Analyst's note: Many of you have already seen Sophisticated attack on CA power substation an 'act of terror'? as well as Judge Jeanine Warns of Stunning Vulnerability of America's Power Grid System, and A Nation Forsaken - EMP: The Escalating Threat of an American Catastrophe. Here is additional detail that should concern us all. Someone clearly knew what they were going to do and how regarding the attack on a portion of our grid in CA. I also point out that a simple, low-tech attack can provide almost unmeasurable damage to a nation, or portion thereof if properly applied.
Here is part of what Neil Cavuto of FoxNews had to say in today's news:
[....] It happened back in April of last year. And it's only coming to light now.
An attack on a PG&E Energy substation in San Jose, California.
It started at about 1 a.m., on April 16th, when someone, we still don't know who, entered an underground vault and, according to ABC, started cutting underground cables and shutting off service to one community.
But wait, it gets better and scarier.
[....] Well, it turns out those transformers steered power to Silicon Valley.
All of them left before police reached the scene.
But not before damaging more substation equipment and nearby fiber optic cables.
To this day, no sniper has been apprehended. It's as if they vanished into thin air.
And the man who once headed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is worried.
Jon Wellinghoff telling the Wall Street Journal that despite the fact no one was hurt, the attack was, and I quote, "the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred."
What's more, Wellinghoff fears the incident was actually a rehearsal for something even bigger.
Much as the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, maybe setting the stage for something far more devastating 8 years later.
That's why these breaches matter.
Because they're not only happening with greater frequency. They're hitting way beyond some big box retailers or hotels.
They're hitting our grid. They're hitting our country's very energy lifeline.
Take that out. And baby, watch out.
That's why I'm all over this because I don't think we're done with this.
******
In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California
by Michael Snyder with Freedom Outpost
Editor's Note: This is an update that our own Janna Brock reported on back in December of 2013, complete with video surveillance from the shooting.
When a real terrorist attack happens, sometimes we don’t hear about it until months afterward (if we ever hear about it at all). For example, did you know that a team of snipers shot up a power station in California? The terrorists destroyed 17 transformers and did so much damage that the power station was shut down for a month. And it only took them 19 minutes of shooting to do it. Of course most Americans have absolutely no idea that this ever happened, because they get their news from the mainstream media. The chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at that time says that this was “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred”, and yet you won’t hear about it on the big news networks. They are too busy covering the latest breaking news on the Justin Bieber scandal.
And maybe it is good thing that most people don’t know about this. The truth is that we are a nation that is absolutely teeming with “soft targets”, and if people realized how vulnerable we truly are they might start freaking out.
If you have not heard about the attack on the Silicon Valley substation yet, you should look into it. The following is an excerpt from a Business Insider article about the sniper assault…
The Wall Street Journal’s Rebecca Smith reports that a former Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chairman is acknowledging for the first time that a group of snipers shot up a Silicon Valley substation for 19 minutes last year, knocking out 17 transformers before slipping away into the night.
The attack was “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred” in the U.S., Jon Wellinghoff, who was chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission at the time, told Smith.
Evidence found at the scene included “more than 100 fingerprint-free shell casings“, and little piles of rocks “that appeared to have been left by an advance scout to tell the attackers where to get the best shots.”
So much damage was done to the substation that it was closed down for a month.
And what happens if they decide to attack a nuclear power facility next time and use even bigger weapons?
Could we have another Fukushima on our hands?
In a previous article, I discussed a very disturbing report that showed that our nuclear facilities are indeed extremely vulnerable…
Commercial and research nuclear facilities across the U.S. are inadequately protected against the threat of terrorism, according to the results of new study released this week by the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Project (NPPP) at the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs. The two biggest terror threats facing these facilities, according to the report, are the theft of bomb grade nuclear materials and sabotage attacks aimed at causing a nuclear reactor meltdown.
The study, entitled “Protecting U.S. Nuclear Facilities from Terrorist Attack: Re-assessing the Current ‘Design Basis Threat’ Approach,” found not one of the 104 commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S. is protected against a “maximum credible terrorist attack,” such as 9/11. In fact, nuclear facilities are not required to protect themselves against airplane attacks, assaults by large teams of terrorists or even high-power sniper rifles.
The truth is that we are far, far more vulnerable to terror attacks than most Americans would dare to imagine.
So why isn’t the federal government doing more to protect us?
Well, the reality is that their resources are already stretched pretty thin and they can’t even protect their own computers. According to another report that was recently released, breaches of government computer networks go undetected 40 percent of the time…
A new report by Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) details widespread cybersecurity breaches in the federal government, despite billions in spending to secure the nation’s most sensitive information.
The report, released on Tuesday, found that approximately 40 percent of breaches go undetected, and highlighted “serious vulnerabilities in the government’s efforts to protect its own civilian computers and networks.”
“In the past few years, we have seen significant breaches in cybersecurity which could affect critical U.S. infrastructure,” the report said. “Data on the nation’s weakest dams, including those which could kill Americans if they failed, were stolen by a malicious intruder. Nuclear plants’ confidential cybersecurity plans have been left unprotected. Blueprints for the technology undergirding the New York Stock Exchange were exposed to hackers.”
Are you starting to get the picture?
We are not nearly as “secure” as we like to think that we are.
In recent months, we have seen that our private financial information is not even secure at the largest retailers in the entire country. By now you have probably already heard about the horrifying security breach that happened at Target during the holiday season…
The holiday shopping season breach affected up to 110 million customers, including 40 million credit and debit cards and up to 70 million customers’ personal information.
The discount retailer discovered the breach in mid-December, notified customers several days later, and launched an investigation with the help of a private security firm and law enforcement.
And experts tell us that because credit card companies are cutting corners by using outdated technology that is less expensive that these kinds of credit card hacks will continue to happen all over the country.
So what are you going to do when you wake up some day and none of your credit cards or debit cards will work because the entire system has been compromised by hackers?
What are you going to do when you wake up some day and you have no power for an extended period of time because a team of terrorists has destroyed the entire power grid in your area?
What are you going to do when you wake up some day and a wave of nuclear radiation is heading your way because terrorists have attacked a nuclear power facility close to where you live?
We are an extremely vulnerable nation that literally has thousands of big, fat juicy “soft targets” that could be attacked at any moment.
We have been very fortunate to live during an era when we have generally been safe from such attacks, but the world is rapidly changing before our very eyes.
So let us hope for the best, but let us also prepare for the worst.
