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5 Things You Need To Know About The Pentagon's Preparations For Conflict In Outer Space
 On September 11th, 2001, terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center, a symbol of American power and prestige. It was the worst sneak attack in U.S. history since the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. The destruction of the Twin Towers was a huge blow to America’s national psyche. Apart from the tragic loss of life, however, the attack by itself did little to diminish America’s military or economic strength. The next surprise strike -- if it comes -- could be far more disruptive and disabling.Historians, military experts and technology buffs agree that the next 9/11 or Pearl Harbor could involve a form of cyber warfare that begins in outer space. In a nightmare scenario, rogue powers (hackers and terrorists) or familiar adversaries (Russia or China) might succeed in knocking out or disabling critical American communications satellites. A worst case scenario would entail a nationwide loss of cell phone service, an Internet blackout and the disruption of key power grids across the country. Under such circumstances, experts contend that the stock market would grind to a halt. Traffic signals would malfunction. Online commerce would cease. The American way of life would be under siege. Sounds a lot like the Y2K problem, back in 2000. When we left 1999 behind us and all the ATM's failed, and computers went down, barfing COBOL and ALGOL and Logo and all those other horrible things, and the power grid shut down... But that never happened because a swarm of programmers made good money by fiddling the way dates turned over, and then when we entered the new century -- the first year in a thousand years that was neatly divisible by four that wasn't a leap year -- the whole hysteria evaporated when even the machines that had gotten overlooked in the hysteria mostly functioned correctly. The power stayed on, the ATMs continued giving money, occasionally drooling a bit of C++ but not much, and computers didn't freeze up. Now nobody wants to talk about it. But I'm sure this one really is different. And don't eat barbecue. It'll give you cancer. Apples are coated with Alar at least an inch deep. Salt is bad for you. Farmers torture chickens for fun. Posted by: Blossom Unains5562 2016-12-06 |
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