Our Glass House: The Vulnerability of Critical Infrastructure
America's refineries, pipelines, power grids, and data centers are, unfortunately, wide open. They sit in plain sight, mapped by publicly available satellite imagery, and their locations are cataloged in government databases that have long since been compromised. Anyone with insider knowledge or even rudimentary research skills can identify single points of failure that would cause chaos for millions of people. The vulnerability is not theoretical; it is a matter of public record.
The recent Joliet refinery incident is a perfect illustration of how fragile our systems have become. When that refinery went down, it triggered a diesel panic and sent shockwaves through the regional fuel supply chain. Imagine that same scenario replicated across a dozen refineries simultaneously. The economic fallout would be catastrophic, and our current strategies for defending these sprawling assets are nothing short of inadequate. You cannot surround hundreds of square miles of pipeline with barbed wire and armed guards.
Russia has already recognized this reality. Its government authorized its central bank and Sberbank to operate anti-drone systems and arm personnel to defend financial infrastructure, effectively turning bankers into air-defense operators. Putin even moved to allow the state to temporarily seize commercial critical infrastructure that is not sufficiently protected from drone strikes. I find it telling that Russia, which we are supposed to consider our inferior, is adapting to this threat while our own officials issue warnings but do nothing. The FBI has publicly acknowledged that cheap commercial drones now pose a significant threat to U.S. security and the homeland, and that low-cost drones can kill personnel and damage critical infrastructure. That warning should have been a wake-up call. Instead, it has been largely ignored.
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