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LOW TECH TERROR ON THE GRID - Why the terror attack in Silicon Valley?
American Spectator ^ | 2.10.14 | Jed Babbin

Posted on 02/11/2014 1:08:35 PM PST by neverdem

Sometime before April 16, 2013, one or more people scouted the Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s high-voltage Metcalf substation off Highway 101 near San Jose, California. They went around the unmanned power station at a range of 40-60 yards, marking places from which the transformers’ cooling fins were clearly visible through the chain-link fence with piles of stones.

According to a Wall Street Journal report last week, at about 1 a.m. on that April 16, someone cut the telephone lines going to the substation’s location in a manner calculated to be hard to repair. Within about another thirty minutes, shooters took positions by the stone piles and — on a flashlight signal — opened fire. The firing — over about a twenty-minute period, apparently using AK-47 rifles (identified by the empty shell casings in 7.62x39 caliber left behind) — aimed 120 shots at the cooling fins on the transformers, scoring 110 hits. Another flashlight signal called a cease-fire. The shooters were gone long before the first police arrived.

A bullet is a pretty low-tech device, but in this case they were highly effective. Seventeen huge transformers were knocked out. Those 110 holes leaked about 52,000 gallons of coolant and were about to cause power failures in the Silicon Valley grid but managers were able to switch power in from other locations. They were lucky: the hour of the attack and the season meant there was low demand for electric power.

Police and FBI found those 120 empty cartridge casings. They were wiped clean of fingerprints and yielded no DNA for testing...

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: actofwar; banglist; california; coolingfins; electricalgrid; electricgrid; electricity; highway101; metcalfsubstation; pge; power; sanjose; terrorattack
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1 posted on 02/11/2014 1:08:35 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem
I thought there were labor issues/talks going on at the time. This seemed more of a case of union intimidation than the work of the allah akbar crowd.
2 posted on 02/11/2014 1:13:20 PM PST by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: neverdem

Must be Zorin Industries at it again. Wait until they start operation Main Strike.


3 posted on 02/11/2014 1:14:23 PM PST by edh (I need a better tagline)
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To: neverdem

sons of soetoro aka islamists


4 posted on 02/11/2014 1:16:08 PM PST by onedoug
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To: neverdem

Test Test Test!

This has been a test of your local utility security.

WE apologize for any disruption in power.

Open borders has consequences.


5 posted on 02/11/2014 1:16:20 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: NormsRevenge

PG&E has announced it will take steps re: security.

This site is a sitting duck.. Always has been.


6 posted on 02/11/2014 1:18:59 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: neverdem

I would imagine that the #1 or #2 biggest video surveillance companies in Northern California might be inline to benefit handsomely from this little contretemps.


7 posted on 02/11/2014 1:23:01 PM PST by Steely Tom (How do you feel about robbing Peter's robot?)
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To: neverdem

“The FBI says that the attack wasn’t the work of terrorists.”

Yes. It was just another case of “workplace violence.”


8 posted on 02/11/2014 1:28:15 PM PST by paterfamilias
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To: neverdem

My guess is this is the La Raza crowd. Islamists want to use the silicon valley companies for their own benefit. The La raza crowd wants the state liberated from the gringo. There are a lot of things that don’t make sense. 120 rounds in one spot? No one heard 120 rounds? No fingerprints on any of them? Obviously that means it is a planned attack but why leave the rounds? To throw off the investigation perhaps? Hmm.


9 posted on 02/11/2014 1:31:02 PM PST by Organic Panic
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To: neverdem
So, if somebody cleverly and quickly breaks into a bank after hours, disables the alarms, successfully cracks the safe, takes all the available money, and get away without a trace before the cops arrive... there is no proof it was a bank robbery?

Sure. We got it.

