![]() Consider the amount of guns in American society. Yes, you can plan to be off the grid, have food and water supplies, but to what extent are you willing to defend yourself from those who are not so well prepared but may be willing to kill to get what you have. So that brings us to the third part of Koppel’s book, what would it take to survive such an event? This was probably the most sobering part of the book because it raised the question of how far one is prepared to go to survive. Yet eventually, responses would be mounted, but many major cities would have to survive by themselves for the first weeks or months of a prolonged outage. OK, so it is possible or even probable, but aren’t we prepared for that? Sure, agencies like FEMA do disaster planning, but Koppel found that the people he interviewed offered little reassurance that there are good plans for responding to this kind of disaster. And if hardware like transformers are destroyed, replacements are not always immediately available. And most share control software from an era before cyber-warfare was a significant threat. Probably all have at least been probed, and in some cases, already compromised. Some, usually the bigger ones, have better cyber-security than others. One of the problems is that our power grid interconnects thousands of electric companies who buy power from each other. But more likely it could be a cyber attack. It could be a high altitude nuclear detonation emitting an electro-magnetic pulse. It could be terrorists with AK-47s attacking key transformers. ![]() Attacks on critical parts of the grid can cascade. Our own power company barely got us off that grid in time. You may remember how a wire hitting a tree limb near Akron took out much of the northeastern United States. The danger is how inter-connected our grid is. The first part of the book explores the vulnerability of our power grid, particularly to cyber-attack. Through interviews with experts in the power industry, military, cyber-security, Homeland Security, and others, he discovered that such an event is not only possible, but that indeed there is a high probability that such an attack upon our power grid could be mounted. Sounds like something out of apocalyptic fiction, right? Ted Koppel, celebrated host of Nightline for many years and veteran journalist went through this mental exercise and that sought reassurances that it couldn’t happen and discovered instead our disturbing vulnerability to just such an event. What would happen to public order? Would you survive? Suppose the lights are out for half or all of the country. Suppose this lasts not for a few hours or even a few days. The pumps at gas stations won’t work so you are immobilized. Suppose it was widespread enough to take out the pumps and equipment that pump drinking water and handle sewage. You could not charge laptops and smartphones. Imagine what you would do if the lights went out. Summary: Explores the vulnerabilities of our power grid to attack, the state of our preparedness for such an attack, and what it would take as individuals to survive such an attack.
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