New, Little-Seen Report Warns the Nation’s Power Infrastructure Is Increasingly Vulnerable to Physical Attacks

This report was originally published by JD Heyes at Natural News

It’s looking more and more like it will take a major attack against the U.S. power grid before the government and electric industry come together and get serious about protecting it.

According to a new investigative report that likely won’t get much attention outside of certain circles, the U.S. electric grid is increasingly vulnerable as power companies lag behind in adopting better security measures.

And the result, someday soon, could be catastrophic — as in near-complete societal breakdown.

As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, the report from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, says that the grid’s vulnerability is heightened by an unprecedented wave of attacks that threaten to cripple the entire country.

NERC notes further that amid a wave of stepped-up attacks against key power stations, the organization has had difficulty convincing power companies to step up their protective measures meant to thwart would-be attackers and terrorists.

Since 2014, according to the Congressional Research Service, which cited from the NERC report, “security risks to the power grid have become an even greater concern in the electric utility industry,” though the power sector “has not necessarily reached the level of physical security needed based on the sector’s own assessments of risk.”

The Free Beacon noted further:

In the three years since federal overseers implicated a series of new standards for physical security of grid locations, the industry has worked to improve its defenses but has struggled to implement all of the government’s recommendations, according to the report.

The slow moving pace of reforms, combined with an increased threat level and inability of the federal government to warn of upcoming attacks, has fueled concerns that the U.S. electric grid could be easily taken down by a rogue actor.

“There is widespread belief that bulk power critical assets are vulnerable to physical attack, that such an attack potentially could have catastrophic consequences, and that the risks of such attacks are growing,” the report says. “But the exact nature of such potential attacks and the capability of perpetrators to successfully execute them are uncertain.”

The report has resonated among members of Congress, especially in lieu of a rifle attack in September 2016 against a transformer substation in Utah — the latest in a string of similar attacks dating back to at least April 2013, when attackers targeted an electric power station near San Jose, Calif., which took 27 days to repair. (Related: MIT researchers create device they claim can “generate electricity from air.”)

Then as now, lawmakers and federal officials aren’t sure if the attacks are local acts of vandalism or part of a larger domestic terrorism movement.

“Although the electric power sector seems to be moving in the overall direction of greater physical security for critical assets, many measures have yet to be implemented and the process of corporate realignment around physical security is still underway,” the NERC report noted, leaving out a comprehensive review of all pressing national security threats.

“The September 2016 rifle attack on a 69 kV transformer substation in Utah—which reportedly left 13,000 rural customers without power for up to eight hours—showed that similar incidents could occur almost anywhere on the grid,” warned the report.

Should rogue actors — terrorists — take down a large portion of the grid, nearly all experts agree that societal chaos would result almost immediately.

“While to date there have been only minor attacks on the power system in the United States, large-scale physical destruction of key parts of the power system by terrorists is a real danger,” the National Academy of Sciences warned in a recent report. “Some physical attacks could cause disruption in system operations that last for weeks or months.”

Stay up-to-date on this story and others like it at Terrorism.news.

J.D. Heyes is also editor-in-chief of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

FreeBeacon.com

EMP.news

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DoD Plans Solar-Storm-Based National Blackout Drill During Antifa Protests In November

This report was originally published by Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge

According to The National Association for Amateur Radio (ARRL), elements of the US Department of Defense (DOD) will simulate a “communications interoperability” training exercise across the United States on November 04-06. The announcement released on October 24 has not been widely distributed to the media, because the drill is simulating a total grid collapse and could spark public fear.

Explained by Army MARS Program Manager Paul English,

“This exercise will begin with a national massive coronal mass ejection event which will impact the national power grid as well as all forms of traditional communication, including landline telephone, cellphone, satellite, and Internet connectivity,”

In July, we warned about the US government quietly preparing for a massive coronal mass ejection with the passage of an Executive Order – “Coordinating Efforts to Prepare the Nation for Space Weather Events”.

Here is snippet of section 1 of the executive order:

Space weather events, in the form of solar flares, solar energetic particles, and geomagnetic disturbances, occur regularly, some with measurable effects on critical infrastructure systems and technologies, such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), satellite operations and communication, aviation, and the electrical power grid. Extreme space weather events — those that could significantly degrade critical infrastructure — could disable large portions of the electrical power grid, resulting in cascading failures that would affect key services such as water supply, healthcare, and transportation. Space weather has the potential to simultaneously affect and disrupt health and safety across entire continents. Successfully preparing for space weather events is an all-of-nation endeavor that requires partnerships across governments, emergency managers, academia, the media, the insurance industry, non-profits, and the private sector.

