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As Worries Over the Power Grid Rise, a Drill Will Simulate a Knockout Blow
New York Times ^ | August 16, 2013 | Matthew L. Wald

Posted on 09/03/2013 7:55:07 PM PDT by Travis McGee

The electric grid, as government and private experts describe it, is the glass jaw of American industry. If an adversary lands a knockout blow, they fear, it could black out vast areas of the continent for weeks; interrupt supplies of water, gasoline, diesel fuel and fresh food; shut down communications; and create disruptions of a scale that was only hinted at by Hurricane Sandy and the attacks of Sept. 11. This is why thousands of utility workers, business executives, National Guard officers, F.B.I. antiterrorism experts and officials from government agencies in the United States, Canada and Mexico are preparing for an emergency drill in November that will simulate physical attacks and cyberattacks that could take down large sections of the power grid. They will practice for a crisis unlike anything the real grid has ever seen, and more than 150 companies and organizations have signed up to participate. “This is different from a hurricane that hits X, Y and Z counties in the Southeast and they have a loss of power for three or four days,” said the official in charge of the drill, Brian M. Harrell of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, known as NERC. “We really want to go beyond that.” One goal of the drill, called GridEx II, is to explore how governments would react as the loss of the grid crippled the supply chain for everyday necessities. “If we fail at electricity, we’re going to fail miserably,”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: grid
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Read the rest at the link.


1 posted on 09/03/2013 7:55:07 PM PDT by Travis McGee
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To: Eaker; Absolutely Nobama; afnamvet; Ancesthntr; An Old Man; APatientMan; ApesForEvolution; ...

The feds are practicing for a grid collapse.


2 posted on 09/03/2013 7:56:08 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Joe Brower; CodeToad; Lazamataz; Myrddin

That expertise involves running 5,800 major power plants and 450,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, monitored and controlled by a staggering mix of devices installed over decades. Some utilities use their own antique computer protocols and are probably safe from hacking — what the industry calls “security through obscurity.”

But others rely on Windows-based control systems that are common to many industries. Some of them run on in-house networks, but computer security experts say they are not confident that all the connections to the public Internet have been discovered and secured. Many may be vulnerable to software — known as malware — that can disable the systems or destroy their ability to communicate, leaving their human operators blind about the positions of switches, the flows of current and other critical parameters. Experts say a sophisticated hacker could also damage hard-to-replace equipment.


3 posted on 09/03/2013 7:57:49 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee
yup, they may even make it happen...
4 posted on 09/03/2013 7:58:45 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -vvv- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: Travis McGee

“Another problem is that the electric system is so tightly integrated that a collapse in one spot, whether by error or intent, can set off a cascade, as happened in August 2003, when a power failure took a few moments to spread from Detroit to New York.”


5 posted on 09/03/2013 7:59:20 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

Obama will likely count this ‘drill’ in his statistics for how much he has opened up land for ‘drilling’.


6 posted on 09/03/2013 7:59:38 PM PDT by Viennacon
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To: Travis McGee

The feds are practicing for a grid collapse.


They can practice the mechanics of it until the cows come home and still not have a clue.

They do not know us - the people. They can’t factor it in because they don’t know who we are, only who they think we are. The way the people cope, react, respond is something they will never understand.

As that’s a good thing.


7 posted on 09/03/2013 8:03:13 PM PDT by KittenClaws ( You may have to fight a battle more than once in order to win it." - Margaret Thatcher)
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To: Travis McGee

The un-reliability of Wind and Solar is what will be crashing the grid


8 posted on 09/03/2013 8:04:35 PM PDT by digger48
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To: KittenClaws

bookmark


9 posted on 09/03/2013 8:05:35 PM PDT by southland ( I have faith in the creator)
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To: Travis McGee
Another problem is that the electric system is so tightly integrated

Texas is stand-alone on the electric grid. We're not tightly integrated with the rest of the USofA.

/johnny

10 posted on 09/03/2013 8:06:45 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: JRandomFreeper

Keep it that way, and make it even more robust.


11 posted on 09/03/2013 8:07:22 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee
We're working on it.

/johnny

12 posted on 09/03/2013 8:08:06 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: KittenClaws
Frankly, I think our cities will explode in under 3 days, and will be burning in a week. After that, getting the grid back up won't solve the problems, not after all of the stores have been looted, and anything that looks like a supply truck is attacked or hijacked.

Alas, Brave New Babylon

(link to the Free Republic thread)


13 posted on 09/03/2013 8:09:11 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

OK, so 1.7 billion rounds bought, 3,000 MRAPS all over the country, and now this “innocent exercise” cover-story.

Nice.

Hey, I’m SURE we can trust the Fast & Furious Prez with this set-up, right?

Oh, sure. All this for PRUDENCE.

Uh-huh.


14 posted on 09/03/2013 8:09:34 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: Travis McGee

A cold November without power would kill a lot of people in America’s northern latitudes.

Very few people heat with wood or coal anymore, or could do it even if they were forced to try.


15 posted on 09/03/2013 8:11:43 PM PDT by Jack Hammer (American)
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To: gaijin

I’m so glad they are looking out for us.

I wonder how they will simulate massive food riots, looting, and widespread arson, plus shooting at police and fire fighters?

Because that’s what the fedgov will be facing, not just an electrical problem.


16 posted on 09/03/2013 8:11:54 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Jack Hammer

They will start to burn furniture in makeshift fireplaces, and entire blocks of apartments will burn to the ground.


17 posted on 09/03/2013 8:12:34 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Travis McGee

Wouldn’t surprise me a bit.


18 posted on 09/03/2013 8:14:59 PM PDT by Jack Hammer (American)
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To: Travis McGee
I agree Travis.

But I think that they think the majority will go running to the government like babies to the tit. That they will then gain complete power.

But, that is not how it will play out.

These exercises of theirs are meant to instill fear. And I'm sure it will work on a few, the same few will be the first to perish if a grid down becomes reality.

19 posted on 09/03/2013 8:15:39 PM PDT by KittenClaws ( You may have to fight a battle more than once in order to win it." - Margaret Thatcher)
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To: Travis McGee

Not to mention the deaths by carbon monoxide...


20 posted on 09/03/2013 8:16:48 PM PDT by Joe 6-pack (Qui me amat, amat et canem meum.)
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