EMERGENCY DRILL! GRID-EX 2013, NOVEMBER 13-14

JUST A REMINDER ABOUT THE POWER GRID "DRILL" 

The exercise will involve 5,800 major power plants and 450,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines.
In 2012, former CIA boss R. James Woolsey and others began pressuring legislatures in the states to force private sector utility companies to protect electrical infrastructure against the catastrophic effect of an EMP, or electromagnetic pulse. The assumption is that North Korea or rogue elements within government will stage an EMP, take out the power grid, and plunge civilization into the dark ages.


You can review my previous blog on this here:
http://havacuppahemlock1.blogspot.com/2013/09/emergency-drill-in-november-unlike-any.html
AND DO REMEMBER THE FEMA REGION 3 VERY SERIOUS WARNING BY THE FORMER U.S. SENATOR I INCLUDED IN MY BLOG HERE; http://havacuppahemlock1.blogspot.com/2013/10/fema-region-3-alert-fireballs.html

ALSO RECALL YET ANOTHER FORMER SENATOR FROM NORTH DAKOTA'S BOOK DETAILING JUST SUCH A SCENARIO..."' In another novel, “Gridlock,” published this summer and co-written by Byron L. Dorgan, the former senator from North Dakota, a rogue Russian agent working for Venezuela and Iran helps hackers threaten the grid. In the preface, Mr. Dorgan says such an attack could cause 10,000 times as much devastation as the terrorists’ strikes on Sept. 11, 2001.'"

The nation's aging, vulnerable power grid and the threat of natural disasters and terrorist activity make a long-term collapse that could leave millions of Americans in the dark a growing likelihood. - To experts, it's not if, it's when.
Read more at http://gazette.com/apocalypse-threat-of-massive-grid-shutdown-increasing-in-face-of-terrorism-natural-disasters/article/1509048#7Tk7urG3zZp03x26.99

<As previously reported by Off The Grid News, the drill known as GridX II has multiple participants, including the National Guard, the FBI, several US government agencies, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation and about 150 companies. Canada and Mexico also are take parting, showing how one country’s power grid problems don’t stop at the border.
The power grid is often called America’s glass jaw because of the nation’s reliability on it but also due to its many weaknesses, such as its vulnerability to a domino effect because it is interconnected. The famous Northeast Blackout of 2003 began with a tree limb falling in Ohio and, after a a chain reaction, ended up with 50 million people losing power, including those in New York City and parts of Canada.
The latest power grid drill, though, will go far beyond examining a scenario in which the power is down for only a couple days, as was the case in 2003. The latest drill will examine what would happen if a domestic or foreign terrorist – or even a rogue country – intentionally tried to destroy America’s vulnerable, interconnected grid, delivering a knockout blow.>

ACCORDING TO A REPORT BY THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, AMERICA'S POWER GRID HAS ALREADY BEEN HACKED
-- Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials.

The spies came from China, Russia and other countries, these officials said, and were believed to be on a mission to navigate the U.S. electrical system and its controls. The intruders haven't sought to damage the power grid or other key infrastructure, but officials warned they could try during a crisis or war.

"The Chinese have attempted to map our infrastructure, such as the electrical grid," said a senior intelligence official. "So have the Russians."

The espionage appeared pervasive across the U.S. and doesn't target a particular company or region, said a former Department of Homeland Security official. "There are intrusions, and they are growing," the former official said, referring to electrical systems. "There were a lot last year."

Many of the intrusions were detected not by the companies in charge of the infrastructure but by U.S. intelligence agencies, officials said. Intelligence officials worry about cyber attackers taking control of electrical facilities, a nuclear power plant or financial networks via the Internet.

Authorities investigating the intrusions have found software tools left behind that could be used to destroy infrastructure components, the senior intelligence official said. He added, "If we go to war with them, they will try to turn them on."

Officials said water, sewage and other infrastructure systems also were at risk.

[In 2008], a senior Central Intelligence Agency official, Tom Donahue, told a meeting of utility company representatives in New Orleans that a cyberattack had taken out power equipment in multiple regions outside the U.S. The outage was followed with extortion demands, he said.

