“It’s not a question of if, it’s a question of when,” explains Ted Koppel when talking about terrorists going after the U.S. power grids. In his recently released book, “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath,” Koppel depicts a United States whose power grids have been hacked by cyber terrorists; leaving the entire nation in a blackout that lasts not days or weeks, but months. “There is no running water, no sewage, no refrigeration or light. Food and medical supplies are dwindling. Devices we rely on have gone dark. Banks no longer function, looting is widespread, and law and order are being tested as never before,” Koppel explains.
What could be the most frightening aspect of this blackout is, despite several warnings from President Obama in State of the Union Addresses, the government has done little to nothing to prepare for such an attack. There’s no plan. There are plans for hurricanes, snowstorms, and earthquakes, but there is no plan for a cyber attack that would be infinitely longer in duration and more widespread than any of those natural disasters.
When Koppel spoke to Secretary Johnson, the head of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), about what their plan is for such a disaster, Johnson pointed up at a set of white binders and said, “I’m sure there’s a plan somewhere in there.” Johnson went on to explain that all they would need would be a battery powered radio to communicate with the entire nation.
However, when the Department of Homeland Security was contacted by CBS, they presented a documented plan for use if such a disaster were to take place. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would implement the same process for all disasters including mass care, food and shelter. The DHS and energy sector would promote grid security while FEMA and the Department of Energy strategize on support and resources.
In a time where cyber attacks occur daily and this threat is not being a question of if but when, you would think the DHS would have a more in-depth plan in place. The state of New York has several million Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) in storage. However, Koppel explains that a city like Manhattan, with a population of about eight million people, would run out of food in a couple of days.
Why haven’t we prepared the people of the United States for such a disaster? One, our nation has a history of being reactive instead of preemptive. We seemingly always put ourselves in a situation where we have to react to an occurrence instead of taking the steps to prevent the occurrence from happening in the first place. Second, Koppel believes the government does not want to prepare the people for an event they aren’t one-hundred percent sure is going to happen. Koppel argues that after spending almost two years on the subject, the event is going to happen at some point, and we better start preparing.
