Jackson Jambalaya

Earlier this month, NBC reported, “Lumen Technologies, a telecommunications company based in Louisiana, said in a statement that ‘some customers in Nevada, South Dakota, and Nebraska experienced an outage due to a third-party company installing a light pole — unrelated to our services.’" According to the article, “The outage left millions in multiple states without emergency access to authorities for about 2½ hours.” Installing one light pole?

Emergencies happen all the time and people have learned to call 911 in cases of emergencies. So, what happens when people in three states lose 911 coverage for more than two hours? What happens when Internet outages strike randomly across regions of America? We’re used to losing electrical power due weather related events, but not for nefarious actions.

January 31, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified in Congress, “Hackers linked to the Chinese government are targeting critical U.S. infrastructure, preparing to cause ‘real-world harm’ to Americans….” What kind of infrastructure? Wray told the House Select Committee on competition with China that structures like “Water treatment plants, the electric grid, oil and natural gas pipelines and transportation hubs are among the targets of state-sponsored hacking operations….” Coincidently, U.S. officials announced the same day that they had disrupted a sweeping Chinese cyber-spying operation.

Wray explained, “They're not focused just on political and military targets. We can see from where they position themselves across civilian infrastructure, that low blows aren't just a possibility in the event of conflict, low blows against civilians are part of China's plan.”

CBS 60 Minutes aired a program February 4 that Chinese migrants are the fastest growing group crossing from Mexico into the U.S. at the southern border. According to 60 Minutes, “Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 37,000 Chinese citizens were apprehended crossing illegally from Mexico into the U.S.…that's 50 times more than two years earlier.”

China has many advantages over the U.S. in the arena of cyber warfare. Expanding the number of Chinese nationals in America via large movements of migrants is not a small advantage, especially when the U.S. does not track a large percentage of these migrants.

For years Russians have interfered with American domestic institutions like elections by using strategically placed misinformation of their own. Other nations have exploited our digital and cyber capabilities, and have developed strategies to gain control over our most basic needs. Open borders have facilitated the movement of migrants with special skills who can do more than harvest crops or create pockets of civil unrest.

Iran, North Korea, and a host of other bad actors particularly in the eastern hemisphere form an overwhelming number nations who could disrupt daily life from within and from outside our physical borders.

Sadly, many of these rivals infiltrated our academic, political, and media institutions decades ago and have divided us into ideological identity groups. What happens when communities suddenly lose vital infrastructure and rogue gangs take advantage of neighborhood emergencies?

Will we be able to unite to resist those who threaten our livelihoods and freedoms? Basic grass-roots organizations and institutions like churches and civic societies will need to work together to maintain order. Timely and truthful communication will be the primary “tie that binds” us together. We ought to begin that kind of balanced communication now while we have time.

Daniel L. Gardner is a columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.