The U.S. electrical grid comprises three separate electric networks, covering the East, the West and Texas.
CHINESE MILITARY UNIT PRIME SUSPECTS
In the latest episode of Spy vs Spy, the Chinese government refuted the accuracy of a report by computer security firm Mandiant Corp. that pins ”an overwhelming percentage of the attacks on American corporations, organizations and government agencies” on People’s Liberation Army Unit 61398. An unusually detailed 60-page study released [FEBRUARY 2013] by Mandiant tracks for the first time individual members of the most sophisticated of the Chinese hacking groups — known to many of its victims in the United States as “Comment Crew” or “Shanghai Group” — to the doorstep of the military unit’s headquarters on the edge of Shanghai.
According to an ABC News report, the Chinese hackers have also accessed banks, putting Americans' bank accounts at risk.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei denied those accusations. ”Cyber attacks are anonymous and transnational and it is hard to trace the origin of attacks, so I don’t know how the findings of the report are credible,” Mr. Hong said. He added that the U.S. is itself the top source of attacks against Chinese computer systems.


THE DOCUMENTARY POSTED AT THE TOP OF THIS BLOG ABOUT AN 'IMAGINARY' GRID-DOWN SCENARIO WAS PRESENTED BY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AT THE END OF LAST MONTH.
WHAT A COINCIDENCE!

I HOPE YOU HAVE TIME TO WATCH IT BEFORE WE EXPERIENCE THIS "DRILL" STARTING TOMORROW...NOVEMBER 13.... 

BLOGGER WON'T UPLOAD THE FOLLOWING VIDEO, BUT DO GO HAVE A LOOK... YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THIS POSSIBLE SCENARIO! 
THE VIDEO THAT WON'T UPLOAD HERE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45MSuW6yfeM
IN THE ABOVE VIDEO, WARNINGS FROM JANET NAPOLITANO, RECENTLY OUR  SECRETARY OF THE DEPT. OF HOMELAND SECURITY, FROM WHICH SHE RESIGNED, AND FROM F. MICHAEL MALOOF, FORMERLY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, SECURITY ANALYST.
FURTHER WARNINGS BY ABC NEWS, EVEN FOX NEWS AND NEWT GINGRICH.
Former Congressman Gingrich wrote a novel published in 2009 about an EMP attack. In another novel, Gingrich spins a fictional account of terrorists taking down the U.S. power grid with the help of Iran. 
IMAGINE THAT! <The nation’s electrical grid remains“highly vulnerable” to attack after four years of failed efforts to pass major cyber-security legislation, according to an accompanying report.
One Midwestern utility said that its computer systems were being probed constantly, in some cases by automated programs designed to detect weaknesses that can be exploited later. A utility in the Northeast reported that it was “under constant attack” from cyber criminals.> 

<Between 2003 and 2012, an estimated 679 widespread power outages in the United States occurred due to severe weather. A recent Congressional Research Service study estimates the inflation-adjusted cost of weather-related outages at $25 to $70 billion annually. > 

A REAL GRID-DOWN EVENT COULD TAKE YEARS TO RECOVER FROM, OVER $2 TRILLION TO REPAIR,  IF WE ARE THE ONLY NATION AFFECTED BY IT.
THIS IS SOMETHING SOME OF OUR MAJOR SCIENTIFIC/ENGINEER MINDS HAVE BEEN WARNING ABOUT FOR DECADES!

WHAT IF THIS DRILL GOES BEYOND JUST A SIMULATED DRILL?
ARE YOU READY IF THEY GO "LIVE"?

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT NASA HAS ISSUED SEVERAL "WARNINGS" ABOUT SOLAR FLARES THE PAST FEW DAYS, AND ABOUT THE SUN'S MAGNETIC POLE SHIFT BEING IMMINENT.
THERE WAS A CLASS 3 X-FLARE A FEW DAYS AGO, WHAT WAS CALLED "CANNIBAL CMEs" DIRECTED AT EARTH, AND A "MAGNETIC CROCHET" EFFECT IN OUR IONOSPHERE.
ALL VERY 'TIMELY', ALL POSSIBLY 'DISRUPTIVE' TO SOME ELECTRONIC DEVICES, SATELLITES, ETC.
COVER STORY?
REAL WARNING?
WHO KNOWS?

