Three Questions about Physical Grid Security

Today the North American electric power system consists of about 15,000 generators, 450,000 miles of high-voltage (100kV or higher) transmission lines, over six million miles of lower-voltage distribution lines and more than 15,000 substations. Last year's attack on a California substation did not awaken concerns about the network's physical security. Here are the three key questions I have been asked repeatedly in the last 13 years, going back to when I directed infrastructure security R&D post 9/11 at the Electric Power Research Institute.