Ridge: Plant, Port Security Lacking

Just two weeks ago, Florida homeland security officials tried to assure the public that the state’s power plants, water facilities and other infrastructure are safe. Now the federal homeland security chief says Florida’s plans might not be good enough. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge addressed the nation’s utilities commissioners on Wednesday, telling them that security is not yet good enough at many critical facilities like power plants. Ridge said that effective immediately, his department would put an increased emphasis on protecting the nation’s infrastructure — especially telecommunications and utilities — both of which could be prime terrorist targets according to the federal government. “You do damage potentially to the grid, and you have affected how a community can operate.” Ridge warned. “What you do with systems that are interdependent (will) have far-reaching consequences on a community or a region.” Ridge said the Homeland Security Department has two new units dedicated to improving the detection and prevention of terrorist attacks. Without increased security, experts fear that terrorists could gain access to critical infrastructure. And it isn’t just terrorists who could find it easy to gain access. Recently, a small Massachusetts airport closed temporarily when hackers shut off its electricity after tapping into the local power company’s electrical grid. And in Arizona recently, a 12-year-old boy broke into the computer that runs one of that state’s dams, and operated the floodgates. Full Story