I have been writing on the risks associated with a potential EMP attack. Such an attack from the Caribbean could well have devastating consequences for America. Missile defense in general should be our country’s high priority. I continue to see a lack of resolve in Washington. My linked update here will be instructive in showing you how the Obama administration is dealing with the subject of missile defense.

Related Posts:

• VIDEO: The Faraday Cage
• Solar Flares and Government’s Greedy Hand
• Part C—Are You on the Right Survival Security List? Probably Not!
• Part B—Are You on the Right Survival Security List? Probably Not!
• Solar storm a serious threat around 2012

We were lost in a maze of road construction in Dijon rushing to make a train to Avignon. The train station markings we had been told to expect were absent, and GPS is worthless in construction areas. Now the heat was on as we pulled into a tire-changing outpost unlikely to be staffed by multi linguists. Walking up to one of the workers, I rolled out my limited but workable road French and got a quick shake of the head to the negative on Bonjour, Monsieur, parlez vous anglais? A little more clutch and grab French and he motioned me to follow him into a tiny office where he drew a map that would prove to put us spot on to the Dijon station in plenty of time to catch our train.

Next up would be actually catching the correct train and boarding so as not to end up in a rugby-like scrum. One must select the correct car on the first shot or a potential logistical nightmare awaits. It continues to astound me how many Americans (not Europeans) insist on traveling as if on safari. You know, luggage the size of steamer trunks too large to be muscled about by even NFL size nose tackles. These beasts get jammed in narrow aisles and are of course impossible to heft overhead, where there’s barely enough room to wedge your overcoat. The end result is gridlock and a plugged aisle. You, if you have stumbled on to the wrong car and must move onward, are out of luck. The sure way to prevent such unpleasantry is to check in advance with the electronic seating digital graphic on the platform. It displays your train, car by car, with numbers that correspond to A-Z signs on the platform that show exactly where your car will stop. You can be perfectly positioned to jump on the right car on the first try.

On you go with your two carry-ons. Be sure to check out the new polycarb spinner bags. These ultra-light babies have wheels that spin 360-degree and are a marvel to maneuver through crowds. Don’t forget, you’ll be hauling your luggage through train stations, facing at least one flight of stairs (no elevator, escalator or red cap service), so no travel behemoths and certainly no checked luggage. In Europe you will find bag racks at both ends of your TGV high-speed train. If the first rack is full, have no fear. You should be good at the other end of the car. Keep the smaller of your two carry-ons with you at your seat. Your travel agent can provide you with hard copy train tickets well in advance of your trip, but do your own homework on the Internet to ensure that your get the best connections. Wherever possible, you want to go first class on the high speed TGV. The French have us beat hands down in all forms of travel from the TGV to the Paris underground system, above ground bus system, and certainly Air France versus an American option.

Travel through Paris Charles de Gaulle is first rate. Travel through Boston and the prison-break security madhouse, coupled with the frat house business class lounge, is anything but a pleasant experience. And we are assured that the body scans we are now forced to endure are more akin to the radiation from Buster Brown foot scanners we all remember from the fifties. But who today would ever think of subjecting their children or grandkids to one of those? It’s nuts.

So, a little advanc homework will do you no end of good. In our four trips to Paris, we have found without exception the French to be warm and helpful. Perhaps this is because we have worked hard on our bistro and travel French, dress appropriately, and can work with a French menu and wine list pretty much without a hitch. Get Andy Herbach’s Eating & Drinking in Paris and your ability to do business and travel in France will be off on the right foot. (In the next couple of weeks, I’ll list a number of other books and apps that we’ve found helpful.)

Your next top priority is whether to hotel it on the right or left bank and in which of Paris’ 20 arrondissments (neighborhoods). Paris has over 50 five star hotels and many more four stars. FiveStar Alliance.com is a great website to help you in the great fun of selectin a hotel. All but a handful of the five star palace hotels are on the right bank, and those mostly in the 8th arrondissment. Hotel Lutetia and Hotel Pont Royal are on the left bank. We have plenty of experience with both La Rive Gauche and La Rive Droite, and prefer the left, which ultimately narrows our choice to Hotel Lutetia. Unfortunately, Hotel Lutetia, along with the Paris Ritz (spectacular) and Hotel deCrillon, is closing for a two-year massive renovation next spring (so there’s still a little time left). With selected exceptions, we confine our hotel stays to the right bank 8th and the left bank 6th and 7th, where we have innumerable choices for walking access to museums, top tourists sights, and bistros and restaurants.

