What Went Wrong (Blackout. CIA considered terrorism as possible cause)

MSNBC ^ | Aug. 25, 2003 issue | Michael Hirsh and Daniel Klaidman

[FairOpinion]

It was a blip on the screen that turned into a monster, leaving 50 million Americans powerless. The inside story of a sleepless night.

In fact, federal investigators ruled terrorism out within the first 45 minutes—perhaps prematurely. True, there was no detectable physical intrusion; nor had terrorist hackers left the usual cyber footprints. But despite the initial reassuring signals to the public, during an emergency conference call with senior officials at 5:30 p.m., the CIA “put on the radar” the possibility that there might have been some terrorist tampering.

Informants and interrogations of terror suspects have led the CIA to believe that Al Qaeda is seeking to target power grids to produce just the widespread chaos witnessed Thursday afternoon, a senior administration official told NEWSWEEK.

Last year the FBI concluded that terrorists are eagerly surveying weaknesses in power grids through Internet connections in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Pakistan. Even if they had no role in this episode, many worry that the Blackout of 2003 provided them with a perfect case study.

[FairOpinion]

It's a long article and has some interesting information. While now it does look like it really wasn't terrorism, thank God, but considering terrorism as one possibility was not being paranoid, but realistic.

[Atchafalaya]

Always start worst case and move upwards from there.

[eastforker]

Even if it was a terrorist attack there is no doubt in my mind that it would be covered up.If only one plane had crashed into the WTC and no others had been hikacked I doubt that terrorism would have been reported as a cause.

[AntiGuv]

Well, it's worth noting that First Energy insists the blackout was not their fault because they claim the "unusual power swings" began hours beforehand - as early as noon..

[FairOpinion]

ping

[thegreatbeast]

As I'm reading this I'm also listening to Steve Malzberg do his overnight show on WABC radio. Steve does a tremendous "Sunday Spin" show where he plumbs the talking heads shows for anything that might be interesting. And he's got the present Energy Secretary being pressed (Huzzahs for Brit Hume & Tony Snow of Fox for the heavy lifting!) to admit that they DON"T KNOW what caused the blackout. But that won't stop them from making recommendations.
Stuff like this is bush league (pun intended). When the answer is "I don't know" anything else is an insult to whoever you are talking to. Be forthright!

[eastforker]

Thats a good question.Faulty transponders maybe,I am sure something would have been fabricated.I just wished our government wasn't so hell bent on protecting us from the truth when things like this happen.

[Jeff Chandler]

>>If only one plane had crashed into the WTC and no others had been hikacked I doubt that terrorism would have been reported as a cause.<<

TWA Flight 800, anyone?!

[observer5]

Guess how many "muslims" are working in the US energy system...

[Dirk McQuickly]

The rules are simple:

1) If it looks and smells like terrorism, it probably is.
2) If it takes the FBI half an hour to conclude, "this is not terrorist-related", it probably is.
3) If Prime Minister Chretien gets trotted out to make a senile remark about lightning on a clear day, it's almost definitely terrorism.
4) If the energy dept. doesn't know why it happened...
5) If an obscure power station in Ohio has to take the blame...

There is a theory that simple, instinctive reasoning is correct in a vast majority of instances. I think it applies here. You don't have to be some tinfoil poster child to figure this one out.

[jacquej]

For WIW, I remain unconvinced. I think terrorism is a distinct possibility. I also doubt that it would be admitted for to do so would start serious panic.

I also tend to believe that Flight 800 was taken down by terrorism. It doesn't take a "Coast to Coast" mentality to reach this opinion. Just years of experience in watching how government puts out "comforting" info to prevent not only panic among the populace, but market melt-downs, etc...

There is a lot at stake here, and the government has to put forth an explanation that makes this power failure a "freak" event, not likely to be repeated, even though they are frantic behind the scenes.

So, those of us who are "wise", just accept the nature of things, and go about our lives, preparing for such emergencies, and we don't expect our government to be "honest" with us about the nature of such events.

How could they be?

[rageaholic]

Yeah but since when are terrorists into "inconvenience" ?

[Anticommie]

Guess how many "muslims" are working in the US energy system...

All it takes is one "devoted muslim" working in the control room "accidentally" flip a switch, the rest is a chain reaction.
This whole think is pathetic, they (governement) still "don't know" what happened, yea right, bet ya they will never know, or will come up with some bogus cause, just like their explanation of TWA downing.

[flamefront]

FWIW for those who care there are a few additional facts and observations on a earlier thread where terrorism possibilities and contributing causes were dared to be discussed.

[flamefront]

Key paragraphs from the article now being highlighted by Drudge:

The traveling White House learned —about the blackout “simultaneously” as the news was breaking on TV because their cell phones began ringing incessantly. Hagin checked in with the White House Situation Room and the Homeland Security operations center, asking if the blackout was the result of terrorism. “I think everyone’s first conclusion was this was terrorism,” said Homeland Security spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

In fact, federal investigators ruled terrorism out within the first 45 minutes—perhaps prematurely. True, there was no detectable physical intrusion; nor had terrorist hackers left the usual cyber footprints. But despite the initial reassuring signals to the public, during an emergency conference call with senior officials at 5:30 p.m., the CIA “put on the radar” the possibility that there might have been some terrorist tampering. Informants and interrogations of terror suspects have led the CIA to believe that Al Qaeda is seeking to target power grids to produce just the widespread chaos witnessed Thursday afternoon, a senior administration official told NEWSWEEK. Last year the FBI concluded that terrorists are eagerly surveying weaknesses in power grids through Internet connections in Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Pakistan. Even if they had no role in this episode, many worry that the Blackout of 2003 provided them with a perfect case study.

After and hour and a half of the blackout the CIA put terrorism on the radar, but after only 45 minutes the public was reassured that there was no terrorism.

[StriperSniper]

admit that they DON"T KNOW what caused the blackout. But that won't stop them from making recommendations.

I think your being a little hard on Abraham, since many of those recommendation were being made two years ago to avoid a situation like Thursday. I think all sides did a great job on the show, the Fox guys pressed as hard as they could, and Spence didn't say anything stupid that he would have to retract. He didn't have any answers to the immediate cause, but in a general way, said what should be done, which would have been the same even if there wasn't a blackout.

[StriperSniper]

P.S. - Thanks for the heads up on Steve's Sunday show, I'll have to check it out if I can stay up one week.

[thegreatbeast]

You wrote, "I think your being a little hard on Abraham, since many of those recommendation were being made two years ago to avoid a situation like Thursday."
The same recommendations were made by Richardson x number of years ago. That's one of the points: this is just mouth music. Talk, talk, talk. But why try to dissemble about what you know?