The Underlying National Security Threat To Electrifying Everything

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Original Article:

The push to electrify everything in our lives in the name of lower emissions has always seemed a bit optimistic, given the nation’s rickety and increasingly dodgy electric grid. 

But there’s another, more troubling, menace to the grid that exceeds its mechanical shortcomings. According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, vandalism aimed at transformers, substations and power lines is on the rise across the country.

And these aren’t your garden variety vandals out to make a mess. There seems to be an intention to destroy infrastructure behind a growing number of these attacks:

Brian Harrell, former assistant secretary for infrastructure protection at the Department of Homeland Security, said there has lately been a notable increase in conversations among extremists about targeting critical infrastructure.

“These groups are talking to each other, and they’re learning from each other,” he said. “It gets a lot of people’s attention when you start turning off the lights, and I think that’s what they’re craving.”

Kooks, cranks, would-be terrorists…they really don’t care about electric vehicles or appliances. They are interested in causing maximum disruption and harm.

The electric grid just happens to be one way for them to do it. A Brookings Institution report on domestic terrorism notes that a North Carolina incident in which two transformers were attacked and power was disrupted for more than 40,000 people gave:

…important lessons about the persistence of domestic terrorism, the vulnerability of U.S. infrastructure to attacks, and the need for imaginative counterterror efforts against a diversifying threat that includes new perpetrators and targets.

The same report also notes that some groups intent on spreading harm have actively “encouraged attacks against the energy infrastructure sector as being ‘sitting ducks, worthy prey’ and ‘largely unprotected and often in remote locations.’”

Since 9/11, governments and law enforcement have understood that foreign terrorists were keen on inflicting damage on critical infrastructure – everything from refineries to dams to the electric grid. It very much looks like domestic terror groups are reading from the same script, using similar tactics.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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Norman Leahy

Norman Leahy has written about national and Virginia politics for more than 30 years with outlets ranging from The Washington Post to BearingDrift.com. A consulting writer, editor, recovering think tank executive and campaign operative, Norman lives in Virginia.

5 Comments
    Stephen Russell

    1 EMP Hit can kill the Grid in seconds
    All power fails
    Need energy storage & energy backup
    Update Grid

    John Wood

    The current Administration is too concerned about “proper pronouns” than it is in securing the power grid. We are currently being governed by fools and idiots.

    DennisBAnderson

    So Biden is shifting gears to oil driven cars once again? Did they find out the rest of Nicolai Teslas 1934 electric car. You don`t need lithium or computer chips. They have been buying up generators that will produce enough electricity to support the electric powered vehicles and jetliners. So much for plugging in at home or replacing a gas station for a electric station. You can go off grid with dc/ac conversion. They wont be able to charge you for the electricity like gasoline. There is no money in it. The only thing you will have to change out is the driver. The only thing our government should be in charge of is protecting our borders. What a mess they have made of this and remember. They work for us not the other way around. At age 13 I used a bicycle 12 volt generator and a toy plane prop. I attached it to the tv antenna on our roof. Strung the electrical lines to the basement. It fed into a 12 volt battery and a AM/FM car stereo. Another thing I did was to put in place an electric fuel pump on my 6 cyl chevrolet motor. It was in my boat with electrical wires and clips. Wire direct to the battery when needed and bypass gas lines to fuel pump on motor. This was for an emergency on the ocean if the pulsator diaphragm went out on the fuel pump. No more worrying about someone towing you in anymore.

    mach37

    Making every energy source illegal that isn’t electrically based is not the way to strengthen the electrical power base, especially not as long as electrical power generation depends heavily on those energy sources that are being outlawed.

    Jawad

    You better believe our frenemies and enemies are steering this mindless shift into ‘green’ power. Once the ‘green’ shift nears completion, all they have to do is to launch one EMP (electromagnetic pulse) in the atmosphere over our heartland and all our precious electronic support will be FRIED and up in smoke. And the US is catapulted back into the Dark Ages or the Stone Age.

Comments are closed.

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