This will not be your father’s blackout, but the sort of scenario long imagined by writers and film-makers with an Armageddon fixation. And we are not talking about something like the regional blackouts that have already occurred here. Ted Koppel, a very level-headed newsman, has brought to light a glaring soft spot in our national defense that could very well be exploited by enemies of the USA. ![]() this goes on quite a bitForget the zombie apocalypse. Disposal of human waste becomes an issue within days…. As batteries lose power, there is more gradual failure of cell phones, portable radios, and flashlights.Įmergency generators provide pockets of light and power, but there is little running water anywhere…Emergency supplies of bottled water are too scarce to use for anything but drinking, and there is nowhere to replenish the supply. With urgency and authority, one of our most renowned journalists examines a threat unique to our time and evaluates potential ways to prepare for a catastrophe that is all but inevitable.Įxtended periods of darkness, longer and more profound than anyone not living in one of America’s great cities has ever known.Īs power shuts down there is darkness and the sudden loss of electrical conveniences. But how, Koppel asks, will ordinary civilians survive? We also see the unrivaled disaster preparedness of the Mormon church, with its enormous storehouses, high-tech dairies, orchards, and proprietary trucking company – the fruits of a long tradition of anticipating the worst. Among the nation’s estimated three million “preppers,” we meet one whose doomsday retreat includes a newly excavated three-acre lake, stocked with fish, and a Wyoming homesteader so self-sufficient that he crafted the thousands of adobe bricks in his house by hand. In the absence of a government plan, some individuals and communities have taken matters into their own hands. ![]() The current Secretary of Homeland Security suggests keeping a battery-powered radio. “It’s not a question of if,” says Centcom Commander General Lloyd Austin, “it’s a question of when.”Īnd yet, as Koppel makes clear, the federal government, while well prepared for natural disasters, has no plan for the aftermath of an attack on the power grid. And a cybersecurity advisor to President Obama believes that independent actors-from “hacktivists” to terrorists-have the capability as well. ![]() In fact, as a former chief scientist of the NSA reveals, China and Russia have already penetrated the grid. Several nations hostile to the United States could launch such an assault at any time. A well-designed attack on just one of the nation’s three electric power grids could cripple much of our infrastructure-and in the age of cyberwarfare, a laptop has become the only necessary weapon. Banks no longer function, looting is widespread, and law and order are being tested as never before. For those without access to a generator, there is no running water, no sewage, no refrigeration or light. ![]() Tens of millions of people over several states are affected. Imagine a blackout lasting not days, but weeks or months. In this tour de force of investigative reporting, Ted Koppel reveals that a major cyberattack on America’s power grid is not only possible but likely, that it would be devastating, and that the United States is shockingly unprepared.
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