February 9, 2024

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently warned America about a possible Chinese cyberattack on our electric grid, transportation centers, and energy facilities that would almost destroy our economy. The impact of such an attack is hardly hypothetical — countless schools, hospitals and private firms have been hit with such attacks and millions in ransom has been paid to hackers.

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Director Wray’s warning singles out our industrial infrastructure such as oil refineries, but left unmentioned in his Armageddon is America’s social service network (the safety nets) that keeps millions afloat financially while meeting their food needs. Critically, few think of all these national and state agencies as part of our vital infrastructure, and so relatively little is invested in protecting them from cyberattack. Nevertheless, measured by both impact and vulnerability, the inflicted damage may far exceed shutting down air travel or disrupting hospitals.

Particularly consequential would be disrupting the government’s program to supply food to those with low incomes. the most important is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly called “food stamps.” The program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with the participation of state agencies. “Food stamps” began in 1964 to help farmers while improving nutrition for low-income Americans.

SNAP benefits reflect a family’s size, income and expenses and is automatically placed in credit card-like Electronic Benefit Cards. In 2023, some 42.1 million Americans, on average, participated in the SNAP program at a cost of $113 billion dollars (with some exceptions, families with a gross monthly income of $3000 or less are eligible). SNAP has generally expanded, especially under President Biden, and covers nearly all food a family might need except for tobacco products, alcoholic beverages, pet food, already cooked food, medicine, and diapers. In 2020, 27% of SNAP recipients were Black.

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Like all government programs, it occasionally stumbles. For example, recipients in Georgia recently had their payments delayed due to administrative glitches. Severe weather can also disrupt the transfer of funds as was recently illustrated in several Nebraska counties that lost power due to storms and tornadoes. In both instances, however, the federal government facilitated a quick recovery, and the problems were solved.

But what if Chinese hackers successfully disrupted the entire SNAP network? In an instant millions of Americans across the entire country, all lined up with shopping carts overflowing with food for the next week or two were told, “Sorry, your EBT card failed to work. Do you have another form of payment?” Thousands of frantic messages from local SNAP administrators to Washington would be told, “The entire network is down, we have no idea how to fix it, and it may take weeks to get it running again.”

Since most poor people lack alternative sources of funds such as a credit card or cash, and that many of these SNAP recipients live hand-to-mouth, this collapse is catastrophic. A few may reply on savings or borrowing from friends and family, but for millions, the adage “people are only seven missed meals away from murder” now becomes relevant. This is especially true if children depend on SNAP to provide food. America will suddenly resemble famine-plagued Africa, and alternative sources of food such as free foodbanks will quickly become depleted.

Faced with starvation, mass looting and violence are likely, particularly in cities like Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, Newark, N.J., and dozens more that already experienced these disorders. Word will quickly spread to fellow other shoppers that their EBT cards don’t work, and the mayhem will commence. Some just leave the store without paying, groceries in hand. Others will quickly return to “shopping” to stock up before the shelves go bare. Store “security” will be helpless to stop this stampede and calling the police is futile — no cops will arrest dozens of shoppers fleeing with “free” merchandise. Most urban police forces have repeatedly seen this movie — arresting criminals can be a recipe for rioting.

Thanks to cell phones and word-of-mouth, the riot is on. With no prospect of government-paid-for food, looting becomes survival. Shoplifters who once favored Dior handbags scoop up Spam. Thousands of small local food stores, many of whom are owned and run by immigrants accustomed to a shoplifting clientele, will be overrun by the desperate. None of this is new — food riots are historically commonplace, so yet one more feature of the Third World has arrived in America.

Especially in crime-ridden inner cities, gangs will soon take control of food supplies to restore a semblance of order. They might even battle each other for control, and many American cities will come to resemble present-day Haiti.