For the next two days–November 13 and 14–the United States, Canada and Mexico, along with hundreds of companies and organizations in all three countries, will take part in the GridEx 2013 Preparedness Drill – one of the largest preparedness drills in our country’s history.
It has been reported that the United States, Canada and Mexico are participating in an emergency drill that will simulate physical attack and cyber-attacks that could take down large sections of the power grid.”
The drill will look at how the three governments react to the loss of the power grid, and a crippled supply chain that would inevitably follow the event. It should all be simulated–but just in case, be prepared.  
What could some of the “what if’s” be?
Well, if they encounter a problem, the drill could be extended or could go “live.”  The powers-that-be could find something that needs repair or reinforcement, making the need for a real power shut-down necessary–for a few hours, days, longer. Hopefully not, but it is better to be prepared just in case. Have food, water, a battery-powered light source at the very least–and warm blankets or ice blocks a-plenty, depending on where you live.  (I would add in a battery-powered radio in case there is only a partial shut-down so you can get some updates or news.)

The implications of no electricity?
Besides the obvious–the lack of refrigeration will greatly affect your own and the country’s food supply and ability to provide clean water–it also means the lack of a/c or heat, depending on where you live; no electricity means no street lights; no dishwasher; no washer & dryer; no TV, no radio, no video games (unless they run on batteries); no burglar alarms; no credit card or banking terminals working, no traffic signals…well, you get the picture.
What to do to prepare for the drill?
We just made sure to have extras on hand–extra food and meds for people and pets; extra batteries; enough lanterns (or flashlights) for each person to walk around with plus an extra; a radio; plenty to read; some rope for drying clothes; cars full with gas just in case we need to drive somewhere; food money in case the stores open but the terminals don’t; first aid supplies…
…and if you have a little extra time, do some reading on how to sterilize water–whether you boil it, add stuff to to, etc. and on first aid. It never hurts to be prepared.  If you don’t use it this time, there may be another when it will come in handy.
==EVEN IF THIS ELECTRICAL DRILL DOES NOT GO BEYOND A "PAPER-SIMULATED DRILL", WHAT'S THE HARM IN PREPARING A BASIC EMERGENCY KIT THAT CAN BE USED FOR WORST-CASE SCENARIOS?
WHAT IF...THERE WAS NO ELECTRICITY FOR EVEN A FEW DAYS HERE IN WINTER?

Homeland Security has told the public that a cyber attack and/or a significant EMP is IMMINENT and that we are absolutely unprepared.
Consider the very real possibility of either a cyber attack or an EMP happening (real or staged), OR of a "solar event" that takes out the grid, as a convenient way for our government, with a little help from our northern and southern "friends" to take control of all our resources NOW, in the dead of Winter!
Try turning everything off in your home, including water, and live a day and night without any power or utilities. You will then have a pretty good idea of what you will need to get by with absolutely NOTHING, no way to conduct automatic banking (no credit card or debit card scans, no online banking, no ATMs), no functional gas pumps, no pumping water from city wells, no sewage treatment plants working, no refrigeration at the local grocers, no food deliveries without gasoline or diesel, just NOTHING working as it should. 

NASA DIRECTOR CHARLES BOLDEN MAKES AN ODD EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS SPEECH

Contrary to the "about" beneath the above video on youtube, this has nothing to do with Comet Ison....it's simply about the imminent danger to our power grid from multiple possibilities.

WELL, HERE IN THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS OF NC TONIGHT, WE ARE AT 31 DEGREES, SUSTAINED WINDS OF 23 MPH, GUSTS TO 37, HEADED TO A LOW OF 21. THAT'S WITHOUT THE WINDCHILL.

The nation's aging, vulnerable power grid and the threat of natural disasters and terrorist activity make a long-term collapse that could leave millions of Americans in the dark a growing likelihood. - To experts, it's not if, it's when.
Read more at http://gazette.com/apocalypse-threat-of-massive-grid-shutdown-increasing-in-face-of-terrorism-natural-disasters/article/1509048#7Tk7urG3zZp03x26.99

The nation's aging, vulnerable power grid and the threat of natural disasters and terrorist activity make a long-term collapse that could leave millions of Americans in the dark a growing likelihood. - To experts, it's not if, it's when.
Read more at http://gazette.com/apocalypse-threat-of-massive-grid-shutdown-increasing-in-face-of-terrorism-natural-disasters/article/1509048#7Tk7urG3zZp03x26.99ALL THE BEST, EVERYONE!

ALL THE BEST TO ALL OF US! 
HOPEFULLY, THIS WILL INDEED BE "JUST A DRILL".

A strange 'take' on the NASA video about preparedness, but something to consider?