Loose lips sink ships!

8/24/05: Not one letter in response to these two OpEds has yet been published. Is it possible that there was no reader reaction to these columns? Or did the Editors realize they had helped to reveal a very critical area of our nation's vulnerability? Do you suppose Homeland Security took notice of this dereliction of journalistic responsibility?

In today's OpEd section, Thomas Homer-Dixon, Director of the Trudeau Center for Peace and Conflict, at the University of Toronto, states that our highly "connected" world provides great benefits, but it is now much more susceptible to catastrophic breakdown. Then, after noting that "greater connectivity allows companies (to make) larger profits" he advocates that the US should be less dependent on oil. He concludes by taking a gratuitous swipe at the energy bill just passed by Congress and signed by Bush, saying that it does nothing to address the appalling vulnerability of the USA. Does the Times ever fail to remind us that our problems are caused by corporations seeking to get richer? The Horn

Then, in a companion piece on the same page, Gregory S. McNeal gets right to the point. In case the jihadists have not already included this option in their planning, he tells them that with a few synchronized hits at only 4 or 5 "very poorly protected" electrical control sites, the US could be plunged into darkness and chaos for weeks on end. He noted that these sites are often described and referred to in Trade Journals. But I did breathe a sigh of relief when he stopped short of identifying their latitudes and longitudes. Doesn't Staff work for Al Qaeda get easier by the day? The Horn

<{}> The Hornblower has already drawn attention to the fact that Al Qaeda’s next attack on the USA will almost certainly exceed 9/11 in scale. To maintain credibility in itself and in its jihadist cause, Al Qaeda has to be planning something horrendous. But while it is thus engaged, should we be telling it to make sure it doesn't overlook another of our Achilles’ heels. (Check Osama’s comment in the Pasta con sarde posting)