immediately afterward
With the exception of the EMP/nuclear weapons, any of these could be accomplished with minimal expense and low risk of detection, and return on investment would be equal to or greater than that of 9/11. If I could combine any of those attacks with a coordinated cyberattack on US infrastructure, businesses, government, and markets, the confusion and panic would shut the country down for weeks, if not months. Plausible deniability would at minimum delay any response by the US. For maximum impact, I would choose Thanksgiving weekend as the target date.

Given recent US attacks on Iran, I don't think recruiting volunteers for these missions would be too difficult.
 
Publius said:
The main component of any surprise attack. The tactical component that makes a surprise attack successful.
Is the speed at which information can be communicated to command authority.

A successful attack on a nation’s satellite coms would functionally help carry out a surprise attack.
But does the attacking nation just limit anti-satellite attacks to military sats.
Or must they assume the defending might also have covert surveillance and emergency coms hacked into commercial satellites as well.
Click to expand...
That's very true and I'm sure they do. I's not just the continental US that you would have to worry about in a surprise attack. The US has bases all around the world. Some of them nuclear. And than theirs Article 5 also.

That's were my thinking about the chemical, biological aspect comes in. If you took out the major decision centers and disabled the USs main strategic assets would a civilian political leader way down on the COG list still order a response if you let it be known you were going to release these pre-positioned agents on every major urban area if they did. How many suspicious labs have they found now.
 
RiffRaff said:
9/11 was already proof of concept of this, and what I learned from it is that if I were going to launch a surprise attack against the US, I would go low-tech:
  • Half a dozen EMP weapons on cargo planes flying standard routes detonated simultaneously over key points in the US
  • EMP weapon on a weather balloon or a nuclear weapon that can be dropped from a weather balloon (already proven feasible by China)
  • Nuclear warhead(s) in shipping containers
  • Missiles or drones launched from cargo ships in the Gulf of Mexico and off each coast
  • Specially trained teams entering across the Canadian and/or Mexican border with the following missions:
    • simultaneously storm every maximum security prison in the US, providing a weapon to every prisoner, creating a highly motivated army on US soil
    • attack key power substations, causing as much damage to the national grid as possible
    • simultaneously detonate IEDs in every state on buses, subways, shopping malls, churches, and other soft targets
    • steal tanker trucks carrying anything explosive and detonate them in heavily populated areas
    • derail as many trains across the country as possible, with a bonus mission of detonating tanker cars immediately afterward
With the exception of the EMP/nuclear weapons, any of these could be accomplished with minimal expense and low risk of detection, and return on investment would be equal to or greater than that of 9/11. If I could combine any of those attacks with a coordinated cyberattack on US infrastructure, businesses, government, and markets, the confusion and panic would shut the country down for weeks, if not months. Plausible deniability would at minimum delay any response by the US. For maximum impact, I would choose Thanksgiving weekend as the target date.

Given recent US attacks on Iran, I don't think recruiting volunteers for these missions would be too difficult.
Click to expand...
The prison thing is something I hadn't thought of. Good one. (y)
 
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