I don’t know where to start to explain my concerns on this issue. After 9/11, we talked about making our country less vulnerable to terrorist attack. I was involved in looking at various systems, determining what and how we should do to render ourselves more protected.
But, then I would take walks (or bike rides) with a friend. And, I would see water reservoirs with a five foot fence around them. Where I could lob a poison ball and pretty much knock off a whole city.
Or, I could approach the runway of a very busy airport and stand there for hours. If I had a weapon, I could pick my target and destroy an airline on takeoff. (Notice I did NOT name these locations- on purpose.)
But, now, I find that two of our Presidents, Bush and Obama, have thought it wise to attack Iran with a series of viri. Stuxnet, Flame, among others. Think about that- we are using cyberspace to attack others.
It sounds great, doesn’t it? No muss, no fuss, great results. Until you really think about it. How insecure our electric power grid is. How insecure our phone communication systems are. How insecure most of our chemical plants are. How insecure our transportation system is.
Just imagine what would happen – all across America- if someone were to unleash a virus to disrupt our sensitive power grid- which is barely able to control the blips and temporary power shortages that obtain. Resulting in devastation that would make the Great Blackout of 1965 (30 million people without power for 12 hours- no Wall Street, no banking, no communications) look like child’s play.
No, I am not saying that an offense against our enemies is not prudent. What I am saying is that this activity is akin to sending all one’s troops to a distant land in an attack, only to leave the entire homeland wide open for that nation to wreak havoc upon us. Regardless if our enemy is weaker than us- leaving oneself totally without defense is as foolhardy as running off to war without a plan.
The Stuxnet attack in Iran was to destroy its ability to produce nuclear weapons. By having the virus render their centrifuges incapable. This attack, such as it was, was not discerned as such. It was only detected as an attack because one Iranian scientist took his computer on a trip- where the virus was unleashed to infected other computers about the globe.
The Flame attack is/was more insidious. Here complete databases and volumes of information could be transferred to our shores for analysis, conversations could be monitored and recorded, eMail diverted. (Let us NOT forget that China has clearly employed at least some- if not all- of these attacks upon the US already.)
You see, cyber warfare is more akin to terrorist attacks and guerilla warfare. It is asymmetric- it is not important how all powerful the two protagonists really are. It is important how any vulnerability can be exploited.
Right now, we know that China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, India, Israel, and the US have at least nascent capabilities in this new war front. The first four on that list are not above including us in their list of targets; I am being generous by not including two more. And, like the nuclear arms race under which I grew up, the cyber arms race is well underway.
I am fearful that our government’s definition of defending the homeland will be as useful as the one employed when I was growing up. Having inane air raid drills where I was commanded (and refused) to huddle underneath my desk- like that would protect me when the missile hit.
It’s well past time to protect our infrastructure.
We live in a time when who has the biggest gun wins the war is over. I agree that the freedoms we allow our citizens might be our biggest weakness but I would rather have the freedom then live in a society where I could not think and act for myself. After all if its my time to go then nothing will keep me safe.
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Not sure if it’s the biggest guns. After all- who do you think won the war in VietNam? Who won the war in Egypt? (I don’t think anyone knows that one yet.) Morocco? Yemen?
Iran doesn’t have the biggest guns, but it’s holding its own- so far. Likewise, North Korea (since they don’t care about their citizens)…
This is some very sobering information, Roy. I wonder if the US can keep pace with the advances in technology that could do great damage to our infrastructure. Is it too late?
Janette Fuller recently posted..My Wild Hiking Journey
It’s not too late- but given the “activity levels” of our Congress, I fear it will be before we act.
It’s very scary to me, Janette!
Hi Roy
While I somewhat agree with what you are saying in that taking logical and sensible steps to protect infastructure makes sense I think it can also become a slippery slope too. Take a step back for a moment and consider what the point of terrorism is…to make us so afraid we disrupt our lifestyle to the point we are no longer living well and are always in fear. Where do we draw the line at sensible? While I would agree a five-foot fence isn’t much of a deterrent; would it really be so different to poison the water table from a well, or lake?
I do no pretend to know what the answer is but I don’t think higher fences, bigger locks and bigger guns are always going to be the answer.
You raise important questions here that certainly deserve a closer look and more debate.
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Actually, poisoning a well will not be a big problem- it is possible to harm a lake- but it would take a bit much more than most would have- and we generally don’t draw our drinking water from a lake.
As to your literal statement in the second paragraph, Bonnie- I agree with you. But, putting controls on our infrastructure systems- electric grids, water reservoirs, etc- they will go a long way to protecting our peoples and are AN answer, but not THE answer.
Roy
I suppose you could debate the idea of what consitutes a ‘big problem’ for the well (interconnectedness of a the water tables and all that) or who gets water from lake, but I get that this isn’t your point. Shoot simply introducing a foriegn predetor can collapse an ecosystem and destroy vast livable areas.
However, your point about the controls. I have to say I don’t think they really would protect us all that much. I’ve worked in supposed highly secure facilities and despite all the high tech controls and measures it was really easy to get in…because of people. The highest fence in the world won’t help because some one will sooner or later hold the door to be nice.
I think we should have some measure in place to protect sensitive things but I think it is important to realize that this is bandaide thinking..we need to think broader in my opinion.
