We’re not prepared if more bad things like Hurricane Katrina or the 2003 blackout happen.
My first thought when we heard about the 2003 blackout – sitting on the 30th Floor in a conference room, listening to David Wood listening to his radio – was relief that 3000 people weren’t dead.
My second thought was: How could this possibly happen 2 years after the 9/11 attacks? How dare they not make sure nothing like that could ever possibly happen?
Maybe I watched too much Comedy Central tonight, but what kind of IDIOT doesn’t secure the power grid against catastrophic failure like, TWO DAYS after a brutally masterminded terrorist attack? It’s not like people weren’t thinking about it. Check out this blog post from October 2001:

The structure of America’s power grid favors terrorists and other attackers. American power companies rely on relatively few generation plants and a vast transmission network, so a few strikes on the right power plants and transmission nodes could knock out electricity to millions of homes and businesses. It’s time to consider moving from the present system of large, centralized power plants, each serving millions of people, to a system of small, local power generators that serve individual buildings or communities.

Or this 2001 article about a possible cyber-attack accompanying or following a blackout …
Doesn’t it make you wonder if the city’s water is being managed properly? And what other horrible ways we might be exposed?
The Think Progress Blog of the Center for American Progress has this timeline of the sluggish, inadequate federal response to Katrina.
Meanwhile, the thinking behind the project the government did pour its heart and soul into is looking shakier all the time.