Booking in a five star gives the added benefit of first class concierge services. François-Xavier Berenger, head concierge at Hotel Lutetia, has helped Debbie and me out of a number of jams and greased the skids with aplomb on as many other occasions. We have found the assistance of a top-flight concierge in Paris a must. Do not book bistro reservations on your own. Instead have your concierge front run your French dining experience for you. It is important to reconfirm a day in advance. During our ramblings around Paris, Debbie and I usually do a field visit so we know where we are going in advance.

Remember, Sunday in Paris can be a tough as many of the A-list selections are closed. Sunday night is a good night to try some of the historical brasseries like The Dome or the Hotel Lutetia’s brasserie. A little advance work will serve you well and make your time in France the best it can possibly be. Our France expert and travel arranger is Ryland Stacy. Ryland knows many of the ins and outs and can set you on a winning course, as she has on so many occasions done for Debbie and me.

Good fortune and warm regards,
Dick

Related Posts:

• The Travel Consultant for You!
• A Brand-New Star on the World Music Scene.
• What I Learned in Paris: Spring 2012 — Part 1
• VIDEO: A l’Etoile d’Or
• A World Class Treat for You

Foreign Policy magazine recently published an article penned by the Cato Institute’s Director of Foreign Policy Studies, Justin Logan. Logan pointed out fundamental truths that make the Koch brothers’ attempted takeover of Cato seem odder than ever. Logan focused on his area of expertise—foreign policy—and pointed out the diametrically opposing views of the Cato Institute and the directors the Koch brothers have attempted to appoint. Logan writes:

Here’s the quick and dirty on what’s happening. The Kochs are suing Cato to obtain total control of the institute. They recently began forcing out Cato’s libertarian board members and replacing them with Koch operatives who are financially dependent on and/or otherwise entangled with the Kochs. Two of the people they tried but failed to force onto our board were John Hinderaker, a self-described “neocon” who writes for the hawkish and partisan Powerline blog, and Tony Woodlief, who declared that libertarian foreign-policy scholars “sound like absolute fools” or, alternatively, like “naive sophomores,” and went on to egregiously mischaracterize some of the things libertarians have said about foreign policy in recent decades. He’s within his rights to do so, but those stated views make him an odd pick to sit on Cato’s board.

Beyond their hawkish, anti-libertarian board nominees, the Kochs recently funded a project that could fairly be labeled Neoconpalooza, as my colleague Chris Preble documents here. (Quick summary: The Charles G. Koch Foundation gave money to AEI to host a seminar series featuring six speakers, all of whom were strong supporters of the foreign policy of the George W. Bush administration.)

More broadly, they’ve made clear that they want Cato to be more responsive to research requests from their partisan activist groups like Americans for Prosperity. Do those groups really want to hear detached scholarship arguing that security threats are overblown, that immigration is a net plus for the country, that the war on drugs has pointlessly killed tens of thousands of Mexicans, and that the United States should dramatically scale back its global military ambitions? Probably not.

The Kochs are often powerful defenders of freedom. But the appointment of neocons to the Cato board is beyond the pale. There is no place for foreign policy hawks on the board of the Cato Institute. To preserve its credibility, Cato must remain independent.

Related Posts:

• The #1 Economic Think Tank in the World and My Go-To Source!
• Breaking News from Dick Young on the Koch Brothers/Cato Battle
• P.J. O’Rourke on the Koch Billionaires and the Cato Institute
• Save Cato
• Cato Institue Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty Winner: Mao Yushi

Centurion™ Weapon System provides immediate situational awareness, precision fires, real-time targeting and kill assessment.

The Centurion™ Weapon System is a Land-Based Phalanx Weapon System with the capability of integration with other protection sensors and systems.

The Centurion™ Weapon System mission represents a revolutionary approach to countering insurgent activities by intercepting rockets, artillery and mortar rounds in the air before impact, thereby reducing or eliminating any damage they might cause.

The Mobile Land-Based Phalanx Weapon System (MLPWS) integrates the combat-proven Centurion Land-Based Phalanx Weapon System on a Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) A3. All functions of the Centurion design featuring the Phalanx Block 1B are maintained on the MLPWS, which provides a more flexible component to the U.S. Army’s Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar initiative.

In the MLPWS configuration, Phalanx uses a 20 mm M61A1 Gatling gun that fires M-940 self-destruct rounds at a rate of 4,500 shots per minute. The system features an advanced search and track radar with closed-loop spotting technology that enables autonomous target detection and engagement. Phalanx can be interfaced with other sensors and systems to provide overarching protection of high-value sites on the ground.

