Every Memorial Day, I think about those men and women I know who died in combat against our nation’s enemies. I think especially about the families who lost Marines under my command and how I owe it to them to ensure that I preserve not only their memory, but the safety and security of the very nation for which they gave their lives.

Similarly, every American owes a debt of gratitude to the generations of warriors who preserved our nation’s freedom against the evils of Colonialism, Imperialism, Nazism, and Socialism/Communism. If Americans expect to maintain that freedom, we must match our gratitude with a commitment to defeat the threats that, today, could turn our Republic and our freedom into a memory. These types of threats are referred to as “existential” — they hold at risk the very existence of America as we know it.

Today’s “existential threats” are embodied in the “Red-Green Axis” and the methods by which those adversaries are currently working to bring an end to America. The Red-Green Axis is an ideological and political combination of Marxism-Leninism and Sharia. The “Red” part of this Axis consists of threats ranging from the Socialist and Communist states of Russia and China to the Socialist movement in the United States, part of which is firmly entrenched in American society and even within the American government.

The “Green” part of the Axis includes the Global Jihad Movement, a diverse array of Sharia supremacists who don’t necessarily align with each other but are united in their hatred of the principles of liberty by which America was founded. This movement ranges from the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Islamic State (ISIS) — and the hundreds of jihadi organizations worldwide — to the most effective and dangerous wellspring from which all these organizations emerge: the Muslim Brotherhood.

Americans are relatively familiar with the violent “terrorism” taking place globally at the hands of Islamic jihadis, including the genocidal persecution of Christians, non-Muslims, and non-Sharia-adherent Muslims. Unfortunately, most Americans are completely blind to the aggressive and effective “Civilization Jihad” being executed here at home by the Muslim Brotherhood.

While the Axis is working to fundamentally transform America, there is no faster way to end our sovereignty and snuff out the bright shining light of freedom than by “turning off the lights” through a successful attack on our most critical national infrastructure: the electric grid. Numerous government-sponsored and independent studies over nearly two decades confirm that a widespread nationwide blackout lasting a year or more would result in the loss of 90 percent of our population.

The fastest and most effective method to take down America’s electric grid is through employing a nuclear weapon in a high-altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) attack. All our enemies know this and are working very hard to exploit the nation’s critical vulnerability to EMP. In fact, there are powerful members of the Red-Green Axis directly collaborating on everything from weapons development to the leasing of American ports of entry to seize key terrain necessary to both threaten our nuclear deterrent and smuggle nuclear-capable ballistic missiles into the United States.

Fortunately, the Trump administration is working tirelessly to counter all these threats. But this is not enough. For our nation to weather the storm of the Red-Green Axis, everyone must wake up to these threats and commit to defeating them. The first and most urgent step is to take away our enemies’ opportunity for a “kill shot.”

If we fail, we risk a future where American freedom itself becomes a memory. We must Secure the Grid now!

Tommy Waller serves as Vice President, Special Projects at the Center for Security Policy. He manages the Secure the Grid Coalition, a group of policymakers, defense professionals and activists working diligently to secure America’s most critical infrastructure—the U.S. Electric Grid. Prior to joining the Center, Waller served in the U.S. Marine Corps as an Infantry and Recon Officer with combat service overseas in numerous theaters. His full bio can be found here.