Cyber attack Warning

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is following up previous warnings of cyberattacks that could cripple the country.  It seems as if he is the only person in America that is concerned. 


We have written about the possibility of an electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) attack against the US and how it would devastate our way of life and these cyberattacks are on the same level. We have become so dependent on computers that a strike at any one major sector of the economy could have major impacts on our lives as the effects would cascade through the country.  For example, an attack on the electric grid could cause outages that would make the 2004 one day outage (most of the eastern part of the country was knocked out by a mechanical failure), look like a blip on the screen. We could be shut down for weeks.


The danger we see with either of an EMP or a cyberattack is that we are not prepared for either. We have no backup plans. Within days, people would run out of fuel, water and food which would cause major panics throughout the country. If it went on for an extended period, say a month, there could be thousands, if not millions dying of starvation. It would be even worse if the event occurred in the winter when being able to heat homes would become even more imperative.


Yet our government has no plans and most people who have established some sort of "emergency stockpile" might not be able to protect it and themselves from those who would do anything to get a meal or fuel their car or heat their home. Isn't it the job of government to protect its people from "enemies foreign and domestic?"  If so, they fail again.


This is not an issue that will go away with the election of a new President and Congress, it  is going to be a permanent threat for the foreseeable future. Our leaders must understand the concerns that Secretary Panetta expresses and then take steps to institute plans to protect us. Otherwise, we only invite some rogue country or despot to take us down without firing a shot!


Conservative Tom

DEFENSE SECRETARY: CYBERATTACKS HAVE ‘THE POTENTIAL FOR ANOTHER PEARL HARBOR’

• Posted on June 14, 2012 at 10:40am by  Liz Klimas
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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks with a congressional subcommittee on budget cuts Wednesday. (Photo: DOD/Glenn Fawcett)

In pleading with Congress Wednesday against automatic defense budget cuts, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta also warned of another crippling situation like Pearl Harbor. It won’t come in the form of bombers and torpedo planes though but as hackers and worms of the cyber variety with the ability to cripple U.S. infrastructure.

CNS News reports Panetta saying that those with the capability to launch a cyberattack would be able to “paralyze” the United States. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asked Panetta to clarify:

“You said something that just kind of went over everybody’s head, I think, that there’s a Pearl Harbor in the making here. You’re talking about shutting down financial systems, releasing chemicals from chemical plants, releasing water from dams, shutting down power systems that can affect the very survival of the nation. What’s the likelihood in the next five years that one of these major events will occur?”

To this Panetta responded simply by saying that the “technological capability” to send our country into a mode like that of Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack is already available now. Panetta’s references to “the next Pearl Harbor” echo sentiments he shared last year with regard to cyberattacks, according to CNS news.

In June 2011, while being confirmed as Defense Secretary, Panetta said to the panel, “The next Pearl Harbor we confront could very well be a cyber attack that cripples our power systems, our grid, our security systems, our financial systems, our governmental systems.”

Continuing to probe on Wednesday, Graham asked about the risk level, which Panetta said was high, especially as the technology develops and the “will” to use it becomes more apparent.

“I’m very concerned that the potential in cyber to be able to cripple our power grid, to be able to cripple our government systems, to be able to cripple our financial system would virtually paralyze this country,” Panetta said. “And, as far as I’m concerned, that represents the potential for another Pearl Harbor as far as the kind of attack that we could be the target of using cyber.”

Those in the United States — both the government and private industry — are already the targets of thousands of attacks per day, according to Panetta. With that, he notes the importance of improving safety of systems in not only the defense sector but the private sector as well.

(Related: ‘Counterterrorism czar’ says every U.S. company has been infiltrated by China)

Earlier this year, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing Protection Act (CISPA) was introduced as proposed legislation that would put in place the infrastructure for private companies to share information with the federal government on the Internet to help prevent electronic attacks from cybercriminals, foreign governments and terrorists. The Cybersecurity Act of 2012, sponsored by Sens. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) was mentioned as well. At this point, CISPA has been passed with bipartisan support in the House and still awaits a Senate vote. The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 has not yet been voted upon.

CISPA has been met with some backlash with those against the proposed legislation saying the language is overly broad and they fear violations of the anti-trust law by the government.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey weighed in his support of CISPA during Wednesday’s hearing but also said the military is looking to develop “rules of engagement” to respond to cyberattacks and threats, according to CNS News.