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Oh, Bonnie… it’s even possible to hire a person that has been vetted and find the vetting failed, or the person decided that s/he was slighted and wants revenge…
But, it’s best NOT to advertise that we have no defense, attack others, and leave the doors wide opened, either!
I remember thinking that hiding under my desk was unlikely to preserve me as a child so as an adult I moved to the ends of the earth where if my time comes, I would have only been plagued by one level of government stupidity.
As for the situation in the USA, big guns, simple viruses and all the rest of the dire things that the US citizens can do to others and do to themselves – we need to find a better way.
Oh and lets not forget that nature has a say in all this too – she keeps tornadoing, quaking and tsunamiing things and trying to wake mankind up to her might.
I live in the eternal hope that one day the hatred and jealousy we have will end and all men will find a way to live in harmony. Meanwhile, lets get out of stuck and stop living with fear and just enjoy this wonderful day and give thanks that we can wherever we live. Thank you Roy.
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Yes, this concept we have needs adjusting, Roberta. Loved your comments.
I apply a very specific approach with regard to these kind of potential (and valid, important concerns). I bury my head deep in the sand. If I can do something, take an action, to create a positive impact and create change around an issue, I’m in. There are some parts of life, I don’t have the expertise, tools or access to make the change. So I do my part in places where I can make a difference. Your call to action to protect infrastructures seems a smart move, not out of fear but out of diligence…as we could just as likely be “attacked” by domestic terrorists (a la McVeigh) who are unstable using these vulnerabilities as we are international attacks.
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Your last sentence is ABSOLUTELY correct, Tambre!
It’s sad to think that in this day and age, we still have to develop ways to keep each other in line. Our country can launch an attack while our enemies launch a similar attack right away. Where does it end?
I love the saying about letting moms solve the world’s problems and bringing peace to nations fighting one another. There has to be a way for all of us to live in harmony and stop finding ways to destroy each other. This definitely is one of your most thought-provoking blog posts.
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Lisa:
I’m with you. But, the problem is that some moms don’t care. They’d rather have dead martyrs than live scholars or workers or executives or farmers. And, therein lies the rub!
Roy
Yikes, I did have to read this waiting for it be past midnight so I could post my next blog article.
Where I live the aquaduct runs above the ground all the way from the north of the state to the south. They just need to fly over. I don’t know how much the filters would take care of whatever they put in the water, but the filtration system is nearby and not that hard to get to.
I am CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) trained as is everyone in my house and a lot of people in the community. We are doing a community wide preparation to prepare for whatever may happen. Our two top concerns are fire and earthquake though. And since we don’t have city water, everyone either has a well or water trucked in. Our well sits 90 feet below the surface so it seems as safe as it can be.
The state is retrofitting all the freeways, especially the overpasses, two of which fell in the last major earthquake in 1994. We are overdue for the big one (an close to 8) so we’re all hyper sensitive.
With that said, I refuse to live in fear of what may happen from either nature or terrorists. I’m as prepared as I can be and that has to be enough.
Julia Neiman recently posted..Empowering Youth Entrepreneurs – three hurdles to jump
Julia:
I don’t want to live in fear of terrorist- or bogeyman- or real enemies- or my neighbors, either. So, just like we fortify our overpasses to insure that they can withstand earthquakes, we need to fortify our electronic grid so some kid, some enemy, some terrorist can shut down our power. Look what just happened this weekend, thanks to the Supreme Being. (I still have no power- and won’t get any until next weekend- with NO trees down and NO wires down.) Cell phones don’t work- even if they are charged. Whole exchanges of the phone company are down. The internet generally failed (Amazon web service, various vendors, central stations for IP routing, Comcast, FIOS, among just a few.) Now, imagine if the power stations were cut off from delivering power for a month? Think the Great Recession was big?
This becomes more of an issue when we think it’s ok to attack other nations. Why would they not consider a retaliation?
Roy
You know Roy, I’m sorry, you wrote mainly about cyber attacks and I talked about other concerns. I think most of us have been hit with viruses and by hackers so it won’t be any surprise to be attacked in cyberspace. I have learned to have backups and use carbonite. What more can we do? We can also be impacted by solar flares as we were years ago when the cell phones went down because of solar flares knocking out the satellites.
Julia Neiman recently posted..Empowering Youth Entrepreneurs – three hurdles to jump
Julia:
I worry about your concerns, too! I just try to limit my posts to a reasonable length- or I would have included them, too! Thanks to YOU for making sure others see those issues as well!
Roy
I remember preparing for Y2K and worrying about not being able to accept credit cards at work and how to run the business on a generator. It’s been a while since I gave any that much thought…. good reminder. I have friends that keep canned goods, water, cash and gas (and ammo) on hand constantly…. Time to go shopping I guess.
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I’m not trying to make anyone paranoid. I just want our govnerment to consider strengthening the home base before they go attack others!
Thanks for the visit- and the reminisce!
Roy
Newt Gingrich posted a different point of view in today’s (13 July 2012) Washington Post. Based upon his experiences having had VEPCO leave him powerless two weeks ago for a few days, he ponders what a powerless America would be like- one that is powerless for more than just a few days, but perhaps for a few years. All possible, if we don’t upgrade our infrastructure- especially our power grids.
You can read his post here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/newt-gingrich-preparing-for-the-next-outage/2012/07/12/gJQAI1QQgW_story.html