An EMP strike killing off 90% of the population is a complete joke. Maybe 1%, which is still a huge number and a catastrophe the likes of which this country has never seen before. It would cause billions, perhaps trillions of dollars in economic damages. Yes there would be chaos the first few weeks, and into the first months after the attack, but people are a lot more resilient than you'd think when faced with a survival situation. New institutions, new industries(I'm guessing the ice industry will explode) will sprout and chaos and disorder will be short lived.
It's weird that with all the contingency plans regarding a conventional nuclear attack, that there is almost no plan in case of an emp attack. Our whole economic and societal system downplays the emp risk. We keep producing more and more sophisticated and vulnerable electronics in crucial industries that our society relies on. We have done very little to protect the electric grid. The benefits of hardening the electric grid far outweigh the cost and it's very surprising and concerning it hasn't been done yet given the national security risks. It's better to invest in our security now than be faced with the prospect of rebuilding at a time when we're already threatened by an outside actor.
For a small country or nonstate entity hostile to the US, an EMP attack presents an opportunity to cause huge damage to a modern country with relatively little cost. I don't think we can continue to overlook this threat.