Back in April 2017, we wrote an article titled ‘Yesterday’s Broad Power Outage Likely Caused By Geomagnetic Storm‘. While everyone thought terrorism was to blame, we correctly pointed out that large power failures in major US cities was due to an intense geomagnetic storm registering 8-10 on K-Planetary Index.

Earthsky.org provides an easy understanding of what is a coronal mass ejection…

A CME can launch a billion tons of plasma from the sun’s surface into space, at speeds of over a million miles per hour. Every so often, the sun burps.  But, unlike myself, when the sun burps, it does so with the power of 20 million nuclear bombs.  These hiccups are known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs)—powerful eruptions near the surface of the sun driven by kinks in the solar magnetic field.  The resulting shocks ripple through the solar system and can interrupt satellites and power grids on Earth.

Back to the exercise on November 04-06,  the US Department of Defense headquarters entity will work with the US Army and US Air-Force MARS organizations and the Amateur Radio community to request status reports for 3,143 US counties. During the exercise, communication frequencies will use HF NVIS, VHF, UHF, and non-internet linked Amateur Radio repeaters.

In addition, Army MARS Program Manager Paul English said,

We want to continue building on the outstanding cooperative working relationship with the ARRL and the Amateur Radio community,” English said. “We want to expand the use of the 60-meter interop channels between the military and amateur community for emergency communications, and we hope the Amateur Radio community will give us some good feedback on the use of both the 5-MHz interop and the new 13-MHz broadcast channels as a means of information dissemination during a very bad day scenario.

Full Report from The National Association for Amateur Radio (ARRL):

Bizarrely enough, this was first reported by Rob Dew of InfoWars, the US Department of Defense (DOD) training exercise will occur on ANTIFA’s day of rage across the United States.

On refusefascism.org, a post titled: November 4 It Begins: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! has more than 33,000 shares on Facebook…. The post explains what the group’s intentions are during the day of rage.

The bottom line: The United States government is quietly preparing for a major space-weather event to paralyze communication systems and energy grids across the entire country. As a citizen, you’re not allowed to know this knowledge and frankly you will not be prepared—only the government will be. The writing is on the wall of what is coming through an executive order and DOD drills.

No wonder public trust with government is at historic lows, because you’re not allowed to know the truth.

Simultaneously, the wealthiest families who own mega corporations in the United States are plowing millions into their proxy armies called community organizing groups. Let’s just hope, a coronal mass ejection doesn’t occur when these severely misguided folks are protesting.

*  *  *

Here is the curve ball: Is the United States really preparing for a North Korean EMP attack?

Puerto Rico’s Power Grid Failure Is Causing A Public Health Crisis Of Epic Proportions

Dr. Trivino must use sunlight to examine x-rays since electricity is sporadic in Puerto Rico.

 

One month after the devastating Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc on the island of Puerto Rico, the territory is still facing a public health crisis.  And it’s a crisis of epic proportions.

On Friday, former Puerto Rican Governor Alejandro García Padilla tweeted a photo from inside a hospital, in which scrubbed-up doctors leaned over an operating table performing surgery lit only by a flashlight. According to Slate, the image quickly made the rounds on the internet; it currently has almost 9,000 retweets and many speculate that that’s probably because the blurry picture feels like it’s worth a good deal more than 1,000 words.  It illuminates just a small sliver of the public health crisis Puerto Rico is currently facing.

This is what POTUS calls a 10! Surgery performed with cellphones as flashlights in Puerto Rico today. pic.twitter.com/5pnK5dkkE6

— Alejandro (@agarciapadilla) October 21, 2017

Millions of residents still don’t have access to electricity or proper health care, and bacteria in the water have exposed many people to disease. And calls for help have gone unanswered besides the few willing to travel to the devastated island privately. Senator  Martin Heinrich (D-NM) along with a handful of other lawmakers are calling on the federal government to continue to provide aid to the post-apocalyptic ravaged territory. 

“Even before Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the U.S. territories, the islands’ health care system was suffering from the ongoing economic crisis. The islands are grappling with physician shortages, Medicaid programs facing an impending funding cliff, and widespread disparities in Federal health programs—and that was before hurricane season,” the lawmakers stated in a letter. “We are grateful for the public health emergency declaration in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, but more can and should be done to help Americans impacted by these disasters.”

