Empact Radio

  Mat Stein is an environmentalist, bestselling author, MIT trained engineer, and green builder. As an inspiring speaker and visionary thinker, he is dedicated to helping people wake up and unite to shift our collective course from collapse to global renaissance. On the practical side of things, as an expert at self-reliance, emergency prep, and survival, his writings and work help people prepare to weather the storms we are facing due to continuing climate change and ecological decline, coupled with a fossil fuel based economy that has recently passed the peak in world oil production and is struggling to cope with impending near-term shortfalls.   Matthew Stein is the author of the bestselling book When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability and Surviving the Long Emergency (Chelsea Green 2008) a comprehensive manual on sustainable living skills, survival, and disaster preparations. His new book, When Disaster Strikes: A Comprehensive Guide to Emergency Planning and Crisis Survival (Chelsea Green 2011) is due to release on November  14, 2001, and has received excellent advance praise from experts on survival and disaster preparedness. Stein is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he majored in Mechanical Engineering.   In recognition of his expertise, Stein has appeared on over a hundred radio and television programs and is a repeat guest on dozens of shows, including Fox News, MSNBC, Lionel, Coast-to-Coast AM, and the Thom Hartmann Show.  He has also written a number of articles on the subject of sustainable living and is a guest columnist for the Huffington Post.

  James Wesley Rawles knows that it would only take one unthinkable event to disrupt our way of life – whether an EMP, terrorist attack, a global pandemic, or sharp currency devaluation–you and your family may be forced to fend for yourself in ways you’ve never imagined.   Survivalist expert James Wesley, Rawles, author of How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times, the novel Patriots and editor of SurvivalBlog.com, was our guest on EMPact Radio’s Peter Vincent Pry show for a 2-hour special in November 2010, when he answered questions and shared insights about the essential tools and skills you might need to survive in a “grid-down” environment.   Where would you get water? How would you communicate with relatives who live in other states? What would you use for fuel?   This half-hour excerpt includes the third part of that special episode, and the remaining parts will be posted as separate, 30-minute podcasts here on EMPactRadio.org. This is not a live broadcast, so please email any follow-up questions you may have to radio@empactamerica.org, and we will get the answers for you and include your question in the next live episode of the Preparedness Podcast.

  Author of The Next Wave: On the Hunt for Al Qaeda’s American Recruits, Catherine Herridge is an award winning national correspondent for the Fox News Channel. Catherine was the first network correspondent assigned to the Homeland Security beat in 2001.  She now covers intelligence, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland Security.    Catherine and her Fox team of investigative journalists traveled across the U.S. and to Yemen to complete a six-month investigation into the American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is linked to three of the 9/11 hijackers, the Fort Hood attack, the attempted bombing Christmas Day, the failed attack on Times Square as well as the cargo printer bomb plot in October 2010.  The Washington Post recently described the documentary as “an explosive hour.”   Herridge’s investigative reporting showed that critical information about al-Awlaki and his mysterious return to the U.S. in October 2002 was likely withheld from investigators with the 9/11 Commission and Congress.  Herridge’s reporting, which prompted letters from Capitol Hill, raised new questions about the cleric and how the first American on the CIA’s kill or capture list slipped through the FBI’s grasp one year after 9/11.     Catherine, who is a graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia School of Journalism, began her career as a London-based correspondent for ABC News.  She has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, Qatar, Israel, the former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland, Guantanamo Bay and New York City on 9/11.  She is one of the few reporters to sit in the same military courtroom as the self-described architect of the attack, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators.

  James Wesley Rawles knows that it would only take one unthinkable event to disrupt our way of life – whether an EMP, terrorist attack, a global pandemic, or sharp currency devaluation–you and your family may be forced to fend for yourself in ways you’ve never imagined. Survivalist expert James Wesley, Rawles, author of How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times, the novel Patriots and editor of SurvivalBlog.com, was our guest on EMPact Radio’s Peter Vincent Pry show for a 2-hour special in November 2010, when he answered questions and shared insights about the essential tools and skills you might need to survive in a “grid-down” environment. Where would you get water? How would you communicate with relatives who live in other states? What would you use for fuel? This half-hour excerpt includes the third part of that special episode, and the remaining parts will be posted as separate, 30-minute podcasts here on EMPactRadio.org. This is not a live broadcast, so please email any follow-up questions you may have to radio@empactamerica.org, and we will get the answers for you and include your question in the next live episode of the Preparedness Podcast.

  James Wesley Rawles knows that it would only take one unthinkable event to disrupt our way of life – whether an EMP, terrorist attack, a global pandemic, or sharp currency devaluation–you and your family may be forced to fend for yourself in ways you’ve never imagined.   Survivalist expert James Wesley, Rawles, author of How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times, the novel Patriots and editor of SurvivalBlog.com, was our guest on EMPact Radio’s Peter Vincent Pry show for a 2-hour special in November 2010, when he answered questions and shared insights about the essential tools and skills you might need to survive in a “grid-down” environment. •Where would you get water? •How would you communicate with relatives who live in other states? •What would you use for fuel?   This half-hour excerpt includes the second part of that special episode, and the remaining parts will be posted as separate, 30-minute podcasts here on EMPactRadio.org. This is not a live broadcast, so please email any follow-up questions you may have to radio@empactamerica.org, and we will get the answers for you and include your question in the next live episode of the Preparedness Podcast.

