One of the more frightening post-Sept. 11 reports is handed to us by Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett, Maryland Republican, detailing how an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack could disrupt electronic systems across the entire continental United States for years on end.

As Bartlett describes such a catastrophic scenario, one would be able to communicate only with those within earshot and travel only by walking or riding a bike. There would be no heat or light for houses, no running water and, after a few days, no food.

"Millions of Americans could die from starvation and disease as an indirect consequence of an EMP attack that disrupts the infrastructures for transportation, medical services, food and water," the congressman writes to colleagues, who earlier were warned by the September 11 commission that the United States is vulnerable and virtually unprotected against such an attack.

Ironically, the Clinton administration dismissed the EMP threat. But concerns were underscored in 1999 when, in the wake of so-called U.S. military "aggression" in the Balkans, Russia's chairman on the Duma International Affairs Committee, Vladimir Lukin, warned a U.S. congressional delegation in Vienna, Austria:

"If we really wanted to hurt you . we would launch (a submarine-launched ballistic missile) and detonate a single nuclear warhead device at high altitude over the United States and shut down your power grid and communications for six months or so."

The 9/11 commission states that even a low-yield nuclear weapon, purchased by terrorists on the black market or delivered to them by a rogue state, "can be employed to generate potentially catastrophic EMP effects over wide geographic areas."

Editors of the Wall Street Journal wrote recently of the EMP potential: "All we can say is, we hope someone in Washington is paying attention." Actually, Bartlett was paying attention before Sept. 11, 2001, introducing legislation in 2000 to analyze the threat from EMP.

He says steps must be taken by the United States now, more than ever, to alleviate that threat.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Political pundit Tom Adkins received the following birth announcement from his client, Chris Tate:

"Just wanted to let you know that Jill and I are filling up our house. Jill gave birth to Lauren Elizabeth Tate (on Election Day), and she weighed in at 7 pounds, 11 ounces, and measured 19.5 inches. Needless to say, we are very proud and excited. . By the way, Jill's water broke at 5 a.m., but we waited to cast our votes for W. before going to the hospital."

SACRIFICE AND SUPPORT

In front of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday, six female soldiers were seen standing at attention and saluting as President Bush's limousine passed by on its way to Veterans Day observances.

THANKLESS DUTY

It wasn't often that newly resigned Attorney General John Ashcroft received favorable press, as the following statement, issued by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, suggests:

Attorney General John Ashcroft's retirement... comes after four of the most difficult years any former attorney general has ever served. The attack on our home front put him, as the nation's chief law-enforcement officer, in the critical position of having to draw a balance between intense law enforcement and respect for our civil liberties. He experienced one of the nastiest and contentious nomination reviews in recent history. Through it all, John Ashcroft maintained his integrity, and we say, 'Well done, good and faithful servant.'

MUM'S THE WORD

The Arlington, Va.-based Leadership Institute aims to ride President Bush's coattails onto college campuses, dispatching 20 field representatives to institutions of higher learning nationwide to launch independent conservative student organizations.

The institute says its Campus Leadership Program representatives face a recruiting hurdle in that, "predictably, leftists prefer campuses to be conservative-free zones."

The institute notes that Valparaiso University's administration granted CLP field representative Michael Sweeney permission to set up a recruiting table on the condition that he speak to students only if spoken to.

POUR YOU A PINT?

Why all the secrecy at the British Embassy on Saturday night?

British Prime Minister Tony Blair had already departed for home after meetings at the White House, but that didn't stop President Bush and first lady Laura Bush from dressing in tuxedo and evening gown and making an unannounced two-plus-hour visit to U.K. soil on Massachusetts Avenue.

What gives?

"Closed event. No coverage," reads the official White House pool report, which did confirm an "unusually secretive" event.

"We were not told where we were going until we got there, and we were not told what kind of event it was," says David Jackson of the Dallas Morning News, who adds that he didn't see much after he got there, either.

"Your pool was stashed in a small pub, complete with rotating disco ball, on the embassy grounds," he explains.

It wasn't until the wee hours - 4:04 a.m. yesterday - that the White House came clean: "A surprise birthday party for Condoleezza Rice."

The president's national security adviser and close confidante turned 50 yesterday.

GETTING ALONG

Two weeks after Republicans tightened their grip on terrified Democrats, Sen. Olympia J. Snowe, Maine Republican, traveled to Pebble Beach, Calif., to accept an award for bipartisanship.

Retiring Sen. John B. Breaux, Louisiana Democrat, also received the annual Jefferson-Lincoln Award award from the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, presented to politicians who are able to put politics aside for the interest of the country.

"The fact is, we've all witnessed this mounting chorus of partisanship that has engulfed our nation's politics," Mrs. Snowe said Saturday night. "Indeed, our current system appears infused by a coarse partisanship, a raw ideology, a podium-thumping belligerence that all too often produces only political stagnation."

She said the "sensible center - the moderate center where most Americans reside and where both political parties meet - has dissipated."

Exacerbating matters, she added, is the loss of "consensus-forging leaders" on Capitol Hill, specifically former Republican Sens. Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming, Warren B. Rudman of New Hampshire, Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, William S. Cohen of Maine, and John Chafee of Rhode Island, and former Democratic Sens. Sam Nunn of Georgia and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska.

FRESHMAN FACES

Virginia Sen. George Allen, chairman of the newly strengthened National Republican Senatorial Committee, gets the honor of introducing the seven newly elected Republican senators at a Capitol Hill reception this morning.

Soon to add a net four new votes among them for the Republican Party are Sens.-elect Johnny Isakson of Georgia, Mel Martinez of Florida, David Vitter of Louisiana, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Richard M. Burr of North Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, and John Thune of South Dakota - the latter dethroning Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

HISTORY LESSON Continued...