Blackout warfare results in mass death and totalitarian takeover.

Given this information, what might a long-term blackout look like? If the grid were to be attacked tomorrow, how would leaders command and control their Marines? How would Camp Pendleton communicate with Camp Lejeune? How would the Marine Corps communicate with the Navy? How would a mechanic fix a vehicle without step-by-step instructions on a computer or computer-aided diagnostic tools? How much reserve fuel, water, and food does each Marine Corps base have stored? Would leaders be able to keep their Marines, sailors, contractors, and their families fed? What about the local civilian population? How long would it be before they would be at the front gates of the base begging for or even demanding food? Have civilian and military leaders considered, if an EMP were to strike tomorrow, how many Marines would stick around? How many would flee to check in on their families? Answering these questions requires significant thought and planning.

A coordinated physical attack on multiple targets and facilities from a state or nonstate actor must be considered an imminent threat. An attack on an unprotected civilian grid could result in a long-term blackout event. Since 99 percent of the military depends on the civilian electric grid and food and water infrastructure, the military could be severely [harmed] crippled.

Norman Angell’s 1910 book, The Great Illusion, postulated that there might be no more great wars because Europe and the United States were so interdependent—war would be bad for business. Only four years later, World War I started. And yet, something like Angell’s ideas again hold sway. If the United States and its economy collapsed, the entire world would suffer. Why would China, Russia, or any other nation risk their country's economic growth? Why would they risk more and more sanctions on trade? But in totalitarian countries, the goal of leaders is to stay in power, not help their least powerful citizens. As Pry notes:

Totalitarian and authoritarian states see international relations as a “zero-sum game” in which there are winners and losers, the living and the dead. Economics is not the highest priority for totalitarian states. Their highest priority is total control over the world, whatever the cost, because they believe that any nation not their slave is a potential threat and war is inevitable. Totalitarian states want to be the last man living and make everyone else a slave or dead. That is why they are willing to do anything to crush their enemies and win. EMP/Cyber Warfare, what I term blackout warfare, is a relatively easy, low-risk, even benign form of warfare compared to all-out Nuclear, Biological, and/or Chemical Warfare—all of which Moscow and Beijing are prepared and willing to do if they can win.

If Pry is correct, these leaders do not need a “why” to launch a full-scale combined arms blackout war on the United States—they are biding their time for “when.”