Iran, Syria, North Korea—or Metcalf Station, San Jose?

Which location on the globe gives you the most reason to miss a night’s sleep? For me, it’s the Metcalf PG&E station near San Jose. You may not be aware that last April a team of professional sharpshooters attempted to cripple the main electrical generating plant that supplies juice to Silicon Valley. Had there been a successful takedown, the damage to America could have been considerable. After studying and writing about the security of our nationwide electrical grid for a number of years, I am concerned that America is surprisingly vulnerable to the sort professionally coordinated terrorist attack that could leave large swathes of America without electric power for an extended period.

Is your family prepared to get along without municipal water services, gas stations, ATM machines, prescription-filling drug stores, big box supermarkets, elevators or air conditioning for days, weeks or perhaps months? I would give preparation to this scenario your sincere and immediate attention. You can easily start by clicking to the dozens of helpful tips I’ve provided in recent years at richardcyoung.com. For example, how are you set in terms of the personal defense of your family? Did you know that for a while now it has been difficult to obtain .22LR ammunition for the #1 rated survival rifle I’ve been advising for all your family members? A little advance planning comes with no downside risk and a whole lot of lifesaving upside benefits for you and your family.

I am providing two articles on an attack at a San Jose electric power substation that happened almost 10 months ago and is just now making a stir. One is Peggy Noonan’s excellent recap of the near takeout of the Metcalf power plant near San Jose. Many readers might blow past Peggy’s thoughtful essay with little interest, but that would be a mistake. Peggy but scratches the surface on what I believe is America’s most critical national security Achilles’ heel. The other article is by Peter Vincent Pry, executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security. As Mr. Pry writes, “The bad guys are learning that the electric grid is a key societal vulnerability.”

I am a huge fan of former New York police chief Ray Kelly, whom the intelligentsia at Brown University recently treated like a skunk at a garden party. Professionals like Ray Kelly and Blackwater founder Erik Prince understand the elements of risk, security, intelligence, and preparatation.  I would devote your attention to publically available information from sources that put you on a track to preparation for homeland security, rather than to the latest war whoop pronouncements from the likes of John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Finally, with one click here (link), you can order up the Kindle version of the bible on making America safer, The Power Problem, by my Cato Institute friend and scholar Chris Preble.