By Brian T. Kennedy, President, Claremont Institute
Text: http://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/current
Review by Francis P. Sempa, Contributing Editor
In April 2013, terrorists or soldiers launched an attack on a substation of America’s electrical grid in San Jose, California. The attack, according to Brian Kennedy in a speech at Hillsdale College’s Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship, was aimed at disabling part of the U.S. infrastructure and exposed a vulnerability that U.S. leaders must recognize and take steps to counter.
The attackers were not apprehended and have not been identified, but Kennedy warns that America’s electrical grid is a prime target of domestic and foreign terrorists. A successful attack on just two large transformers, he said, could cripple the United States, resulting in economic collapse and widespread death and destruction.
Kennedy notes that the San Jose attack did not receive nearly as much media attention as the Boston Marathon attack which occurred around the same time period, but he believes that both events should awaken U.S. leaders to the dangers posed by radicalized Muslims within this country and abroad. He notes that while only five-to-ten percent of Muslims in the U.S. are radicalized, that translates into very large numbers considering that there are between five million and ten million Muslims in the U.S. When he looks abroad, Kennedy sees the greatest danger emanating from Iran.
What needs to be done? Kennedy offers five suggestions. First, build fences around electrical grid substations to hide vulnerable large transformers. Second, harden the electrical grid. Third, build a more robust ballistic missile defense. Fourth, declare the Muslim Brotherhood both here and abroad a terrorist organization and disband its affiliates. Fifth, employ a more effective educational program of assimilation for immigrants to the U.S.
Kennedy warns that “we are courting suicide by ignoring clear and present dangers.”