How many of these statements could be applied to other interconnected systems, such as the Internet. Think about the outages last summer in the power system which lead to this report. What would a similar scope of outages look like on the Internet? Compare and contrast. You have 2 hours to complete this test :-)

From the Department of Energy's Power Outage Study Team final report on the Summer of 1999 power outages issued on Monday.

http://www.policy.energy.gov/electricity/postfinal.pdf "This change makes the current system of voluntary compliance with reliability standards inadequate for ensuring reliability. Mandatory standards for bulk-power psystems are needed to ensure that the "rules of the road" are implemented in a straightforward and balanced manner." "Many forums for exchanging information on "best practices" for maintaining and operating electric generation, transmission and distribution systems already exist. However, concerns exist about the consistency of some information (such as reliability indicies), the availability of data to all industry stakeholders, and the continued viability of these forums in a restructured industry. The federal government could play an important role in enhancing the definition, collection, and sharing of information." "Emergencies on bulk-power systems affect large geographic areas, involve many stake holders, and affect millions of customers. The events of the summer of 1999 demonstrated that effective communication and coordination among many parties are critical during times of system emergencies. The federal government should actively support efforts to continually review and improve planning and response capabilities." "In view of the regional and national implications of power outages, known and emerging electric system vulnerabilties need to be studied from a national rather than local perspective. Studies from a national perspective uniquely belong to the federal government, but studies must be carried out in close partnership with the electric industry."