I Love A Good Conspiracy, Don't You?

More than one million utility customers in San Diego County, parts of Orange County, parts of Arizona and the Mexican state of Baja California all lost power after a line transporting electricity from Arizona power plants to California customers failed, according to the California Independent System Operator.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904836104576559322589333398.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

http://www.10news.com/news/29124110/detail.html

Now of course those among us who love a good conspiracy have to ask ourselves, "What did the powers that be do during the 12 hour black out they caused? What did they smuggle into the United States through the blacked out areas, could it be atomic in nature? How could one man testing one system in Yuma Arizona have caused such a wide spread black out, weren't there any fail safe back up systems in place?"

Conspiracy theorists will always question the reason behind a widespread power outage. When you realize that our border was completely in the dark, you begin to wonder about these things.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/339746/power_down_in_trade_centers_weekend_before_9_11/

One San Diego Fellow has reported:
"I started having phone Internet connectivity issues since around noon. Phone gave me no service signal at 3:30pm pacific time. At around 6pm I started hearing what it sounded like a frequency wave sound that lasted for about 30 to 45 minutes. Just now at almost 9 pm I get full signal back on my phone. I'm not buying the broken lines story the media is putting out."

America’s power system has thousands of not-so-secret trapdoors called supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada) devices. “Scada systems allow utility companies to monitor and direct equipment at unmanned facilities from a central location,” Ashley explains.
One of the jobs of US Air Force officer Lieutenant-Colonel Bradley K Ashley  is to analyse military threats.
(ttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1034596/posts)

In the past decade, Scada devices have become the workhorses for public utilities. More than three million Scada devices are in use around the world today, says Ashley. Chiefly, they replace technicians for the routine tasks of meter reading and switch flipping. Their arrival has made it possible for utilities to maintain a high level of power reliability and at the same time reduce costs. To further reduce costs, Scada systems are designed to send and receive information over the Internet or via radio links. This is the first of their two weak links.

The second and more serious security concern is that Scada devices are a truly global technology. For example, a company that provided Scada expertise for FirstEnergy did similar work for the Egyptian Electricity Authority. It is a normal, legal and perfectly innocent business relationship. But it is also the sort of connection that makes intelligence experts worry, and those familiar with Ashley’s investigation cringe.

“Information about Scada devices and hacking them was found on al-Qaeda computers seized in raids in Afghanistan,” says Ashley. “Al-Qaeda prisoners have informed interrogators about their intent to use these methods to attack the US.” This is hardly surprising since all of the “Axis of Evil” countries – Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Syria – have both access to Scada devices and an in-depth understanding of the technology.

The files of the North American Electric Reliability Council (Nerc), an industry group created after the infamous 1964 Northeast blackout, suggest that a cyberattack dry run took place in January 2003.

According to Charles E Noble, head of Information Security for ISO New England, a Nerc member that operates transmission lines, some sort of probing attack may have occurred during the appearance of the so-called “SQL Slammer Worm” that disrupted many Internet services. It also affected two unnamed utilities. “Both entities lost their ability to execute bulk electric system control from their primary control centres for several hours,” Noble says.

Nerc took the episode seriously enough to ask its members to approve emergency rules that require background checks on employees with access to Scada devices.

Coincidence or conspiracy? Admittedly, the facts are circumstantial. But for a nation built on electric power, the risk of ignoring them might one day prove catastrophic.

April 23, 2002

Remarks by Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge to the Electronics Industries Alliance
Grand Hyatt Hotel
Washington, D.C.

GOVERNOR RIDGE:
 "Terrorists can sit at one computer connected to one network and can create worldwide havoc -- don't necessarily need bomb or explosives to cripple a sector of the economy, or shutdown a power grid. All a terrorist needs is a weapons of mass destruction. "

There is no doubt in my mind that this was NOT a terrorist-involved event. Instead, its most likely a combination of bad luck, an overtaxed computer system, lousy communications, role uncertainties, and an unprepared group of utility companies. So much for a good conspiracy...sigh...but just perhaps...LOL!

But just to be safe, go out today and buy a portable radio with plenty of batteries, a flash light and perhaps a small generator for your home. And always have canned food and dry food goods with water set aside for emergencies. Don't forget to stock up on pet foods for your pets. Had this been a lasting power outage things could have gotten real dicey after just a few days.