I can't help but fear that yesterday's black out was caused by terrorists testing to see what would happen if they conducted a relatively small-scale disruption to the power grid. Think about it: they targeted a known weakness (the Hart-Rudman report identified it; see p. 27) and probed to see what the effects would be and how we would respond. And what did they learn: no wide-spread pandemonium, no panic, no looting - but also no advanced warning and no way to prevent it. Could this be similar to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center - a not-so-subtly signalled preview of awful things to come?