Powerless in North Carolina
ANOTHER UPDATE: Pierce Cty, WA power station sabotaged. UPDATE: Since this was posted, a search that we should have done before has turned up more power station attacks. More diligence is warranted.
Powerless in North Carolina
Gone from the news cycle
It has been reported that a couple of power substations in Moore County, North Carolina have been sabotaged.There has been speculation about the cause, but nothing of any substance.
That someone could deftly take out a substation and get away with it is big news. It has, however, faded from the media and coverage seems to have ceased.
Not surprising. Something similar happened in 2013 and faded from view with the same speed as the North Carolina event.
Fortunately, someone was paying attention at a small monthly journal in Western Central Massachusetts. The Sturbridge Times Magazine, of blessed memory, covered it in August, 2014 issue long after major outlets had lost interest.
Homeland Insecurity
By Richard Morchoe
Around 1:00 a.m. on April 16, 2013, an electrical substation that sends power to Silicon Valley went offline. Such events happen and life goes on. Except, this one didn’t just happen.
According to the Wall Street Journal, someone slipped into a vault and cut the wires. A shooter or shooters took up position and in less than 20 minutes of firing “surgically” knocked out 17 giant transformers. A minute before the police arrived, the perpetrators had vanished.
Officials were able to reroute power and other plants produced more electricity, but the substation was out of commission for 27 days.
No one was arrested and charged with the crime. To this day, the attackers are unknown. According to Jon Wellinghoff, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at the time, it was "the most significant incident of domestic terrorism involving the grid that has ever occurred" in the U.S.
Think about that. It was an event of vast significance, if only because it points out the vulnerability of the nation’s power grid yet it is near unknown. I only read about it a year after it occurred. I’ve asked friends and relatives on both coasts and no one remembers hearing about it. There was not much coverage, and it was late. Foreign Policy Magazine had it in December. The Journal’s story and an NPR report came in February of this year. It’s not like it was consigned to Orwell’s memory hole as it was not really in the public’s awareness to begin with.
A body count would have concentrated some minds. Had other stations been hit, it might have caused power failures at hospitals.
To date, there has been little public speculation as to who did it. That goes along with the paucity of coverage. We are in the second decade of a war on terror. There is a vast surveillance apparatus with potential access to everything members of the public say or do. In spite of all the money and men focused on “Homeland Security” there is no clue.
So who could have done it? Granted that an amateur can only attempt rank speculation, but no one else is doing it.
There have been several terrorist incidents since September 11, 2001 that have been associated with Muslims. The first one was spectacular for its brutal effectiveness. None of the others have come close and most have been stopped before death resulted. The most recent, at the Boston Marathon, resulted in fatalities. The hallmark of Islamic terror has been public mayhem.
Islamists have never attempted a precision operation such as the power plant. If they had, it is unlikely they would not have claimed credit. This is not to say that they could not, but what would be the point if they intended to maintain silence?
There are numerous homegrown organizations, from the Klan to Black Groups and even the Jewish Defense League. They tend to be bombers going back to Tim McVeigh. Others are lone shooters. Then of course there was the Unabomber. None have tried to pull off an operation like this. So who might have done it?
It is possible that a lone gunman might have sought a thrill. That would take a vast confidence in the perpetrator’s ability. The risk would be a lifetime sentence if caught.
A criminal organization would have to have a reason involving some gain. It is possible that some group did it and has been in contact with the government, but not likely. After all, on the radar, you can be looked for and more easily caught.
How about a state actor? This is going to come as a bit of a shock to my fellow countrymen and women, but Uncle Sam is not universally beloved on this planet. We engage in many covert operations all over the world. Could it be that another country might occasionally engage in such activities as well?
Who might it be? North Korea, China? All is speculation in that dangerous game. We may be the only superpower, but that does not mean nobody else can act. If it were the agents of another country, it would seem to be a shot across the bow.
I hope someone is listening. To quote the article, “Mr. Wellinghoff said a FERC analysis found that if a surprisingly small number of U.S. substations were knocked out at once, that could destabilize the system enough to cause a blackout that could encompass most of the U.S.”
Then we’ll get the body count.