The Wall Street Journal article about cyber spies from Russian and China penetrating utilities command and control systems and leaving behind bits of code to be activated later is very disturbing, but not for the reasons you might suspect.  I am extremely dubious of the motivations behind these unnamed “federal officials” quoted as sources by the Journal.

In the first place, there were no new facts revealed in the article.  They may have been “new” to the general public, but utilities have known of these attacks for years.  I have spoken over the last decade with many utility officials who report a constant barrage of such attacks ranging at some large utilities to more than 10,000 per month.  Not only do these attacks come from China and Russia, but also from many Middle Eastern countries.  Pick any reasonable list of potential “enemies” of the United States and sources in those countries have been trying to “hack” the U.S. grid for years.

I also had an interesting conversation several months ago with a principle investigator for one of the federal national laboratories who described in considerable detail how hackers had penetrated the grids of several Eastern European countries and either brought them down or threatened to do so for ransom.  Several large sums apparently already have been paid for this new form of kidnapping.

Thus, there was no “news” in this story.  What there was is a couple of implied threats. 

The first implied threat seemed to be that bits of code left behind by these “cyber spies” could bring down the grid at any time.  If we know about these Trojan horses, do you think utilities have not already removed them?  Yes, there could be some we don’t know about, but these unnamed “federal officials” seemed to want to imply that the malicious code is still there ready at any time to bring down the grid.

The second implied threat is more subtle.  Could these “federal officials,” by “hyping” something now that utility professionals have known about for years be laying the groundwork for something a lot of new “federal officials” in the Obama administration might want to contemplate—nationalization of the grid.  Such a goal would seem to be very consistent with the governing philosophy of the Omamaites.

The utility industry has done a pretty decent job of keeping the grid up and protecting for years against these constant threats from abroad.  They have quietly gone about the business of fending off millions upon millions of cyber attacks each year.  Have some gone undefended?  Possibly, but I assure you all of those mentioned by these “federal officials” are known about and have been eliminated.  In this on-going process, utilities have cooperated with the FBI, the Homeland Security Department, the national laboratories and dozens of other federal agencies.  Why would these particular “federal officials” now find it necessary to tout this process in public and with a threatening tone?

As a believer in free enterprise and “liberal Democracy” as propounded by the founding fathers, these unnamed “federal officials” quoted by the Journal scare me to death.  I suspect their motives in this disclosure aren't pure; I think they’re downright dangerous.  Nationalize the grid and the Obamaites will control the industry to the exclusion of any private influence in the entire utility industry.  Control the grid and you can dictate how power is generated and distributed.  I suspect that is what they may be really after.  Get enough people frightened and it will grease the skids.

I don’t worry much about the threat from abroad, that can be dealt with.  It’s the domestic threat to the freedoms we hold dear that frightens me greatly.  I'd really like to know who these "unnamed federal officials" were.  They don't sound like FBI agents, national lab investigators and others who have been working with utilities for years to protect the grid. They do their work quietly, anonymously, and they don't talk to the press. They sound more like some new forces in America who may be less interested in protecting the grid than in seizing it.  Read carefully by anyone in possession of the facts about this issue, the Journal story sounds an awful lot like deliberate misinformation, also known as propaganda.  If you don't believe propaganda takes place all the time in this country, you haven't been paying attention.