This half-hour excerpt includes the first part of that special episode, and the remaining parts will be posted as separate, 30-minute podcasts in the next few days. This is not a live broadcast, so please email any follow-up questions you may have to radio@empactamerica.org, and we will get the answers for you and include your question in the next live episode of the Preparedness Podcast.   James Wesley Rawles knows that it would only take one unthinkable event to disrupt our way of life – whether an EMP, terrorist attack, a global pandemic, or sharp currency devaluation–you and your family may be forced to fend for yourself in ways you’ve never imagined. Where would you get water? How would you communicate with relatives who live in other states? What would you use for fuel? Survivalist expert James Wesley, Rawles, author of How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times, the novel Patriots and editor of SurvivalBlog.com, was our guest on EMPact Radio’s Peter Vincent Pry show for a 2-hour special in November 2010, when he answered questions and shared insights about the essential tools and skills you might need to survive in a “grid-down” environment.

  This will be a live show to kick off National Preparedness Month, so tune in and call in with your questions and comments: 1 (917) 388-4499. Our guest for this podcast is John Gullo, a first responder who has dealt with many incidents and accidents where preparedness could have played a major role in preventing or minimizing injuries. Mr. Gullo is Chief Code Enforcement Officer and Fire Inspector, Infection Control Coordinator, and Disaster Coordinator for the Town of West Seneca, NY (a suburb of Buffalo, NY), Fire Chief for the Vigilant Fire Department, Town Fire Prevention Officer, a  FEMA-certified CERT instructor, a DHS-certified WMD instructor, and is a Nationally Certified Fire and Explosion Investigator. Tune in and call in with your questions and comments for Mr. Gullo. You can also email your questions in advance to radio@empactamerica.org and we’ll forward them on to Mr. Gullo and answer them during the podcast.

  Dr. Peter Vincent Pry is joined by Mr. Peter Huessy, President of GeoStrategic Analysis. Mr. Huessy will be coming back on the show to discuss electromagnetic pulse (EMP), state-sponsored terrorism, and other national security topics.  He is President of the defense consulting firm GeoStrategic Analysis, founded in 1981. He serves as consultant, monitoring budget and policy developments on missile defense and related matters.   Since 1983, he has hosted more than 750 Congressional breakfast seminars, addressing missile defense, strategic nuclear modernization, arms control and defense policy. He has been a guest lecturer at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the National War College. His popular presentations are in constant demand and take him across the country on a regular basis.   You can listen to Mr. Huessy's previous guest appearances on EMPact Radio on our new web site at EMPactRadio.org.

Lieutenant Colonel James Zumwalt is a retired Marine infantry officer who served in the Vietnam war, the 1989 intervention into Panama and Desert Storm. An internationally acclaimed best-selling author, speaker and business executive, he also currently heads a security consulting firm named after his father—Admiral Zumwalt & Consultants, Inc.   He writes extensively on foreign policy and defense issues, having written hundreds of articles for various newspapers and magazines, including USA Today, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Washington Times, The LA Times, The Chicago Tribune, The San Diego Union, Parade magazine and others.  His articles have covered issues of major importance, oftentimes providing readers with unique perspectives that have never appeared elsewhere.  This has resulted, on several occasions, in his work being cited by members of Congress and entered into the US Congressional Record.   His thoughtful perspectives earned him an invitation to join the prestigious Committee on the Present Danger (CPD), of which the honorary co-chairmen are Senator Joe Lieberman, Senator Jon Kyl, former Secretary of State George P. Schultz and former CIA Director R. James Woolsey.  The CPD is a non-partisan organization with one goal—to stiffen American resolve to confront the challenge presented by terrorism and the ideologies that drive it.   Colonel Zumwalt is featured as one of 56 US military professionals in LEADING THE WAY, a book by best-selling author Al Santoli, which documents the most critical moments of the interviewees' combat experiences from Vietnam to Somalia. 

Dr. Andrei Shoumikhin, during the cold war and after, worked for the Soviet Union and Russia in the Institute for the USA and Canada, one of Moscow's leading analytical agencies for studying the United States and the West.  Dr. Shoumikhin brings a unique perspective in knowing the threat perceptions of Russian elites for the US. Dr. Andrei Shoumikhin is Visiting Professor at the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at the Missouri State University (Fairfax Office). He teaches courses on International Security; New Independent States, and Security in the Caucasus-Central Asia Region. Dr. Shoumikhin worked as Senior Analyst at the National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP), Fairfax, VA in 1998-2009. In 1996-1998, he was the Director of the Washington Office of the Moscow Public Science Foundation. In 1977-1998, he worked at the U.S. and Canada Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences as Head of the U.S. Regional Policy Department and the Middle East Section. He also worked as UN Interpreter (P-5) at the UN Headquarters in New York, in 1970-1976 and 1981-1983. Dr. Shoumikhin has Ph.D. degrees in International Politics and History. He authored monographs and articles on arms control, ballistic missile defense, and conflict resolution.

