Senior Editor Bill Gertz discussed his recent stories on recent Russian jets buzzing United States Naval ships as well as threats to our electrical grid Wednesday evening on The Steve Malzberg Show on NewsmaxTV.
Malzberg asked Gertz how common the flybys are. On Thursday, a Russian jet, R-135, had come dangerously close to a U.S. surveillance plane. The plane had come within 50 feet of the naval ship.
"It is not unusual, the closeness and the dangerousness of these two recent incidents are unprecedented," Gertz said.
A Pentagon source told Gertz said that he has never seen anything come as dangerously close as with the Guided Missile Destroyer Cook. Any turbulence could have killed the pilot and anyone who was on the ship.
Malzberg also asked Gertz about the threat of cyber attacks to the U.S. power grids. Recently, the Department of Homeland of Security had downplayed the threat but the FBI came out and said that the threat of an attack was more of an issue.
The FBI has begun a nationwide campaign that included briefings and webinars for utility companies.
In December there was a major attack in the Ukraine that took out lights for thousands of people. The attack was carried out by the Russians using a malware software called "Black Energy 3."
"It was developed by the Russians and has been cited within our networks as well," Gertz said. "We have 16 different critical infrastructures but there is only one critical infrastructure and that is the electrical grid. If you shut that down, we are in the dark ages."
Gertz said that one of the benefits of the electrical grid is diffuse and there are three grids: the West, Texas, and the East Coast. The problem is that the grids are in private hands and that it is trying to be hardened to prevent an ENP attack.