10 posted on 02/11/2014 1:31:06 PM PST by Gritty (Inside every liberal is a totalitarian screaming to get out! - David Horowitz)
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To: neverdem
I heard they were using a Mini-30 and not an AK . . .
dont forget to wipe off your prints on your casings ya'll
11 posted on 02/11/2014 1:32:23 PM PST by ßuddaßudd (>> F U B O << "What the hell kind of country is this if I can only hate a man if he's white?")
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To: El Cid

This was carefully planned and took place at the same time as the boston marathon bombing.


12 posted on 02/11/2014 1:33:02 PM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: All

Of more interest to me is how did the damage get fixed? From the article, it is possible to repair some aspets of transformer damage. It is my understanding that USA does not, cannot manufacture transformers.

Possible union problems, provide cover for either: economic enemies (China) or Pieceful religions. A badly powered down Silicon Valley would cost a lot of economic damage, depending on how long it was impacted.


13 posted on 02/11/2014 1:34:44 PM PST by veracious
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To: neverdem

As to WHY the terror attack ... easy.

The bad guys want to take us down. (I’m assuming Islamic terror here, or eco-terrorists, not patriots.)

It’s cold as hell here in New England. Taking down the power grid, with no hope of repair inside of a month, would surely result in people dying, not to mention the economic fallout.

The bad guys have a lot of ways to hurt us. Shutting off the power for a long, long time would meet that objective. (And once Muffy couldn’t recharge her iPod, even the low-information voters would understand the meaning of being at war.)


14 posted on 02/11/2014 1:37:24 PM PST by DNME (This is the government our Founders warned us about.)
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To: El Cid

Even if union goons did it, the deliberate disruption of public services is still called terrorism. (Ergo Enron was a terrorist outfit.)


15 posted on 02/11/2014 1:54:39 PM PST by informavoracious (Open your eyes, people!)
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To: neverdem
apparently using AK-47 rifles (identified by the empty shell casings in 7.62x39 caliber left behind) — aimed 120 shots at the cooling fins on the transformers, scoring 110 hits

Could have been an AK using 6, 20 round mags, 4, 30 round mags, or an SKS with 12 stripper clips.

16 posted on 02/11/2014 2:00:30 PM PST by Hardastarboard (The question of our age is whether a majority of Americans can and will vote us all into slavery.)
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To: ßuddaßudd

Good point - hadn’t thought of that.


17 posted on 02/11/2014 2:01:46 PM PST by Hardastarboard (The question of our age is whether a majority of Americans can and will vote us all into slavery.)
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To: veracious

The transformers that were damaged were not the much larger transformers that are outside the turbine building at a power plant to connect the generator to the switchyard. Utilities have spares for smaller substation transformers. They’re still manufactured in this country.


18 posted on 02/11/2014 2:08:57 PM PST by meatloaf (Impeach Obama. That's my New Year's resolution.)
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To: Vince Ferrer
Vince Ferrer:"This was carefully planned and took place at the same time as the boston marathon bombing."

New information as well as old information was contained in this report by Jed Babbin, who previusly served as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush.
#1 the firing began and ended with a flashlight signal.
#2 that 110 of 120 shots hit the targets, empty casings were wiped clean of DNA.
#3 at about 1 a.m. on that April 16, someone cut the telephone lines at 2 separate locations
which go to the substation’s location in a manner calculated to be hard to repair.
#3a The weight of these manhole covers required more than one perp for assistance.
The original report indicated debris was redistributed so they would not look like they had been distrubed .
#4 Piles of stones were markers of optimum shooting efficientcy, with locations for maximum damage.
#5 the perps left long before the police arrived,indicates a fairly high level of discipline, training, and skill.

Since the Federal investigation is continueing , there has been no determination that this was a terrorist incident.

19 posted on 02/11/2014 2:10:26 PM PST by Tilted Irish Kilt (Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm. -- James Madison)
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To: neverdem

Monkey Wrench Gang?


20 posted on 02/11/2014 2:30:37 PM PST by Colinsky
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