WASHINGTON — National Security Desk

American First Amendment lawyer and media executive Jeff Ballabon has defended US President Donald Trump’s decision to wage war against Iran, arguing that the military campaign was necessary to protect the United States from a potentially devastating electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.

In an opinion article published by the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) on November 6, Ballabon criticised US Vice President JD Vance for attributing Republican electoral losses to the Iran war. He argued that the real failure was the administration’s inability to adequately explain the national security reasons behind the military action.

Responding to Vance’s remarks on social media that the Iran war had contributed to the Republican Party’s electoral defeat, Ballabon maintained that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons was essential to protecting American lives and national infrastructure.

The EMP Argument

He argued that Iran had spent decades developing capabilities and strategies that could potentially threaten the US electricity grid through a high-altitude nuclear electromagnetic pulse attack. According to Ballabon, an Iranian military textbook titled Passive Defense discusses nuclear EMP attacks in more than 20 passages. He claimed that Iran’s nuclear programme had brought the country closer to acquiring the capability to carry out such an attack before the US military campaign.

Ballabon warned that a nuclear detonation at high altitude could potentially disrupt America’s interconnected electricity grid, damaging essential infrastructure and affecting water supplies, food distribution, fuel networks, medicine supplies and communications.

He cited concerns raised by the Congressional EMP Commission regarding the vulnerability of the US power grid, particularly its dependence on approximately 2,100 large transformers, many of which are imported and require several years to manufacture and replace. The author also recalled warnings presented to Congress over the past two decades about the potential EMP threat, including reports concerning Iranian missile tests and the country’s alleged preparations for high-altitude missile detonations.

The debate over the Iran war should focus on the long-term security of the United States rather than short-term electoral consequences.— Jeff Ballabon, as summarized from his JNS article

A Communication Failure, Not a War Failure

Ballabon credited Trump with taking steps to address the threat, referring to the president’s 2019 executive action on strengthening US infrastructure against electromagnetic threats and his subsequent decision to confront Iran’s nuclear programme. He argued that the administration had failed to communicate these national security concerns effectively to the American public, allowing political opponents and critics to shape the debate around the war.

The article also criticised narratives portraying the military campaign as primarily Israel’s war rather than an American national security decision. Ballabon argued that Israel’s air force had played a significant operational role by weakening Iranian air defences and creating an opportunity for American bombers to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

He further warned that foreign adversaries, including China and Russia, could benefit from political divisions within the United States and from the failure to address vulnerabilities in American critical infrastructure.

Proposals for National Resilience

Ballabon called for greater protection of the US electricity grid, arguing that the president could take additional executive action to strengthen critical substations and improve national preparedness without waiting for Congress. He welcomed Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s September 30 announcement of the FORTRESS America initiative, under which major US military installations would develop independent power-generation capabilities to remain operational if the civilian electricity grid were disrupted.

However, he stressed that protecting military installations alone would not be sufficient, as millions of American civilians would remain vulnerable to a nationwide power disruption.

The author proposed establishing strategic national reserves of food and water, describing the initiative as the “Joseph Directive.” He argued that adequate emergency supplies would help American families survive a prolonged disruption while reducing the potential consequences of an attack on critical infrastructure.

Ballabon also urged Trump to make national resilience a central component of his political agenda, arguing that protecting the American homeland should remain a defining priority of the administration. He concluded that the debate over the Iran war should focus on the long-term security of the United States rather than short-term electoral consequences, warning that America’s adversaries could exploit political divisions and weaknesses in national infrastructure.

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