“Transformers do not contain software-based control systems and are passive devices, though recent equipment may contain diagnostic electronics, the WSJ said...Cai told the newspaper that even if someone accessed the diagnostic data, it was of no import.”
Well, we’ll find out - it’s not hard to slip in a few circuits in a device that weighs over 200 tons. I suspect they plan to thoroughly examine the device, see what type of communications gear it has, figure out how to neutralize it, and then do the same for the rest of our power grid - virtually all supplied by China now (thank you again, American labor unions).
Unions have little to do with it. China will match the price at any level to get the business. They have 100% backing of CPC.
That item about “ diagnostic electronics” caught my eye, too, and I had the same reaction as you.
How hard would it be to send intel to China regarding power flows? That would be incredibly valuable information for an enemy. Worse, could an outside command take the transformer offline or cause it to self-destruct?
Diagnostic is another word for spyware. The imbedded circuitry does not have to destroy the transformer it is located in but report the data to help some other entity do the job on a larger scale.