This week’s flooding in Louisiana reminds us of the disruption such events cause: damaged homes, ruined property, and loss of electricity, to name a few. Of course, lost items can always be replaced, and a house can be rebuilt. But what if the power never came back on? What would you do? How would you survive? Could you?
Once considered science fiction, an attack on the nation’s power grid is now a sobering possibility. Responsibility for protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure falls on the federal government, with collaborative assistance coming from state, local and private entities. Now there’s a push to add a new player into the mix. Deployed in all states, the National Guard is well positioned to play a role in protecting the electric power grid, and with its growing investments in cyber capabilities, the move makes sense, as this piece points out.