On one side, proponents of new legislation estimate the government needs to spend nearly $10 billion to secure key systems from "RF weapons" they say could be carried in a briefcase and built for less than $500. Others counter the EMP threat has a very low probability and is only one of many vulnerabilities government planners are addressing.

"In the last five years, all major governments are in an arms race to develop these weapons because it is an affective technology," said Gale Nordling, president of Emprimus (Minneapolis), a 25-person company developing its own products to counter the pulses which can also be created by nuclear weapons and solar flares.

The U.S. Navy has already built RF weapons that can be carried by a soldier or transported in a truck delivering as much as 10,000 volts per square meter and used at distances up to two miles from targeted electronic gear, Nordling said. Emprimus conducted a study using a system that delivered just 20 volts per square meter causing temperature sensors to give readings 50 to 75 degrees above or below actual temperatures, he added.

"The systems create a voltage surge that overwhelms and IC and can cause it to short or even explode," he said.

Emprimus submitted written testimony to a subcommittee in the House of Representatives reviewing draft legislation (H.R. 2195) that would require government agencies to develop new procedures to protect electronic systems from attacks. A companion bill (S.946) is pending in the Senate.

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The military has installed special enclosures and filters around some systems that could be vulnerable to EMP attacks. More than 300 European data centers have also installed protective systems, Emprimus said. However U.S. government and commercial computer systems, the U.S. electric grid and other control systems for key infrastructure are considered unprotected.

In separate testimony, William R. Graham, chairman of a commission set up to assess the EMP threat, recommended Congress specifically direct government agencies to add language about EMP into the bills. Such attacks could render "significant parts of the electrical infrastructure out of service for periods measured in months to a year or more," he said, given the fact some kinds of transformers would have to be sourced from outside the country.