  George H. Baker, Ph.D., served on the staff of technical experts for the EMP Commission, served in the Defense Nuclear Agency as director of programs for protecting military systems from EMP, and is currently Technical Director for Infrastructure Assurance at the Institute for Infrastructure and Information Assurance at James Madison University. His research interests include: Infrastructure Assurance, High Power Electromagnetics, Nuclear and Directed Energy Weapon Effects, and Risk Assessment.   Dr. Baker's publications attest to his expert status in this field, and include "EMP: A National-Scale Threat to the U.S. Infrastructure" (The Critical Infrastructure Protection Report) and Cascading Infrastructure Failures: Avoidance and Response (with Cheryl J. Elliott, 2008). You may click on these titles and read these publications for yourself.   Click here to listen to Dr. Baker's second appearance on EMPact Radio, and click here to listen to his first appearance.    Dr. Baker will be available to take your calls and answer your questions, Wednesday, August 10 at 12:00 Noon, so tune in!

Dr. Peter Vincent Pry welcomes Ambassador James Woolsey back to EMPact Radio (click here to listen to his previous guest appearance). Ambassador Woolsey is an institution among American foreign policy specialists and is a hero in the world of national security. He served as Director of Central Intelligence and head of the Central Intelligence Agency from 1993 to 1995 under President Bill Clinton. Woolsey’s expertise in intelligence and foreign policy is legendary, and he has served the administrations of four Presidents. Woolsey has served as advisor on the U.S. Delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT 1), Helsinki and Vienna from 1969-1970. From 1970 to 1973, Ambassador Woolsey was General Counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services. Mr. Woolsey served as Under Secretary of the Navy under President Carter, Delegate at Large to the US -Soviet Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) and Nuclear and Space Arms Talks (NST), Geneva under President Reagan. He was named Ambassador to the Negotiation on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), Vienna under President George HW. Bush. Ambassador Woolsey is currently a member of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) Board of Advisors, Advisor of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, Founding Member of the Set America Free Coalition, and a Senior Vice President at Booz Allen Hamilton for Global Strategic Security (since July 15, 2002). He is a Patron of the Henry Jackson Society, a British think tank based in Cambridge. He was formerly chairman of the Freedom House board of trustees. Ambassador Woolsey is available to take your calls and to answer your online chat questions.

This week, EMPact Radio is adding a second guest spot to our show and making it a special 90-minute episode. In the first hour, we will talk with Reza Kahlili, and at 1:00 PM, we will be joined by Fred Fleitz. Reza Kahlili is a former CIA operative who worked in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. His memoir, A Time To Betray (www.atimetobetray.com), is required reading for U.S. Government intelligence training programs.Kahlili teaches at the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy (JCITA) and at the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies. “Reza Kahlili” is a pseudonym for security purposes. Kahlili has been featured on ABC, CBN, C-Span, Fox, MSNBC, Forbes, the Christian Science Monitor and numerous other media outlets. Fred Fleitz recently joined Newsmax Media as a global analyst after a 25-year career with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the US Department of State, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.  He served as Chief of Staff to Ambassador John Bolton and as a Senior Adviser to former House Intelligence Ranking Member Peter Hoekstra. 

Bronius Cikotas has over 38 years of government leadership experience, and served as a member of the Senior Executive Service at the U.S. Department of Defense. From 1963 through 1981 he was responsible for the Air Force EMP ground-based and missile test assessment and hardening programs. From 1982 through 1992, he was a regular Armed Forces Staff College guest lecturer on EMP threat and survivability issues. He briefed selected members of Congress on the implications of EMP attack and testified on electromagnetic threat implications to infrastructures to the House Terrorism Panel. Mr. Cikotas was a featured speaker at the 2009 EMPact America conference. You can watch part of his presentation on our web site: Click here for video. Additional biographical information for Bronius Cikotas is online here, and you can listen to his previous apperance on EMPact Radio by clicking here. Please call (917) 388-4499 during our live show to ask questions, or send an email to radio@empactamerica.org.

Dr. Peter Vincent Pry is joined by Mr. Peter Huessy, President of GeoStrategic Analysis. Mr. Huessy will be coming back on the show to discuss electromagnetic pulse (EMP), state-sponsored terrorism, and other national security topics. Read Mr. Huessy's bio on our web site: www.empactamerica.org.   He is President of the defense consulting firm GeoStrategic Analysis, founded in 1981. He serves as consultant, monitoring budget and policy developments on missile defense and related matters. Since 1983, he has hosted more than 750 Congressional breakfast seminars, addressing missile defense, strategic nuclear modernization, arms control and defense policy. He has been a guest lecturer at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the National War College. His popular presentations are in constant demand and take him across the country on a regular basis.   Mr. Huessy has appeared on EMPact Radio in three previous episodes, and you can listen to those episodes by clicking on the following links: Episode PVP#46 Episode PVP#30 Episode PVP#19 Call (917) 388-4499 during our live show to ask your questions, or send your questions by email: radio@empactamerica.org.