Dr. Peter Vincent Pry

PETER PRY, Executive Director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security:

Segment One:

• Details of the EMP threat: what it is, where it could come from, and why recovering from a widespread blackout would be devastatingly slow

Segment Two:

• Lessons learned from a highly organized and well-equipped assault on a California electric transformer last year
• How cyber hacking can cause the physical destruction of power grid components
• Natural occurring threats to the grid

Segment Three

• Looking at the societal and infrastructural breakdown after Hurricane Katrina as a microcosm of what would happen if the grid went down long-term

Segment Four

• North Korea’s EMP dry-run over the DC-NYC air corridor
• US Military’s success in protecting its grid infrastructure
• Problems with Congress and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation holding up efforts to protect America’s grid
• Success stories in enacting legislative change