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 In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California

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PostSubject: In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California   In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California I_icon_minitimeThu Feb 06, 2014 8:04 am

In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California

Michael Snyder
The Truth Wins
February 6, 2014



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?


In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California 060214sniper
Image: Sniper (Wikimedia Commons).


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…


Quote :
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…


Quote :
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…


Quote :
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…


Quote :
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.
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In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California Empty
PostSubject: Re: In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California   In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California I_icon_minitimeThu Feb 06, 2014 1:10 pm

I thought this might be hokum until I investigated further.

From Dec. 28, 2013


http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/12/28/was-mysterious-attack-on-calif-power-station-a-dress-rehearsal-for-much-larger-assault-on-u-s-electrical-grid/



Was Mysterious Attack on Calif. Power Station a ‘Dress Rehearsal’ for Much Larger Assault on U.S. Electrical Grid?

Dec. 28, 2013

Although the fact that the still-unsolved attack on a power station near San Jose occurred just a handful of hours after the Boston Marathon bombing — and apparently raised a few eyebrows initially — its ride in the public eye has been decidedly under the radar to date.
But that may be changing.
Now that the ranking member of the House of Representatives’ Energy and Commerce Committee is decrying the incident as possibly indicative of a wider security issue, the brazen attack is getting a bit more attention, noted Foreign Policy.
“It is clear that the electric grid is not adequately protected from physical or cyber attacks,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) at a hearing on regulatory issues earlier this month, Foreign Policy noted.
In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California Power-station-attack-e1388286760331
Image source: Surveillance video of substation attack

Here’s what went down: Around 1 a.m. on April 16, two manholes were entered and fiber cables cut around the PG&E Metcalf substation, which killed some local 911 services, landline service to the substation, and cell phone service in the area, a senior U.S. intelligence official told Foreign Policy.
More from Foreign Policy:
Quote :
The intruder(s) then fired more than 100 rounds from what two officials described as a high-powered rifle at several transformers in the facility. Ten transformers were damaged in one area of the facility, and three transformer banks — or groups of transformers — were hit in another, according to a PG&E spokesman.
Cooling oil then leaked from a transformer bank, causing the transformers to overheat and shut down. State regulators urged customers in the area to conserve energy over the following days, but there was no long-term damage reported at the facility and there were no major power outages. There were no injuries reported.
Waxman called the incident “an unprecedented and sophisticated attack on an electric grid substation with military-style weapons” and that “under slightly different conditions, there could have been serious power outages or worse.”
“Initially, the attack was being treated as vandalism and handled by local law enforcement,” the senior intelligence official told Foreign Policy. “However, investigators have been quoted in the press expressing opinions that there are indications that the timing of the attacks and target selection indicate a higher level of planning and sophistication.”
The FBI is on the case but has no evidence that the attack was related to terrorism and seems to believe at this point that it’s an isolated incident, Peter Lee, a spokesman for the FBI field office in San Francisco, which is leading the investigation, told Foreign Policy. The intel official added that there’s also no known motive, and no one has claimed credit; the FBI said there have been no tips from the public.
“These were not amateurs taking potshots,” Mark Johnson, a former vice president for transmission operations at PG&E, said last month at a conference on grid security held in Philadelphia, Foreign Policy noted. “My personal view is that this was a dress rehearsal” for future attacks.
More from Foreign Policy:
Quote :
At least one senior official thinks the government is focusing too heavily on cyber attacks. Jon Wellinghoff, the chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said last month that an attack by intruders with guns and rifles could be just as devastating as a cyber attack.
A shooter “could get 200 yards away with a .22 rifle and take the whole thing out,” Wellinghoff said last month at a conference sponsored by Bloomberg. His proposed defense: A metal sheet that would block the transformer from view. “If you can’t see through the fence, you can’t figure out where to shoot anymore,” Wellinghoff said. Price tag? A “couple hundred bucks.” A lot cheaper than the billions the administration has spent in the past four years beefing up cyber security of critical infrastructure in the United States and on government computer networks.
“There are ways that a very few number of actors with very rudimentary equipment could take down large portions of our grid,” Wellinghoff told Foreign Policy. “I don’t think we have the level of physical security we need.”
Here’s the surveillance video:

YOU WILL HAVE TO GO TO THE LINK TO SEE THIS VIDEO
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PostSubject: Re: In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California   In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California I_icon_minitimeThu Feb 06, 2014 9:42 pm

CZ we had a brief "discussion" relative this several months ago in the news forum, if you recall. On the bright side,  100 casings  17 transformers, so much for 1 shot 1 kill.  Let's pray they don't get any practice in and the wind blows before the $h|¿ flows.
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PostSubject: Re: In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California   In 19 Minutes, A Team Of Snipers Destroyed 17 Transformers At A Power Station In California I_icon_minitime

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