Determining America’s Achilles’ heel - Part II

Thanks for waiting for this second part continuance of last week's stage-setting article on America's Achilles’ Heel, which is our National Power Grid (NPG).  It is also referred to as our National Energy Grid and/or our National Electrical Grid.  This is a subject in which many people, including our politicians, have shown little interest.  They do not know exactly what it is or really care how it works, just as long as it works.

Why the lack of interest?  Because the NPG is massive and intricately technical in nature. Therefore, it is an exotic subject only to electrical and mechanical engineers, and related professions.  I have never heard anyone ask, "How's our NPG doing today?"  The only time we think about electricity is when we pay the bill or the lights go out.  That is about to change.  It must change if we are to have a future as a country.

The Genesis of my recently piqued interest in the NPG was the recent appearance of Mr. Peter Pry on Life, Liberty and Levin, a Fox & Friends focused TV interview show that airs every Sunday, at 7 p.m. It is hosted by the brilliant, well informed, and to-the-point Mark Levin.  Mr. Pry was introduced as the Executive Director of the Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Task Force, and Director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum.

Mr. Pry spoke in detail about both the NPG and EMP.  But, rather than lose you in the minutiae of his comments, I will try to be more to the point.

Our NPG is made up of three large areas known as grids, which furnish the electricity/power that runs this country day and night.  Each of these grids have generators (think BIG, think HUGE), which generate electricity from hydroelectric plants, natural gas power plants, and from nuclear power plants.  The electricity is transmitted over very high voltage power lines throughout the country, and, along the way, the voltage is stepped down into distribution centers by a serious of extra high voltage transformers.  From the distribution center(s) it is then stepped down and down by a series of smaller transformers until it reaches the intended 120 volts of the  transformers on the poles outside our homes and businesses.

Mr. Pry compared the three grids that cover the United States to an enormous machine, which is controlled by things called Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems (SCADAS)." Per Mr. Pry, the SCADAS are vulnerable to cyber-attacks and subsequent manipulation by the attacking entity.  Transformers and generators can be destroyed, and the attackers could cause the grid to collapse for a protracted period of time.  He also said we could end up having a nationwide blackout from a sophisticated actor like Russia or China using the equivalent of a cyber nuclear bomb, which could /start a cascading collapse of the NPG.

Mr. Pry was referring to the previously noted Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), which is a sudden burst of electromagnetic energy that radiates through the air at near the speed of light and creates innumerable and catastrophic problems.  In addition to collapsing the NPG, it would  render useless most electronics such as TVs, radios, computer banks and individual computers, laptops, tablets, cell phones, cell towers, credit/debit cards, ATMs, gas pumps, traffic lights, hospital equipment, the use of credit/debit cards, law enforcement-military-government communications, air traffic control towers, toll roads, manufacturing equipment, the electronic components of cars, trucks, airplanes, etc.  The list goes on and on.

To make matters worse, it is my understanding that the huge generators used in our NPG are not American-made.  They are manufactured overseas. And, it takes 18 months to build a single generator.  This would rule out any timely repairs to our NPG.  Second to a military nuclear attack, an EMP attack would be the worst thing that could happen to the United States.  We would be vulnerable to an attacking  military force, whether by land, sea, or air.  Our financial/banking institutions and our economy would be in ruins. Our standard of living would be at subsistence only l levels, and very notably, when the electricity shuts down clean water stops to flow. The words anarchy and Armageddon come to mind. 

That is a bleak picture of what could be our future.  The time to act is now, but with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the White House, socialism, the Green New Deal, the lunacy of climate change spending, the promotion of racism, the disaster of open borders, the protection of Hunter Biden, encouraging worthless "wokeness," funding abortions, funding the arts, defunding law enforcement and building a wall around the capitol building rules the agenda.

An organized effort is needed to apply pressure for congressional funding needed for the modernization and state of the art protection of the NPG.  We also need our real president, Donald Trump, back in White House.  If there is one person that can resolve our serious NPG problems and clean up the accumulating mess that is the Biden-Harris Socialist administration, it is President Trump. We must reclaim our country in 2022 and 2024 - that assumes circumstances will allow us to wait that long.

Am I concerned?  With America in turmoil and now far from being united, our foreign policies now benefiting our enemies, our borders being invaded on a daily basis, record inflation looming, new and higher taxes promised, our top ally (Israel) attacked and left to fight alone, an imminent invasion of our ally Taiwan by China on the horizon, our enemies increasingly emboldened and saber-rattling throughout a now leaderless world, socialism being taught in our schools, law and order in our country nearing an all-time low, law enforcement at all levels being vilified, a guarded and walled capitol building in Washington, D.C. to keep the public at bay, a Congress that forgets that its members work for us not themselves, a clueless and Socialist-controlled puppet  occupying the White House, and outdated and unprotected NPG endangering our future as a country, let me answer that question with a question.    Aren't you concerned?

God smite our enemies and bless America!

--Jerry Jones is Central Intelligence Agency, Ret., and a native of Sparta.