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Page added on February 20, 2014
Navy SEALs On Power Grid Attack: ‘A Carbon Copy’ of How We Would Do It
The threat of a breakdown of our national power infrastructure has been a growing concern for the last decade. With the invention of “Super EMP” electro-magnetic pulse weapons, the possibility of Carrington-class solar flares, and the potential for cyber attackers to remotely compromise our interconnected computer systems, there may come a time in our country’s future when our entire way of life is threatened because we no longer have access to the one thing that keeps it all moving – electricity. Outgoing Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano recently suggested that such a widespread outage is imminent and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke who is a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee concluded that the chance of a serious geo-magnetic event crippling our power grid is 100%.
The threat is real.
And as recently as last year Americans got a taste of what such an attack may look like. Though not reported at the time out of national security concerns, it was recently revealed that an entire domestic power grid sub-station came under attack in what seems to be a professionally executed assault. The attackers first cut phone lines from the sub-station and they then proceeded to fire 100 rounds from long-range at critical components such as the generators that keep the station cooling systems operational. This resulted in millions of dollars worth of damage and a reported electrical outage that spanned nearly a month.
According to officials this was a sophisticated attack likely involving the coordination of multiple individuals. And they’re not the only ones who think so.
(Closed Circuit cameras capture San Josa, CA power grid sniper attack)
US Navy Seals have said it is a carbon copy of how they would carry out such an operation.
According to Sky News the FBI doesn’t believe this was an act of terrorism – thoughstamping your own gold coins, questioning mainstream ideologies, or purchasing food in bulk do qualify as suspected terrorist operations:
The FBI says it does not believe the attack was terrorism. No one has been arrested.
There are differing opinions at government agencies about what happened. Head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Jon Wellinghoff called it “the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred.”
Investigators don’t know for sure who did it or why, but it’s clear that our power grid has not been secured, despite billions of dollars being spent on the security of the homeland over the last decade.
If a few individuals with an AK-47 are capable of bringing down a sub-station and 17 massive transformers that provide power to hundreds of thousands of people, considerwhat would happen if a rogue terrorist organization or foreign-sponsored military teams were to target 100 key power stations that provide the electricity for tens of millions of people.
Next time they might not be bringing an AK-47. They could target sub-station components with easily obtained explosive through U.S. black markets and take down scores of transformers that switch electricity across the grid. Should those transformers be destroyed (and not just damaged as they were in this recent attack), then it could take months or years to restore conditions to 100%.
Most transformer components are manufactured overseas and production time in opportune conditions is about 18 months. If hundreds of these transformers were all of a sudden destroyed there is simply no way to bring everything back online in any reasonable amount of time.
As the threat of a power grid outage becomes ever more real, we strongly urge readers to develop a personal preparedness plan that includes long-term food supplies, water, and self defense strategies.
Preparing one second after such an event will be too late.
Hattip Underground Medic
10 Comments on "Navy SEALs On Power Grid Attack: ‘A Carbon Copy’ of How We Would Do It"
Northwest Resident on Thu, 20th Feb 2014 5:20 pm
Sometimes, I think that in the case of SHTFplan dot com, we are talking about “stupid” hits the fan. At least this article isn’t trying to sell gold/silver to prepare you for the imminent one hundred key power grid takedowns at the hands of those pesky “rogue” terrorists. Why would any self-respecting rogue terrorist waste his time trying to take down a US power grid anyway when all he has to do is wait a year or two and they’ll very likely be coming down on their own due to collapsed BAU anyway?
DC on Thu, 20th Feb 2014 6:00 pm
Talk about grasping at straws, even the ever paranoid and corrupt uS gestapo state didnt think one yankee yahoo exercising his 2nd amendment rights was any ‘terrorist’ attack, much less this lol.
ghung on Thu, 20th Feb 2014 7:14 pm
“Most transformer components are manufactured overseas and production time in opportune conditions is about 18 months.”
