U.S. Not Ready for Cyber Attack

"There isn't a response or a game plan," said Senior Vice President Mark Gerencser of the Booz Allen Hamilton consulting service, which ran the simulation. "There isn't really anybody in charge," he told reporters afterward.

Democratic U.S. Rep. James Langevin of Rhode Island, who chairs the homeland security subcommittee on cybersecurity, said: "We're way behind where we need to be now.

"Dire consequences of a successful attack could include failure of banking or national electrical systems, he said.

"This is equivalent in my mind to before Sept. 11 ... we were awakened to the threat on the morning after Sept. 11."

U.S. Not Ready for Cyber Attack