The Day All the Free Food Vanished

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.

Particularly consequential would be disrupting the government’s program to supply food to those with low incomes.

Frida Ghitis: Even if the Department of Agriculture’s computer system is fixed (or the ransom paid) it may be months before the food distribution system returns to normal.

Ghitis says it's too late to ask chain supermarkets to remain open and distribute food for free with a promise of future federal reimbursement.

She says with suburban markets exhausted, the homes of the wealthy are next; a week or two may pass before the federal government can establish free food distribution centers as they now do in sub-Sahara Africa.