Oshkosh’s HEMTT is a series of 10-ton, eight-wheel-drive vehicles designed to provide transport capabilities for resupply of combat vehicles and weapons systems. The HEMTT A3 features revolutionary ProPulse® diesel-electric drive technology that can improve fuel efficiency by at least 20 percent compared with other HEMTT models. An integrated generator can deliver more than 100 kilowatts of military-grade AC power for external operations. This advanced vehicle can climb a 60 percent grade, cross the most challenging terrain and achieve 65 mph on secondary roads.

Source: Raytheon

Recent News: Raytheon awarded $57.8 million Phalanx contract – May 18, 2012
U.S. Army Awards Northrop Grumman $122 Million Counter-Rocket, Artillery and Mortar (C-RAM) Contract – January 30, 2012

Related Posts:

• Raytheon Small Tactical Munition (STM)
• Patriot Air and Missile Defense System
• MQ-X Warthog Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV): U.S. Plans Unmanned A-10
• Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
• Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM)

Related Posts:

• VIDEO: Food Stamp Fraud
• Who’s Looking Out for You?
• The Debt Bomb Ticking Near You
• “This is Not Class Warfare, It’s Math” — President Barack Obama
• An American Greek Tragedy

Have you heard the term SCADA? An event affecting SCADA—Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition systems—is potentially one of the worst threats America faces. The EMP Commission Report referred to SCADA as “critical elements in every aspect of every critical infrastructure in the Nation.” The commission highlighted SCADA as vulnerable to EMP attack. But another route to these vital systems is cyber-attack.

The 2003 Northeast Blackout as a seen from space.

SCADA control everything—electricity, water, sewage, traffic lights, trains, phones, corporate computer systems, procurement systems, billing systems, oil and gas pipelines and more. A widespread SCADA attack could wreak havoc. The Congressional Research Service described a worst-case scenario as the combination of a physical attack and an attack on SCADA systems:

This use of cyber-terrorism could result in an amplification of the physical attack’s effects. An example of this might be a conventional bombing attack on a building combined with a temporary denial of electrical or telephone service. The resulting degradation of emergency response, until back-up electrical or communication systems can be brought into place and used, could increase the number of casualties and public panic.

Cyber-attack threats to SCADA systems have already been realized. The well-known Stuxnet virus that apparently set back Iranian uranium enrichment systems targeted the systems’ SCADA controls. Viruses like Stuxnet get between systems and their controllers, making the controllers believe everything is fine while the systems are given directions to go haywire. An HP TippingPoint analysis of Stuxnet explained the process like this:

A malicious Stuxnet DLL file intercepted commands and replaced them with its own destructive commands. To prevent detection, it disabled automated alarms and masked what was happening to the PLCs by intercepting communications between computers. It literally stripped away any signs of an infection, so workers monitoring the SCADA system could only see legitimate commands and operation.

In the report quoted above, the CRS indicated that the Blaster worm could have exacerbated the 2003 blackout in the Northeast. That outage cost up to $10 billion in the U.S., according to the U.S.-Canada Power System Outage Task Force setup to investigate the outage. According to the NRC, computers at the Indian Point nuclear power plant were compromised and “various computer systems had to be removed from service, including the Critical Function Monitoring System, the Local Area Network, the Safety Assessment System/Emergency Data Display System, the Digital Radiation Monitoring System and the Safety Assessment System.”

In January of 2003, according to the GAO, another virus named Slammer “infected a private computer network at the Davis-Besse nuclear power plant in Oak Harbor, Ohio, disabling a safety monitoring system for nearly 5 hours. In addition, the plant’s process computer failed, and it took about 6 hours for it to become available again. Slammer reportedly also affected communications on the control networks of other electricity sector organizations by propagating so quickly that control system traffic was blocked.”

These are SCADA system attacks, carried out here in the U.S.A. What can you do to prepare for a possible cyber-attack on U.S. SCADA systems? Read Dick Young’s EMP Threat: Be Prepared. The effects of an EMP or cyber-SCADA attack would be similar. Prepare yourself and your family by keeping extra food and water on hand, and by reviewing the other steps Dick Young lays out in his piece on EMP attack preparation.

Related Posts:

• Part C—Are You on the Right Survival Security List? Probably Not!
• Part B—Are You on the Right Survival Security List? Probably Not!
• Chaos at the Big Box Supermarkets in Emergency Conditions
• The Survival of Your Family in Times of Emergency
• Prepare and Live. Don’t Prepare and Die.