A bombshell New York Times Magazine report warns that the power grid’s dependence on hard-to-replace transformers is creating a risk of a prolonged national blackout that could be devastating.
Filed on Monday, the report starts by documenting a real event — the Metcalf attack — that occurred in 2013, when electrical transformers at a power station near San Jose, California, were fired upon by unknown rifle-wielding shooters targeting their cooling systems.
The shootings caused oil to leak out and disabled 17 of the transformers. The attackers also cut communication lines. No one was ever caught. Power was rerouted so there wasn’t a major blackout, but it took weeks to fix, and experts saw it as a warning of how vulnerable the system is.
On April 16 2013, a team of highly skilled gunmen opened fire on the Metcalf Power Substation in San Jose California.
In just under 10 minutes, they disabled 17 transformers and caused $15m in damages.
This is the most important terror attack you’ve never heard of. Quick thread pic.twitter.com/nNmil3ba6y
— Will Manidis (@WillManidis) June 6, 2022
The Times points to a study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that found that taking out just nine key substations — ones where many high-voltage lines meet — could cascade into a nationwide blackout. Making matters worse, finding these critical spots isn’t that hard if you just look at maps of the grid.
The big problem, the Times argues, is the transformers themselves. These huge machines step down high-voltage electricity so it can be used in homes and businesses. Many are often decades old, custom-built by hand, and very hard to replace quickly.
In addition, the United States doesn’t produce enough transformers — most of them come from overseas, and the waiting times can be years. There also aren’t many spares sitting around. If a bunch of transformers were destroyed all at once — by an attack, extreme weather, or something else — fixing them could take a very long time.
Meanwhile, extremist groups have been studying the Metcalf attack as a model, and foreign countries (like China, Russia, Iran, or North Korea) could potentially do something bigger, maybe combining physical and cyber attacks.
My take on Metcalf is that it was a “proof of concept” operation by a foreign group.
“If we do ten of these attacks in one night, the American power grid will fail, and their cities will burn after all their supermarkets are looted and not restocked.”
[You shoot the giant… pic.twitter.com/14arO2sXxb— Matt Bracken (@Matt_Bracken48) July 28, 2026
The Times notes that similar attacks have happened since 2013, including one in North Carolina in 2022 that left 45,000 people without power for days.
If a long-enough blackout happened, everyday life would collapse awfully quickly: Food, water, and fuel supplies would run low within days; phones, internet, and TV would mostly stop working; the economy would seize up because electronic payments and business couldn’t continue; and social unrest and chaos could follow.
Restarting the grid is tricky too, because many power plants need electricity to get going again. In a worst-case scenario, only a few isolated areas might have power for a long time, and the government has even talked about setting up limited “community enclaves” around those spots.
Adding pressure to this conundrum is rising electricity demand, especially from big data centers for AI and other tech. The system is already aging and stretched, which makes recovery even harder.
In summary, the Times argues that the power grid’s dependence on these hard-to-replace transformers creates a real risk of a prolonged national blackout that could be devastating, and not enough has been done to harden the system or stockpile replacements. It’s presented as a high-impact but lower-probability threat that experts have worried about for years.
Leftists have already begun using the piece to fearmonger about what President Donald Trump might do were the power to go out long-term:
This is… absolute nightmare fuel.
A national blackout lasting 18 months to three years. Nothing done to prevent it beforehand. It would let Trump do anything he wanted for so long—and in darkness—that America would surely awaken to a tyranny.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) August 18, 2026
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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