Watch CNS’ footage of the dialogue here:

The Pentagon faces cuts of about $500 billion in projected spending over 10 years on top of the $492 billion that President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans already agreed to in last summer’s deficit-cutting budget.

Dempsey said the cuts would mean fewer troops, the possible cancellation of major weapons and the disruption of operations around the world.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More On EMP

American Thinker has a great article on EMP with many quotes from experts in the field.  We think that it is well worth reading. The link is below:


http://www.americbbanthinker.com/2011/09/emp_the_greatest_threat_to_america_and_what
_we_can_do_about_it.htmlb

This is a big issue yet  not as expensive as one would assume. Assuming the numbers quoted in the article are accuate, a majority of large transformers could be made safe from an EMP attack  for less money than was lost on Solyndra!  It is time we wake our legislators to the fact that we support protecting our electrical infrastructure.

Conservative Tom

EMP Attack On America

In October 2011, Front Page Magazine posted a great article on EMP in which it is pointed out that North Korea and Iran have been cooperating on a number of things, to which they believe EMP is one.  We might be closer to the real possibility of an attack than had been originally thought.

Last week, Iran fired a surface to surface missile, successfully they say. What other missiles do they have? Could they fire one from a freighter located in the Great Lakes, the Gulf, the Atlantic or Pacific and cause massive outages in the US? If done correctly one missile could take out our entire grid!

Read the article and let us know what you think.  It scares me!  Here is the post:

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/10/04/an-emp-attack-on-america/

Conservative Tom

EMP--A Very Dangerous Weapon

We have been concerned with the danger of electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) for many years. The damage it could do to our economy is much worse than any other weapon.  To ignore the possibilities is foolhardy.  We need to have contingency plans in the event that some nation deploys this weapon against us.

It would not take a lot of weapons to really hurt us badly. Tactically placed bombs could leave us in a position from which we could not respond and would make our lives a real living Hell.

It is hard to conceive the crisis that would be created by an EMP attack. All electric circuits would burn out. Not only would computers not work but the very infrastructure of the grid would end. No late model cars or trucks would work as their circuits would be fried. Refrigeration at stores would no longer work, leaving us without food. Gas station pumps would not operate, leaving us without fuel.  No security systems would work leaving stores, homes, offices and warehouses open to be cleaned out by roving mobs. Banks would be closed as their computers would no longer work (and there would be no electricity), so there would be no money available.

The only food to eat would be that which did not require refrigeration.  Heating homes could only be accomplished by fireplaces.  Transportation would be by animal, on foot, or some older motorized vehicle for which the owner had fuel. The only money would be what you had on hand otherwise, it would be a barter society.

In other words, the modern economy would vanish in a second.  We would be back 100 years in a flash. Could we, modern Americans, survive or would we tear each other apart in an effort, to get our share?  What would we do if we had no food, no water, no transportation, no heat and no money?  I do not think it would be pretty.

Some will say that their bank or company has back up, hardened locations which could survive an attack.  Good for them, however, if does not solve the basic needs questions. If the entire electrical infrastructure is no longer working, if your bank has records, what good does it do you if the banks are closed due to no electricity? How long would it take to  completely re-electrify the country? My guess would be years at best.

The only survival plan for this potential issue is to have food and water supplies as well as stored fuel.  This, however, brings another issue to the fore.  What happens when everyone is hungry and your supplies are attacked by the mobs when they learn that you had them?

These are not great thoughts, however, with the potential of Iran having an EMP weapon, we need to take actions that will insure they do not have the delivery system. If we can prevent the weapon being delivered, we can prevent the disaster. Other than pre-storing food and water supplies as we did in the 60's in response to the Soviet nuclear threat, preventing the deployment of this weapons is our only defense.  Would our current President or any President take the necessary actions?

The following article does a great job of looking at EMP in the hands of the Iranians. Let us know your comments.

Conservative Tom

The EMP Death Ray

David Solway - FrontPage Magazine,  January 3rd, 2012

The popular trope of an evil genius who has mastered the technology of ultimate destruction and wields a death ray he is preparing to unleash from space has long entertained us. We don’t take it seriously, of course, and relegate it to the realm of a diverting fiction. But what happens when such comic book-and-James Bond-type scenarios leak into the real world? Unfortunately, we tend to make what philosopher Gilbert Ryle, in The Concept of Mind, calls a “category mistake,” which he defines as the tendency to represent certain facts “as if they belonged to one logical type or category…when they actually belong to another.” For the death ray is real; it exists in the empirical world. To assume that it is merely a feature of an imaginary realm that has no purchase on concrete, everyday life is, to quote Ryle, “one big mistake and a mistake of a special kind.” In the case we are considering here, it is a mixing of categories which issues in the kind of misunderstanding that can be fatal.

