Volume 10
Feb 2017 Edition country from terrorism , whether it be foreign or homegrown .
By contrast , the new administration is much more aware of the need to protect us from the threats within our borders as well as the ones outside our country .
As an example , take our power grid , which we depend on for our very lives . There was a study released last year that highlighted four primary risks to the grid , one of them being man-made threats , meaning physical attacks .
As a result , I believe they will utilize this technology to a much greater degree than their predecessors would ever have considered . I believe this will have a tremendous positive impact on our physical security infrastructure and on our industry .
It cited a report from Time magazine that stated a coordinated attack on just nine of our 55,000 electric transmission substations on the right day could cause a nationwide blackout .
And yet , as this same report points out , we are being very slow to adopt enhanced physical security measures .
AST : Where do you see the industry five years from now ?
John Chigos : After spending the last 13 years in this industry , I ’ m confident in saying it ’ s inevitable that you ’ re going to see major mass deployments of vehicle identification systems like ours .
It ’ s inevitable because we ’ re more vulnerable than we ’ ve ever been at any point in history , and most people don ’ t really want to think about it or understand it .
It ’ s clear that the new administration understands that and is ready to address it .
We talk about cybersecurity , and rightly so , but remember it takes a lot more skill and intelligence to hack into a server controlling part of the grid than it does to blow up a power plant .
It ’ s not a question of if this will happen , but when . That ’ s why it ’ s so imperative that technology like PlateSmart ’ s and similar technologies be deployed as quickly as possible to protect us prior to an attack .
I believe you ’ re also going to see an increased use of it at the southern border , making use of drones equipped with the technology to identify and track drug smugglers and terrorists trying to
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