Suppose those overseas manufacturers are affected as well. How to rebuild and reboot a power grid without power is a good question. Anyway, we stocked up on pancake batter mix, just in case 😉
They talk about store shelves running out. How do stores sell food without electricity? Cash and hand calculators? Most items don’t even have a price on them; just a bar code.
Water? Municipal water systems use gravity flow from towers to some extent, so some folks would have water for a few hours. After that, folks had better have a plan B. Our water is pumped with solar to a tank buried on the ridge above the house; gravity flow does the rest. The 1200 gallon cistern gets filled to overflowing every sunny day, so even if the solar pump was affected, we have that reserve; time to repair, or install the spares we have. The spring is just below the house, so there’s always the bucket method.
Unfortunately, most folks simply haven’t considered how vulnerable they are to a low probability, high impact event, especially one that’s happened to everyone, everywhere. Most wouldn’t even have a clue what happened, since communications would be affected. Sounds like fun.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Thu, 20th Feb 2014 7:18 pm
According to Sky News the FBI doesn’t believe this was an act of terrorism – though stamping your own gold coins, questioning mainstream ideologies, or purchasing food in bulk do qualify as suspected terrorist operations:
These folks are goof balls. Anyone can strike gold or silver coins and sell them. Go out on ebay and check you yaaahooo. Purchasing food in Bulk come on yaaahoo more stupidity. Questioning mainstream ideologies again who cares. If this was the case the list would be enormous. If they had said printing counterfeit $100, Purchasing ammo in bulk, and openly calling for an over through of the governments that might raise suspicion.
Northwest Resident on Thu, 20th Feb 2014 7:48 pm
ghung — Good point on water supply. For those living out in the countryside with a spring and/or a well already in operation, all you need is a hand-pump (or bucket as you say) to get the water. But what about those of us who have decided to tough it out in our neighborhood homes? If that describes you like it does me, here is what I am doing:
Drill your own well. Where I live, surrounded by mountains on an ancient river bank, in a region where it rains over 3 feet per year:
1) Build multiple water capture/hold devices — use large trash cans (not one that’s been used for trash, obviously) or build your own with chicken coup wire and thick mil plastic, set them up to capture runoff, put screen mesh on top to prevent residue and bugs from getting in, have a cover so that once full you can prevent green slime and/or other things from growing in it.
2) Drill your own well. The first water table is about 8 feet down in the area where I live, higher than that during rain season (8 months of the year). Oregon law allows individuals to go down to 12 feet without a permit. Get a hand-pump and install it. Here’s a video that shows how to do it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGq0ETzZP0E
action on Fri, 21st Feb 2014 12:01 am
Regarding water: Katadyne Micro Filter, its good for 13,000 gal and will treat the filthiest water, good use of $300. All metal casing and super packable.
Makati1 on Fri, 21st Feb 2014 1:31 am
One EMP missile from Russia or China and the whole grid is down, permanently. They know it, we know it, but there is no way to prevent it. What better way to permanently put the US into the 3rd world than to take out one of it’s weakest points? And it can be done in less than an hour. This is only one of those hundreds of black swans up there waiting to land.
GregT on Fri, 21st Feb 2014 5:21 am
“Outgoing Homeland Security secretary Janet Napolitano recently suggested that such a widespread outage is imminent and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke who is a senior member of the House Homeland Security Committee concluded that the chance of a serious geo-magnetic event crippling our power grid is 100%.”
Nothing new here, this has been understood for a very long time. The only questions are when, and wadda we gonna do about it. My guess, not so much.
Kenz300 on Fri, 21st Feb 2014 11:47 am
We need less centralized power and more local distributed power.
Local power and local jobs using alternative energy sources like wind and solar.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Fri, 21st Feb 2014 5:27 pm
@Makati China and Russia also know “what is good from the goose is good for the gander” You are naive if you think they would do that and not expect an endgame for everyone! The US has the ability to retaliate with or without a grid.