Project Hydra: “Attack-Proof” Power Line to be Installed Under New York
May 22nd, 2007Do you ever wonder why “the terrorists” don’t attack the undefended power and data infrastructures in the United States?
You hear a lot about “the terrorists” trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction, but you don’t hear much about the damage that could be done with bolt cutters, shovels and wrenches. I guess we are to believe that “the terrorists” can obtain and use weapons of mass destruction, but don’t have access to Home Depot.
I need to be very careful about writing anything which may be viewed as providing specific operational guidance (for example, the locations of things that any 12 year old could find using Google), but keep this quote in mind from my old cyberwar essay:
They can’t move trillions of dollars around per day without the Internet. What happens to the richest country in the world without its money? [Actually, its ability to go further into debt.] Remember, today, information equals money. You take away the information, you take away the money. You take away the flow of information, you take away the flow of money.
And this quote from my Wall Street Chop Shop piece:
Entirely new computer networks were built that linked the systems of these up-start, sub-prime lending corporations that—if you’re fortunate—you’ve never heard of, to what we called “The Mother Ship” in New York, a firm that just about anyone with a net worth of a million dollars or more would probably recognize.
I was present at one of these 3am infrastructure sessions (getting paid double time), in a machine room with servers stacked floor to ceiling, cooling fans screaming, and black coffee going down by the pot full. We were taking orders from the “global ops center” in New York. The blinking lights on the “big-iron” Cisco routers indicated that roughly US$5 billion in funny money was going to move between the red-headed stepchild operation I worked for and the polished halls of The Mother Ship each month.
They’re going with a nice name for the project, though… The hydra, a terrifying, multiheaded beast is being used to describe an “attack proof” power backup system for New York. As usual, I couldn’t make it up if I tried.
Via: Reuters:
Consolidated Edison, Inc and American Superconductor Corporation have agreed to put a superconducting power line under midtown New York that should lead to a sturdier power grid able to withstand extreme weather and attacks.
The move is part of an effort by Con Ed to upgrade the power grid in New York. A power outage in Queens, New York last summer, and the August 2003 blackout that hit parts of the U.S. Northeast, Canada and the Midwest, have raised concerns about power delivery in New York’s financial district, seen as vital to the nation’s economy.
The Department of Homeland Security will fund up to $25 million for the nearly $40 million superconductor cable, it calls “Project Hydra,” after the mythical Greek monster that grew back multiple heads when one was severed.
The cable will link two substations in Manhattan. The department said the project could lead to further deployment of the technology which also suppresses power surges.
“We have asked AMSC and Consolidated Edison to demonstrate superconductor solutions in New York City that will serve to keep our centers of commerce on line under all conditions – including grid events related to severe weather, accidents or terrorist attacks,” Jay Cohen, the Department of Homeland Security’s undersecretary for technology, said in a statement on Monday.
//MOD Ozzy, the gibberish that you’re typing into the email and URL fields is causing your posts to be sent to the spam blackhole every time. Since you post a lot of comments, I’m getting sick of having to recover them. Kindly change the gibberish you’re typing in to look more like real information. It doesn’t have to be real, of course. Thanks, Kevin
Businesses and institutions that totally rely on the Internet would probably go out of business. Businesses and institutions that have earlier generation communication systems would be inconvenienced. If the internet goes down, then you just use telexes, fax machines, telephones, smoke signals, the grapevine, tin-cans with strings, word of mouth, the post office, federal express, satellites, and whatever else you can come up with, until you can get the Internet back up and running. Additionally, you can build more Internets, like Internet 2, or like Google’s burgeoning Net.
Of course, none of this will help the people who go to their Hello Kitty! blogs, or make LoLCatz .jpgs while speaking
Ironically, the more information I ingest regarding The Destruction and Economic Re-Ordering of America, the more unbelievable and surreal The Takedown–which is occurring right before my/our eyes–becomes.
The coordination of events that guarantee a horrific outcome,
such as the one detailed by this post, combined with others,
such as the manifestation of the destruction of the dollar;
a blatant grab for total control of the food supply via the China “food contamination” meme being floated in the media;
the inevitable protectionist tariffs that will only accelerate economic destruction in the U.S. and China and plunge the world into war;
massive immigration influx measures being floated in congress under the guise of immigration reform, which are being floated in an effort to eliminate the wage-cost differential between the U.S. and ChIndia, as if They can’t manipulate currency values to negate any advantage afforded to the U.S. by the passing of such laws;
the stirring up of conflict between western/eastern/developing/developed/current account surplus/current account deficit countries, i.e. Russia/China/Middle East versus U.S./Great Britian Axis; etceteras
is perfect.
It’s hard to digest the complete destruction of a way of life I’ve lived for slightly over 30 years; it’s even harder to digest it when you can see what is going to occur before it occurs.
And the hardest thing to digest: the fact that some members of my family will not make it through the tumult with their lives intact.
How does one emotionally prepare for impact??
I’m having a hard time with this one.
http://www.winplc.net/
Yup,
King of amazing that this has not happened yet.
MEDIA INFORMATION
Saturday, April 15, 2006
High Wycombe Business Parks disabled by malicious attack to telephony and telecoms exchanges
At 18:13 on April 13th 2006, most of the underground fibre circuits providing telephony and internet services to two major business parks in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire were maliciously severed. The unexplained incident is believed to have disabled closed circuit television (CCTV) services and cut the links between burglar alarm systems of local businesses from the local police and security services.
Roadside cabinets and ducts positioned beneath the pavements and roads in seven separate locations around the Cressex and Knaves Beech Business Parks in High Wycombe were attacked, seemingly simultaneously, between 6.05pm and 6.25pm on Thursday evening, as most businesses had wound down for the Easter holidays. Armoured fibre-optic and copper cabling, designed to prevent damage from accidents and petty vandalism, were severed, most probably using industrial cable cutters and saws.
The incident triggered the emergency and security alarms of many local businesses and as a result, Thames Valley Police attended the scene very quickly. BT is believed to have discovered the cause and extent of the problems on the morning of Friday 14th April and has engineers from across the South East of England attempting to reconnect the thousands of wires, cables and exchanges that have been affected.
As a result many local businesses have been rendered totally inactive over the busy Bank Holiday weekend. The Cressex Business Park alone houses scores of companies across the IT, Service and Manufacturing industries which employ more than 5000 people. Companies and organisations located on the Estates include an NHS diagnostics centre, a Royal Mail sorting office, Dreams plc, OneTel Business Communications, Walters Microsystems and WIN plc.
In addition to the incident affecting local businesses directly, thousands of other businesses have been affected as a result of their ISPs, webhosting and other IT suppliers being taken down. In particular, the mobile interactivity services of several radio and television stations (including BBC Radio 1 and 5 Live), mobile network operators, banks, insurers and content providers have been affected because one the UK’s largest mobile data service providers, WIN, is based on the Cressex Business Park.
Thames Valley Police is officially “keeping an open mind†as to the motive for the crimes and is expected to put out an official press release during the course of the afternoon.
WIN has established a temporary web site at http://www.winplc.net, designed to update clients of the situation on an ongoing basis.
Supporting photography for this story is available on request.
For further information:
Ben King, WIN plc: 07887 660327
Richard Leonard, Brazil PR (for WIN plc): 07887 568 930
Thames Valley Police Press Office: 01865 846699
BT Press Office: 0207 356 5000