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Houston, We Have a Problem

Center for Security Policy Says Devastation of Harvey Underscores That America Must Secure the Grid Now

 

WASHINGTON, D.C.—As the second full week of recovery efforts are underway in Texas after Hurricane Harvey deluged parts of the state with more than 50 inches of rain and historic devastation, the Center for Security Policy says the storm is a grim reminder of the urgent need to protect the grid.

Center for Security Policy President and CEO Frank J. Gaffney made the following statement on his daily “Secure Freedom Minute” radio commentary, heard on 200 stations coast-to-coast.

“‘Houston, we have a problem’ is a phrase immortalized by the crew of Apollo 13,” Gaffney said. “In the wake of Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area, it’s clear that we all have a problem. A flooded organic fertilizer plant suffered explosions after its regular and back-up power went down.  If this is the worst that befalls the affected region, its people and the country will be very lucky.

“It is also a warning of what might happen with far larger and more devastating effect if we allow our electric grid to remain vulnerable, not just to natural phenomena like terrestrial or solar storms, but to sabotage, cyberwarfare or electromagnetic pulse attacks,” Gaffney continued. “For example, widespread blackouts for a week or more could cause Fukushima-like explosions at nuclear power plants across the country. Houston’s post-Harvey problem underscores that we must secure the grid now!”

View the media page for the Center for Security Policy here. For more information on Frank Gaffney and the Center for Security Policy, visit www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org or follow the Center for Security Policy on Facebook or on Twitter @securefreedom.

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