unthinkingly, we accept the vulnerabilities of these systems as part of the risks of civilization. Nonetheless, it is instructive to examine some of the vulnerabilities of the infrastructures on which we depend both for our standard of living and for our survival itself. The water supply for most cities in the United States is carried by a very few (sometimes only one) aqueducts from reservoirs at some distance from the city. These acqueducts frequently cross rivers or ravines with little or no restriction of access, so that terrorists could easily interdict the entire water supply for at least a few weeks with a modest supply of conventional explosives. Pumping stations along such aqueducts are also highly vulnerable. A large fraction of the energy supplied to the populous northeastern states of the United States is delivered from the Gulf of Mexico by two major pipelines transporting crude oil and petroleum distillates. Multiple river crossings and pumping stations are protected only by a chain link fence. One of the pipelines is almost totally controlled by a solitary computer system on the ground floor of an office building with virtually open public access. In many cases, a spare pump at a pumping station is in the same room as the operating pump, so that a single explosion could destroy both. (Most of these pumps are custom-order items, so that months might be required for replacement.) In a nuclear exchange, the existing electric utility grids in the continental United States would be vulnerable to sizable surge currents induced by electromagnetic pulses (EMP) from a handful of strategic nuclear weapons detonated at high altitudes (about 100 km) at selected points over North America. Such surges in the network would be quite likely to trip a large fraction of the electrical generators across the country simultaneously. Recovery from such a massive blackout would not be routine or straightforward, even if every generating plant should survive intact. (Note that the events at Three Mile Island in March 1979 began with a surge in the electric grid, and that several large generators suffered significant damage in the Northeast blackout of 1966.) Most of the industrialized countries today depend on petroleum imports for a large fraction of their energy supply. In most cases, the petroleum is transported in tankers and supertankers over thousands of miles of international waters. Most oil from the Middle East must pass through the Strait of Hormuz, an area of some political instability. Regardless of flag shown, tankers would be prime targets in
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