Knee deep in 3 inches of self generated crap

City manager Susan Stanton was looking for a solid win and a victory this morning and thought she had it well planned for a channel 25 interview... but 3 inches of muck and a letter from one of her Superintendents nixed her efforts and added a new layer to the issue which will be discussed in an upcoming article/video report.

She secretly released a report (3 inches thick) on the security breach to commissioners who in turn kept anyone not in the city managers favor from viewing it. One blustery commissioner proudly stated that ANYONE COULD SEE HER COPY. But alas despite calls before 7:30 PM as requested... she avoided making it available all weekend contrary to what she had said. It was so secret that commissioners didn’t want to be seen letting LWM see it.

In this report, the city acknowledges they weren't interested in pursuing the system operations employee ...the unknown assailant who penetrated the highest levels of security of the power grid computer. The report insists that all sys ops have authorization to use the computer in question. True. But they have never had authorization to access the programming level of the computer which is what the intruder did when he plugged in a programming module to the main frame computer. And further, the computer consultant hired by the city manger was unqualified to say plugging it in had no danger... he was way outside his area of expertise when he said that. More about him later.

The city has never been interested in finding out who the intruder was ...which leaves in place someone with access who has previously and deliberately made unauthorized entries into the programming level of the master grid computer.

Well after getting a little taste of the 3 inch thick report… it’s no wonder the commissioners wanted to spare the city manager the embarrassment of having agreed to such a ridiculous waste of paper. It’s no wonder they wanted to hide it.

After making phony claims (no record exists of this investigation) that a June investigation “determined that no security breach occurred…” the city manager was desperate to recover her credibility and she carefully arrayed her forces for a Channel 25 interview. She pulled out all the stops and had all the trappings of authenticity in place… but the victory was not to be ...the new letter that surfaced today confirmed yet again... that the city manager’s claims and investigation were false and misleading.

A letter surfaced which was addressed to the commission by former Superintendent of Energy Delivery. It quashed the city manager’s effort to regain her credibility by stating that a security breach did in fact occur… and even suggesting the possibility of who might be behind it. This means that three out of the four top employees (and another reportedly preparing his statement) who are directly involved with the main frame computer… are all in agreement that the public was put at risk and city management is lying about it.

City employees parroting the city manager’s view… is nothing new and seems directed at authenticating the city manager’s version of reality just as utility employees were pressured to concur with the utility director that a breach did not occur.

As they all stood poised to say “no security breach occurred,” there wasn’t a single person in the room qualified to make that assumption despite the 3 inches of nonsense.

The Sheriffs never met with Mr Reyes or Mr Jordan although both made themselves available despite the fact that a sheriff detective defined the interview as part of a “criminal investigation.”

Since the city was using its own employees to try and paint Mr Reyes and Mr Jordan as the criminals… Mr Reyes and Mr Jordan then did the common sense thing and sought legal advice. Mr Reyes even made phone calls to the sheriff advising he and Mr Jordan WERE AVAILABLE and ready for interview.

At one point a few weeks ago, the sheriff contacted Mr Reyes and set up a tentative appointment… but nothing was heard again from the Sheriff. They literally vanished.

So it was disappointing that the Sheriff didn’t speak out for the truth when the city manager stated that Mr Reyes and Mr Jordan “refused to cooperate” with the Sheriff investigation.

A theory might explain: From the beginning utility staff, especially plant manager Dave Mulvay, did everything in their power to prevent ANY investigation which logically implies they knew who the systems operator was who broke into the master power grid computer. And likely they didn’t want any interrogation of the culprit because it might reveal something that staff is desperately trying to keep under raps.

The Sheriffs were stifled and couldn’t even pursue the unknown assailant in behalf of public safety because they were quickly reminded that the breach didn’t occur. Apparently they didn’t take the matter seriously enough to be willing to offend the city manager and proceed to get to the truth of the matter.

The computer expert Dave Kleiman was a complete farce. He was hand picked by the city manager who had previously insisted there was no security breach… so she obviously got the report she paid for.

Although he might qualify to recover erased data on a hard drive (there are many programs widely available to the public for that) or to possibly break password protected files… ie hack into Reyes and Jordan’s laptop computers …he was totally outside his area of expertise on the languages and equipment in question.

He doesn’t qualify as a power grid expert with extensive knowledge of computers and the programming languages used. He is not qualified to render a professional opinion about the Florida power grid and the material impact of Lake Worth’s grid on the Florida grid due to any breach of security. He has no background in the coordination of power systems, little if any background in SCADA equipment, no EE degree to qualify, he is not an engineer of any kind, and he wasn’t even familiar with the one of the most common programming languages… DNP (Distributive Network Protocol) 3.0 used throughout the industry. So what did he know that was relative to the investigation?

Yet he willingly offered opinions ‘as professional’ that affected four employees, their families, their reputations, their employment records …opinions that conveniently backed up the city manager’s biased views… and did he include a disclaimer? These were opinions that were outside his area of expertise and knowledge. So what sort of desperation caused this man to risk his reputation? Is he really from Palm Beach Gardens?

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