Attacking Nine Substations Could Disable Entire U.S. Grid

Well they didn't say exactly which 10 are the most effective to attack.

With that you have a 1:5500 chance of hitting one at random and a far less chances of hitting all 10 of the most critical at random!

More realistically it would all come down to what form of attack was being used. Given that any switchyard or substation that is large enough to cause a major blackout is also physically huge just blowing up a vehicle near one is not likely to do major damage.

As far as driving a explosive laden vehicle into one again the persons involved would need to have very good understanding to the layout of the such a substation and where they could actually drive once the managed to get past the security fence a related physical obstacles inside.

Reason being most of the large equipment is mounted on large concrete bases and heavy steel framework that would prevent someone from just randomly ramming a high speed vehicle into the center of a station.

I'm not saying it couldn't be done but it would not be bonehead terrorist simple either.

It probably does not matter what 10 you where to pick, yet if you totally take 10 our of the 55,000, you can take down a large section of the grid, perhaps 1/3 of the country.

Chad released during one conflict did disrupt the country being attacked greatly! Something to do with metal strips over the 100,000 volt lines caused a huge problem.

Certainly does seem a little lose lipped.

A determined group or even a lone wolf could do the research to figure which 9 put out of action would cause the most widespread disruption. Or which one in particular would meet the disruptor's minimum objective.

Logically (or maybe not), the nation's 9 biggest substations would be the ones to target....

lose lipped .....should be: loose lipped.

A genset and transfer switch will fix you right up.

One to keep control on possible panic,....it happened In the past.............. But in this case, it may be political.

I would be more interested in hearing about this, is there any media on it.

I googled it.... No major coverage.

And there are 200,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, most of them in isolated areas, and not so much as a "please don't touch" sign.

It's time to go off grid now.

US population is now over 300 million.

I think the fear in the US is due to overcrowding and resource competition.

The highish living standard and reasonable domestic security also gives "The People" the luxury of time to worry about and create abstract threats.

It's never been a democracy, it's a rebublic (even though the democrats are running things). And what do you want us to do about all those things that we have no control over, mister smarty pants? Show us some data that we are more unsecure than other countries. And where are you from? Stop hiding behind anonymity. That's a cowards way of attacking.

The strangest thing is, this smarty pants builds you HV DC converter station for you. Yes, foreign labour, foreign knowledge and my brains and knowledge to give you an electricity supply at 3500MW. And this smarty pants makes sure you get a quality installation that lasts for 45 years minimum. And every station you have can be found on Google, very easily. So if your stations are under threat from make believe attackers, don't you think that you should not be showing them on a public site.

So, I speak from daily experience, any idiot with a laptop can find your stations and they don't even need to be in the USA to find them. Now that is some security system you have!

Definitely not hiding from anyone here. I simply don't see why you need to live in fear, unless of course you don't have the global knowledge that you should have. And perhaps you are lead to believe you need to be controlled. Is it not time realise, that all your wars you fought to be 'free' were in vain. People died so that you may keep your rights and you want to tell me you have no control. Boy, that is rich.

Every country has the same problem with their grid systems, no one said other wise, you are not alone, just don't make a big song and dance about it in public, that is asking for trouble and telling the world your weakness. Now that is really smart!

The smart people make alternate ways to be less reliant on one supplier. That is basic business everywhere, but why not with ordinary people? Is it only allowed for business?

What makes you so sure that so much of the critical infrastructure of the US is visible from the air?

That would be completely idiotic, wouldn't it?

...

We're not completely idiotic.

The adage 'Bad news is good news' is out the door for todays journalists,....

Not its just mediocre news will do to satisfy and agenda to satisfy its media base..

Touche...

Well that brings things into balance. It really is no different anywhere then.

And, thanks for the honest answer.

'Power to the people'.

For a global forum like this, loose lips may sink some ships!