For the facts are these:

The “evil genius” is an Iranian ayatollah, who may go by many names. He is the de facto political leader of the Shi’a branch of Islam. His intention to destroy the United States of America and obliterate Western civilization is on record. Indeed, as historian Emmanuel Sivan has warned in Radical Islam: Medieval Theology and Modern Politics, the igniting of a planetary conflagration is an integral part of Shi’a Islam’s belief and thought. Known as Shi’ite Twelver theology, it posits that Allah’s kingdom will be established on earth by the Twelfth or Hidden Imam, whose advent can be hastened by kindling an act of apocalyptic violence. This is why the concept of M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction) is idle when applied to Iran; as the astute Canadian blogger Bill Narvey points out, Iran’s leaders believe that their “religious prophecies [for] world supremacy can only be realized by…a deadly apocalyptic showdown with the non-Muslim world.” The Muslim death count is immaterial since all good Muslims are assured of eternal life in Jannah, the Islamic paradise or heavenly garden. As for the death ray, it is no fantasy; it is an electromagnetic pulse, or EMPEMP attack over American territory, “There is a sword of Damocles over our heads. It is a threat that is real but has been all but ignored.”

William R. Graham, chairman of the Congressional Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack, testified that Iran has already conducted EMP missile tests from frigates in the Caspian Sea​. Additionally, Graham draws attention to Iranian military writings that “explicitly discuss a nuclear EMP attack that would gravely harm the United States.” And Iran could get away with it since it is almost impossible to identify the origin of what—especially if it is carried out by sea—would be essentially an anonymous attack. As Bob Owens indicates in a recent PJM article, “the most likely avenues of attacks are locally launched missiles from submarines or freighters in the Gulf of Mexico or off either coast, where distance to detonation from launch is measured in seconds, and which are not the focus of our outward-facing early warning and detection systems. Such vessels could be easily scuttled after launch, and the rogue agent responsible for the attack may not be found until well after the attack is over, rendering our nuclear counterstrike abilities utterly moot.”

As mentioned above, the damage to the nation’s electrical grid following an EMP assault would be catastrophic. The cascading effect on major infrastructures would result in the destruction or critical impairment of the financial system, the communications network and cybernetic functioning, farming, distribution of food and water, fuel production and delivery, all forms of transportation, law enforcement, medical care, trade and industry and, of course, military defense. The state of civilization in America would be peeled back by hundreds of years and a state of nature in all its raw ferocity would supplant it.

This is no mere pipe dream. It is what the ayatollahs appear to be planning.  Iran has already put a satellite into orbit, demonstrating that it has the means and the technical know-how to launch a nuclear or EMP payload. The accumulating death toll would be astronomical. Gingrich and Forstchen direct us to studies which “estimate that 90% of all Americans might very well die in the year after such an attack.” German director Wim Wenders’ film Until the End of the World​, as well as William Forstchen​’s recent novel, One Second After, depict in their different ways what such an event would entail. It is hard to assimilate so unthinkable a prospect, and inertia or dismissal is a natural response to the probability of cataclysms. Nevertheless, in today’s explosive world, and in the light of the developments I have outlined, it is a realistic picture. We would be foolhardy to ignore it.

There is no question that the electrical network that powers the nation must be hardened and rendered resistant before it is too late. This is precisely Graham’s argument. Alternatively, one way to neutralize the threat would be to initiate an EMP strike over Iran from the Persian Gulf, turning the tables on an enemy state that presents an imminent danger to the U.S. Properly conducted, the source of the attack could not be identified and the gander will have trumped the goose. The fact that oil prices would spike temporarily is something that would happen anyway when war breaks out in the Middle East, an event that is clearly inevitable. Better sooner while we still have the upper hand than later when the ayatollahs will have cut off our hands entirely. Those who minimize the likelihood of such a catastrophe, like The New York Times William Broad, are living in the cloud-cuckoo land of leftwing political complacency. An upholstered reverie is no consolation when the lights go out.

An EMP attack is distinctly possible, perhaps even probable. To regard such an irruption as merely fictitious, as nothing but a celluloid fable or the wild imaginings of sci-fi enthusiasts rather than an appalling aspect of enemy calculation, is to make a category mistake whose consequences we might not live to deplore.