//The Wire//1530Z March 26, 2024//

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//BLUF: BALTIMORE BRIDGE COLLAPSES FOLLOWING SHIP COLLISION.//

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-HomeFront-

Maryland: This morning at approximately 01:30 am, the M/V DALI struck a support pylon for the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing a significant portion of the bridge to collapse. A mass casualty event was declared for the estimated 7 vehicles and 20 construction workers that fell into the water with the bridge, and SAR operations are ongoing as of this report.

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Analyst Comments: At this time, there is no clear cause for the collision. However, observers noted that the ship appeared to lose power or be experiencing some issue in the seconds before the impact. The DALI is a Maersk-operated cargo vessel flagged in Singapore.

As the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse occurred in one of the busiest ports on the east coast, the logistical impacts will almost certainly be significant and immediate. The bridge debris has almost completely cut off the Port of Baltimore to outside traffic for the foreseeable future. Baltimore was one of the top logistical hubs for Roll-on/Roll-off (RORO) vehicle carrying cargo ships. As no cargo vessel can reach the RORO terminal now, these vessels will be required to offload cargo at other ports on the east coast.

The unspoken elephant in the room is the question of whether or not the collision of the M/V DALI was intentional, or an accident. The immediate follow-up question is: if this was an intentional act (via a cyberattack of navigation systems, which have been increasingly vulnerable to GPS spoofing and other exploitations), was this a shadow-war retaliation for the Crocus shooting in Moscow? Or was this incident somehow linked to Chinese cyber efforts, which have crippled varying sectors of American infrastructure over the years? These questions cannot be answered at this time, nor are any substantial details expected to be made public due to the very long and in-depth maritime investigation process. However operational prudence would indicate assuming nefarious intent. As such, though the average person cannot prevent any hostile act on critical infrastructure, workers in many career fields absolutely can. Heightened situational awareness is overwhelmingly recommended for personnel working in career fields by which large industrial incidents can disrupt civilization. In a 5th Generation global war, the people that keep society functioning are often the first, and last, line of defense against major incidents like this.

For the average citizen, this is a reminder that preparing for mass casualty events at this time of exceptionally heightened international tensions would be a wise move. Bridges, tunnels, railway crossings, road junctions and interchanges, high-rise buildings that are convenient geographic landmarks, submarine cable landing points, POL storage facilities, telecom hubs, electrical substations and power generation facilities, water treatment plants…all of these facets of our society are exceptionally vulnerable to both accidents, and nefarious intent. Planning for either event is a wise move in the event that any malign actors have a “nasty surprise” in mind for the homeland.

Analyst: S2A1

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