Old Transformers, New Threats: Is America’s Power Grid at Risk

At The Boundary

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Are America's Transformers the Weak Link in National Security?
In this episode of the At the Boundary podcast, GNSI’s Lt Col John "JAY" Patrich, an MQ-9 pilot and National Security Research Fellow at the GNSI, sits down with Jesse Humpal, Ph.D., an Air Force officer currently serving in the Chief of Staff of the Air Force’s Strategic Studies Group. Their discussion centers on Humpal’s recent article “Transformer Trouble and the National Security Imperative.”
This episode looks at America’s transformer infrastructure vulnerabilities—whether due to age, or the fact that they’re not set up to handle emerging technologies such as data centers, electric vehicles and AI powered machinery. These structures are vulnerable to both cyber and kinetic attacks, from both foreign adversaries and domestic extremists.

Transformer failures can impact tens of thousands of people, and with most military bases relying on local power, sustained blackouts could have disastrous consequences.

Listen to hear what Humpal thinks needs to be done to make this outdated and aging infrastructure more resilient and how we might prepare for the next attack.

Links from the episode:

• Register for CyberBay Here!

• Register for a webinar on irregular warfare with Dr. Rob Burrell and Chris Mason! (Closed)

• Cyber Florida’s “The Making of a Defender” Documentary Premiere

• “Governance, Grievance, and Violent Extremism in West Africa: From the Caliphates to Great Power Competition” – by Zacharias P. Pieri and Kevin S. Fridy

At the Boundary from the Global and National Security Institute at the University of South Florida, features global and national security issues we’ve found to be insightful, intriguing, fascinating, maybe controversial, but overall just worth talking about.
A "boundary" is a place, either literal or figurative, where two forces exist in close proximity to each other. Sometimes that boundary is in a state of harmony. More often than not, that boundary has a bit of chaos baked in. The Global and National Security Institute will live on the boundary of security policy and technology and that's where this podcast will focus.
The mission of GNSI is to provide actionable solutions to 21st-century security challenges for decision-makers at the local, state, national and global levels. We hope you enjoy At the Boundary.
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