//The Wire//2100Z April 18, 2024//
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//BLUF: 911 CALL CENTER OUTAGE REPORTED OVERNIGHT. EXPLOSION AT BAE SYSTEMS FACILITY IN MONMOUTHSHIRE.//
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-International Events-
United Kingdom: An explosion was reported at the BAE Systems munitions factory in Monmouthshire. The explosion occurred at a remote part of the facility where munitions were being manipulated by remote control. No injuries were reported, and blast containment procedures were reported to have functioned as designed.
-HomeFront-
USA: Last night a cascading failure of 911 call center services impacted many states around the country. Services have mostly been restored as of this report. No official word on the cause of the outage, however unconfirmed rumor suggests that a fiber optic cable being cut may have been the cause for the incident.
In Congress, the U.S. Senate votes to dismiss the impeachment of DHS Secretary Mayorkas without trial.
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Analyst Comments: While entirely possible, it is hard to imagine that a single cable being cut could impact 911 call centers in a wide range of states, among seemingly unrelated systems. However, even without knowing specifics most public infrastructure (especially telecoms) is just that vulnerable on an everyday basis. Despite the obvious vulnerabilities that have been created, many public service telecoms networks have transitioned to cellular systems, or otherwise more centralized systems which, while vastly more efficient, often times do not allow for the hardened and robust nature of more traditional networks.
Analyst: S2A1
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