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Will Infrastructure Sabotage Be the Next Pearl Harbor?
The National Review ^ | January 9, 2016 | R. James Woolsey & Peter Vincent Pry

Posted on 01/09/2016 7:12:53 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

Revolutions in warfare, though they may be predicted by theorists, are often unnoticed by governments and their military establishments -- until it is too late.

On November 11, 1940, during the Battle of Taranto, torpedo planes from the British aircraft carrier Illustrious sank the Italian battleship Conte di Cavour. It was the first time in history that an aircraft carrier sank a battleship....

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: computers; infrastructure; internet; sabotage; terrorism; terrorthreat
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1 posted on 01/09/2016 7:12:53 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I read an article in the late 60s (I think), in which William F. Buckley basically said that we are very vulnerable to infrastructure sabotage.

I think he was primarily thinking of the electric grid.


2 posted on 01/09/2016 7:15:19 PM PST by yarddog (Romans 8:38-39, For I am persuaded.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Infrastructure with heavy casualties. Overwhelming emergency services. Disposable terrorists with a 90% or greater chance of dying killing us, with a 10+:1 ratio.


3 posted on 01/09/2016 7:23:52 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Ready for Teddy, Cruz that is.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

We had an infrastructure attack here in San Jose a few years ago: a disciplined team shot up the main power station and destroyed several transformers without detection by the surveillance system. It got hardly any attention because a few hours later the Boston Marathon Bombers struck.


4 posted on 01/09/2016 7:32:01 PM PST by Colinsky
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To: Colinsky

Interesting!


5 posted on 01/09/2016 7:35:08 PM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: Colinsky

I was working for an electric utility at the time that happened. It didn’t get a lot of notice in the media (they were probably too busy promoting unisex bathrooms or covering the Kardashians), but you can bet it got a lot of attention in the industry.


6 posted on 01/09/2016 7:42:08 PM PST by IronJack
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To: Colinsky

Yes, I remember that.
The huge main power transformers take a year plus to build and are not readily stockpiled due to expense and custom specifications.
If there were to be a coordinated sabotage of large main transformers like San Jose, at numerous strategic sites throughout the power grid, it would be disasterous.
For one thing, Nuclear power plants actually need grid supplied electricity in order to run reactor cooling water pumps, and are only designed to run on onsite diesel generators for a limited period of time.
It’s miraculous we’ve gotten by as well as we have so far.


7 posted on 01/09/2016 7:44:16 PM PST by MarchonDC09122009 (When is our next march on DC? When have we had enough?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Well, the Political Class is effectively sabotaged into submitting to Islam.


8 posted on 01/09/2016 7:50:21 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: yarddog

This could happen any day. There is no urgency in our security and the thought in Washington is that it wouldn’t be such a huge disaster.. and they could fix it right away. Judge Jeanine Pirro had a guest on one of her shows some time back, and he said if the infrastructure went down, there’d be no fix because there’d be no way of getting parts for a long time ...no planes would be flying, everything would be down and nothing would be working. No electricity, and thus, no heat to speak of and as he went on about what would happen, she was almost speechless. No food getting to the stores.. no stores.. no water to speak of... nothing. Computers down and since everything is run by computers, that would all go too. Our government is not ready for this.. they are woefully unprepared for such a catastrophe. And there are those who are trying to do this to us. We’d be open to any attack if we had no way of defense if such a thing ever happened.


9 posted on 01/09/2016 7:51:25 PM PST by frnewsjunkie
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To: Colinsky

Metcalf substation.


10 posted on 01/09/2016 8:06:20 PM PST by buwaya
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

So long as we can stave off any insurgent attacks by Malta, we should fare well...


11 posted on 01/09/2016 8:32:09 PM PST by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway - "Enjoy Yourself" ala Louis Prima)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
All this talk about infrastructure sabotage. It can happen. Little talk about what comes after that. Okay, millions die, shortages of food and water, mass confusion and the like. But what does the enemy do after the sabotage is accomplished?

Do they unloose a fifth column within our nation to hunt down and destroy patriots, and set up a puppet government? Do they invade from outside our borders? It could take us a couple years to begin recovering from the confusion of sabotage, and I wonder what the enemy will be doing to us in the interim.

12 posted on 01/09/2016 9:31:03 PM PST by roadcat
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To: frnewsjunkie

I can think of a 1/2 dozen critical infrastructure points that exist in multiple locations in every state and are either unguarded or guarded by Barney Fife.

The large size of our country is a detriment as it is impossible to secure everything.


13 posted on 01/09/2016 9:47:49 PM PST by Rebelbase
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

No, Obama was.


14 posted on 01/09/2016 10:22:01 PM PST by Gator113 (Happy New Year!)
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To: roadcat

http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/11/tet-take-two-islams-2016-european-offensive/


15 posted on 01/10/2016 6:34:13 AM PST by Gadsden1st
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To: frnewsjunkie

The alarm is being sounded. I just don’t think it is being taken seriously.

There will be no time for an election.

It will be over this year.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3381625/posts


16 posted on 01/10/2016 6:39:10 AM PST by Gadsden1st
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To: roadcat

Shortly after the light go out, there will be no Muslims, no Hands Upers.

There is nothing more dangerous that an old white man when you hurt his old white wife and his young white grandkids.

Yes, I know that is a racist statement. It is also a true statement.


17 posted on 01/10/2016 6:43:49 AM PST by Gadsden1st
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To: Colinsky

I remember that event. Quite scary. You could take down the grid for quite some time with a large, coordinated attack at many sites. Some of the elements are large, expensive, and built to order, not stocked in a yard or warehouse in any great numbers.


18 posted on 01/10/2016 6:46:04 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Gadsden1st

The Wrath of the Awakened Saxon
http://tinyurl.com/z9jtb69


19 posted on 01/10/2016 6:50:45 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: IronJack

In about the last 3 months, SoCA Edison has laid off about 50% of its distribution system field personnel and is “outsourcing” the skill sets to experts.

The experts don’t even recognize the variables in Maxwell’s eqns, nor have they been exposed to coordination studies.

Interesting thing about the power industry. Either the power is on or it isn’t. When it isn’t, everybody relies on the experts to get it back on.

When it remains off until real experts are found, we now have a society which will salvage/scrap/metals theft the system so it might not ever get back up.

Southern California is rushing to become the next Old Mexico in infrastructure without any adversarial attacks.


20 posted on 01/10/2016 6:57:32 AM PST by Cvengr ( Adversity in life & death is inevitable; Stress is optional through faith in Christ.)
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