Former ABC's Nightline host Ted Koppel has issued a chilling warning to America: A massive cyberattack could destroy the nation's power grid in the near future and the government is completely unprepared to cope with the ensuing disaster.
Koppel, who has been studying the threats faced by America's power grid, came up with this conclusion in his book "Lights Out.'' The thought spooked him so much that he decided to buy freeze-dried food for himself, his wife, his children and even his grandchildren to prepare for the possibility of the grid attack that may happen in weeks or months.
"I mean, it is frightening enough that my wife and I decided we were going to buy enough freeze-dried food for all of our kids and their kids,'' he said, according to Charisma News.
Koppel said he was further horrified to learn that the Department of Homeland Security doesn't have a plan on how to deal with this kind of attack.
In "Lights Out," the former TV host paints a grim picture of a paralyzing power outage in the form of an all-out cyberattack on the nation's electrical grid, Charisma News said.
He believes that Russia, China and Iran already have the capability to launch such an attack, and that it is only a matter of time when any of these countries may launch a massive cyberattack against America's power grid.
Many other nations including North Korea are also rapidly developing the capability to launch such operations as well.
"I've talked to every former Secretary of Homeland Security, and they all acknowledge there is no plan,'' said Koppel.
"I kept asking 'What's the plan?' Why wait until disaster strikes? Why not tell 'em? Do you have a plan?' And he just sort of pointed up at a shelf filled with white binders and he said, 'Look, I'm sure there's something up there somewhere,'' he added, referring to his conversation with Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson.
Koppel's warning is not new though. Just recently, Rep. Randy Weber, a Texas Republican explained during a congressional hearing that there is a significant attack on America's power grid once every four days, according to Charisma News.
"In over 300 cases of significant cyber and physical attacks since 2011, suspects have never been identified," Weber said during the hearing that focused on how to protect the nation's power grid and identify its vulnerability to cyberattacks.
Koppel said America's power grid is more vulnerable this time than it's ever been due to its reliance on the Internet.
The report also mentioned about the threats that will be brought by a giant electromagnetic pulse (EMP) "either from the sun or from a weapon [that] could fry our grid at any time as well."
Citing the Houston Chronicle, the report said the White House has been preparing for it for a while and just released a contingency plan that details how it would respond to an EMP event and how this could wipe out the power grid. This would also mean no more cell phones, Internet, credit cards, gas pumps, running water, electric lights or industry in a single fateful moment.
"It could come from a solar flare that sends ultra-high-energy particles cascading toward the earth, frying every electrical transformer they encounter,'' according to the National Space Weather Strategy published by the White House, in conjunction with 24 other federal agencies.
Space weather consultant John Kappenman recently told Gizmodo that when such a scenario happens, power might not be restored for months or even years: "If you take electricity away, either immediately or within a short period of time, you'll suffer the failure of all critical infrastructure.''
"One of the concerns that we have is that in the worst-case scenarios, we could be looking at weeks, months, maybe even years before restoration of the grid,'' he warned.
A source told Gizmodo that preppers agree that a multiyear food and water supply is crucial. Some are also stockpiling large quantities of medications, noting that five-year supplies of meds can be obtained from Asia without prescriptions.
