In a chilling warning, Kash Patel, a former Trump administration official, raised alarms about the vulnerability of the United States’ power infrastructure during an interview with former Navy SEAL/CIA Contractor Shawn Ryan.
Patel, known for his expertise in national security and defense, painted a grim picture of the nation’s preparedness—or lack thereof—against potential attacks on its electric grids.
With the 2024 election looming, Patel suggested that America could be facing an unprecedented threat that could cripple the country.
The conversation began with Patel expressing his concerns over the inadequate attention given to the security of the nation’s power grids. He emphasized that these systems are incredibly vulnerable to outside attacks and that once hit, they cannot be quickly repaired.
Kash Patel: “The people doing the work can’t collect the intel that you need to secure this nation against things like attacks on electric grids because they’re not allowed to look there.”
Shawn Ryan: “How vulnerable is it to outside attacks?”
Kash Patel: “Big. It’s big because once they hit it, we can’t fix it fast. Look, we just saw Paris during the Olympics get blacked out. It wasn’t a coincidence after the opening ceremonies. And again, I think President Trump has talked about this.
You need to overhaul the infrastructure around these systems to safeguard us from what I view as one of the easier threats our adversaries can deploy against America. These are also harder to trace. So that’s the other thing.
The sourcing would be much harder on that than, say, a kinetic operation like a 9/11-style attack.”
Patel’s concerns extend beyond the physical infrastructure, touching on the bureaucratic red tape and lack of prioritization that has left the nation exposed. He criticized the current administration for neglecting these issues and warned that adversaries such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea could exploit these weaknesses.
Shawn Ryan: “I mean, is there any contingency plan at the top if that were to happen?”
Kash Patel: “So there’s this thing called COG capabilities, like continuity of government, and everyone has heard about locations around America that I can’t really talk about.
But there’s a continuity plan for the government to keep going and for enough personnel to be around to make sure we can do all those things and supposedly defend the nation and keep the commander-in-chief and his cabinet secure.
But there’s no contingency plan to say, if you wipe out the electricity west of the Mississippi, how are we going to turn it back on? It doesn’t exist.”
The potential for such an attack, according to Patel, is not just a hypothetical scenario but a looming reality. He suggested that America’s adversaries are biding their time, waiting for the most opportune moment to strike—possibly before, during, or just after the election.
Shawn Ryan: “I mean, do they talk about this at that level? Do they even understand what will happen if the grid goes down? I know we did when we were in.”
Kash Patel: “I know we did. And again, this isn’t something you’re fixing overnight. You’ve got to get Congress to buy in and budget for this, allow the agencies and departments to go in and make this a priority, and allow companies to come in and rebuild the infrastructure and fix it. Same with our nuclear programs. It’s the same deal.”
Shawn Ryan: “So, we’re screwed?”
Kash Patel: “I think we have an ability. That’s why I think this election is so important—not just for everything we’ve talked about up to this point but in terms of national security and defense, which is my wheelhouse.
We have an opportunity to come in and reprioritize all the things that you and I have just been talking about so that the American people are safeguarded, because they’ve been neglected for too long. These have not been priorities of the current administration and some of the previous administrations.”
Shawn Ryan: “How likely is that method of attack, do you think, from Russia, Iran, North Korea, or China?”
Kash Patel: “Something’s going to happen, if it hasn’t already. Here’s the other thing: the intel community right now is playing catch-up on half these attacks because, again, it wasn’t a priority to preemptively detect them and thwart the attack.
So, not only are you playing catch-up, not only is it a deprioritization of intelligence collection and enforcement, but there’s also no will in D.C. to fix and upgrade any of this stuff.
So, I’ve always said they’re going to come at us in some fashion during this election cycle. I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like or if we’re going to know right away.”
This warning comes after the World Economic Forum released a video last week with the title, ‘A cyber-attack with COVID-like characteristics?‘
WATCH:
Kash Patel suggests that a blackout/attack on our power infrastructure will happen before the election.
“Look we just saw Paris during the Olympics just got blacked out and a coincidence…after the opening ceremonies. You need to overhaul the infrastructure around these… pic.twitter.com/QYfT2XtEwV
— Green Lives Matter (@Ultrafrog17) September 3, 2024
