Blackout '03: An Invitation To Terrorists?

In those first few moments when the power went down, who didn't wonder: Is this the work of terrorists? Within an hour, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg assured us it was not. Yet we are left with a nagging worry: Even if this was an accident, could terrorists pull off something similar?

Certainly, terrorists might be tantalized by the massive social and economic disruption the blackout caused. The episode brought chaos to 50 million people in eight states and Canada and showed just how vulnerable the tightly knit network of generators and transmission lines is. In the wake of a...

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