The senators stressed that much of the islands’ power and communication networks are out and, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), it will take months before power is fully restored. Hospitals have been forced to prioritize patients, ration services, and forgo elective surgeries.  The power grid’s failure has caused more problems than many anticipated, like the stall of relief efforts.  Without electricity, communications are non-existent too.

Some 33 days after Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico, only 23 percent of residents have electricity, according to Status.pr, which provides daily updates on basic services on the island. While there are still other problems as well, such as gas stations being slow to reopen, and roads getting badly damaged, the power grid’s utter annihilation in the category 4 winds is not just a temporary inconvenience. The different ways that the lack of electricity can set off a cascade of other crises is becoming increasingly clear.

A giant government-owned hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, arrived in Puerto Rico weeks ago to help out, but many people don’t know about the ship. Without electricity, most cell phone towers are down.  But even if communications were working, residents can’t get to the port, as many of the island’s roads are impassable and most are without gasoline to power a car. The ship has extensive space and equipment for trauma care and a large staff, but CNN reported that as of last Tuesday, only 33 of 250 beds were full.

The looming crisis seems to be getting worse, not better, and Puerto Rico is experiencing a medical crisis of epic proportions.

Airport Systems Crashed Worldwide, Could A Power Grid Failure Be Next?

Airport computer systems crashed around the globe today. The crash caused passenger delays, angst, and fright among travelers, but a more ominous question has arisen in light of this glitch. Could the next failure be a worldwide power grid outage?

Thousands of travelers were grounded today when a computer glitch took down check-in systems at more than 100 airports worldwide. The crash left passengers waiting in long lines at counters while trying to check-in for their flights. T Amadeus Alta, the company that provides the software, confirmed it is experiencing a “network issue that is causing disruption,” The Telegraph reported.

The glitch affected even massive airports,  such London’s Heathrow International Airport, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, and Ronald Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C. “Technical teams are working on the problem, services are gradually being restored,” the software company said. After a few hours, officials at Gatwick and Heathrow airports said their systems were “back up and running” after the “momentary IT glitch,” adding there may be a delay due to the outage.

A statement on the glitch read, “A small number of airlines are currently experiencing intermittent issues with their check-in systems at airports around the world — including at Heathrow.” It continued, “Passengers will still be able to check-in for their flight, although the process may take slightly longer than usual.”

Passengers took to social media to complain about the crash.

The @Qantas check in system down. Massive queues in Hong Kong. Not sure why they can"t get this right pic.twitter.com/lrL5jUzVEN

— Paul Harapin (@paulharapin) September 28, 2017

What is going on @HeathrowAirport with @ThaiAirways checkin, this is quickly becoming a joke!

— Peter White (@peterwhite1997) September 28, 2017

According to Fox News, it is still unclear when all the systems will be back up and running, but it begs the question: what if a power grid failure is next?

It isn’t like it’s never happened, but it may only be a matter of time before it occurs on a massive scale.

In December of 2015, 230,000 people in Western Ukraine lost power after 30 substations were mysteriously shut off. Contrary to what most people assumed at the time, this wasn’t an innocuous power outage. The authorities would later admit that the loss of power was caused by a cyber attack, which marked the first time that malware was successfully used to attack a power grid. A similar, albeit more sophisticated cyber attack, occurred one year later just outside of Kiev. Given the current tensions between Russia and Ukraine, it’s widely believed that the Russian government was responsible for these incidents.

However, there’s more to this story than meets the eye. A computer security company has been investigating these attacks, and has discovered the malware that was used to take down the grid. They’ve found that it’s far more dangerous and easier to use than anyone realized before. –Ready Nutrition

It may not necessarily be malicious malware that takes down the grid either.  Even solar flares can cause some incredibly intense issues.

Most policy makers have not taken the threat of an earth-directed solar flare seriously, even though a senior member of the Congressional Homeland Security Committee recently warned that there is a 100% Chance of a Severe Geo-Magnetic Event Capable of Crippling Our Electric Grid.

If such an event were to happen Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, who has advised people to develop individual preparedness plans based on the threat of massive solar flares or electro-magnetic pulse detonations, says that it would take upwards of 18 months to bring the grid back online because of a decaying national infrastructure. –SHTFPlan

With the crash of the airport system affecting people worldwide, imagine how much chaos would ensue should the power grid go down over most of earth. Preparing for the worst case power grid failure may give you that small chance you need to make it through.