It is heartening to hear that missile defence systems have improved so dramatically and, yes, a single missle hit on American soil would be devastating. Just how many indirect casulaties there would be resulting from an EMP is open to question, as the Americans are probably capable of fixing their own infrastructure.

However, the case for an anti-missile defence is notable for what it leaves out. Fristly, anyone who fires a missile at American knows full well, they'll get several back pretty quick. Even the governments of Iran and South Korea aren't that crazy. Their missile development programs are more for show and leverage, than for actual use. Secondly, if anyone was crazy enough to fire a missile at America, they would aim it where there was no missile shield, and would not much care whether all they got was, say, a minor city in Arizona - so the US would have to think carefully about just what it wanted the shield to cover, considering that they would have to spend a collosal amount of money to cover everything.
As for terrorists using missiles, those attacks tend to be low tech - bombs strapped to a deluded person; planes taken over with box cutters and so on. The Americans will want to avoid spend a vast amount of money on a missile shield only to find themselves unprepared for the next big thing in terror - perhaps truck bombs. the author has failed to make his case.

Curmudgeon has taken the trouble to provide a reasoned riposte to this Pentagon propaganda, which like spam ,I suppose, takes in a few of the unthinking. Leslie

While there is no doubt that a nuclear blast's emp would cause major blackouts and damage to many PCs, the large power systems would not be permanently damaged, and could restart shortly. likewise the major banking an other computer systems are electrically very well shielded and don't even flinch with a direct lightning strike, and even if they did fail they are backed up. The cases and buildings provide a form of farady cages.

The predictions of doom are unwarranted and based on ridiculous extrapolations.

"The Federation of American Scientists Nuclear Weapon EMP Effects agree that a properly attenuated strike over the geographic center of the continental United States could theoretically affect the entire Lower 48 states. In fact, it could damage any material capable of carrying an electric current within the line of sight (in overall electromagnetic spectrum terms, not simply visible light) of the blast."

i.e. unshielded electronics within about 550 km could be affected, one blast could cause a lot of damage, but not to the extent the article would have us believe.