Are We Next Victim of the Yemen-style Blackout?

In case you haven’t heard, Al-Queda is back on the rise. The ISIS (Islamic State of Iran and Syria) which has recently renamed itself the “Islamic State” (IS), is actually a splinter group of Al-Queda. So, not only are they on the rise, but they are taking back territory which the United States won and which our president has decided to abandon.

Now, I realize that President Obama has declared on several occasions that Al-Queda is on the run and all but destroyed. However, we all know that what Obama says and the truth aren’t even distant cousins, let alone being related to each other. He merely says things to keep the low information voters in line, if he has to lie to do that, no problem.

EMP1

In case you don’t know about Yemen, Al-Queda recently attacked their electric power grid and took it down. Yemen has been working right alongside the United States in the War on Terror, making them a likely target for Al-Queda to use for a test attack on the grid. Using mortars and grenade launchers, Al-Queda took down the entire country’s grid, plunging its 25 million citizens into darkness.

What It Takes to Takes Us Down

Now I realize that a country with a population of 24 million isn’t going to have as sophisticated a grid as one of over 300 million, but as I’ve already mentioned, our grid is old and vulnerable to attack. The only real level of sophistication you can find in the U.S. power grid is its size.

Let’s take a look at a few facts that bear upon this case:

  • On April 16th of this year, a substation in San Jose, California was attacked by unknown gunmen. Within a short span of time, over 100 rounds were fired into the stations transformers, rendering them useless. The substation was destroyed by a few men with rifles.
  • This isn’t the only substation which has been attacked either, just the first to be taken totally down by small arms fire. Officials from the power company see this as a rehearsal, in preparation for future attacks.
  • If just nine of the country’s 55,000 substations were taken out at the same time, the cascading effects would collapse the entire U.S. power grid.
  • It was recently discovered that over 1,000 power plants worldwide were hacked into. Test runs have been run by overseas hackers (possibly connected to terrorist organizations) on American power plants, including nuclear power plants, to see if they could be taken over and/or taken down by remote control.
  • The recent influx of illegal aliens crossing our southern border is providing camouflage to both drug traffickers and terrorists. There are 300 which are known to have succeeded in crossing from the Somoli Al-Queda group Al-Shabaab, not counting others that we don’t know about. The Department of Homeland Security has lost track of these 300. This makes it clear that there are known terrorists within our borders.

Looking at those facts, it’s clear that a Yemen-style attack on our power grid is much more than merely possible. While it is possible that Al-Queda is working on other plans, they have shown the sophistication necessary to orchestrate complicated attacks.

Yemen could have been nothing more than a rehearsal for them. Taking down the power grid would probably be the most effective attack that any terrorist group could do to the United States.

It seems like such a low-key attack for a terrorist organization to make, but it could have a much greater impact than 9-11 did. Instead of killing a few thousand people, elimination of the grid could easily bring the body count up into the millions, as people struggled for survival.

While a terrorist attack against nine substations wouldn’t have as great an effect as an EMP, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has stated that even a simple terror attack on the grid could take it down for as much as 18 months. This would require combining the attack on the substations with other elements, such as destroying a few power plants and taking out a transformer manufacturer, and we’ve got a serious problem.

EMP4

It seems hard to imagine that taking out as few as nine substations could shut down the grid, but the people who are making these declarations are the experts who have designed and maintain the system. They are the ones with the knowledge and expertise to know.

There is no evidence that Al-Queda has someone like that on their payroll, they don’t have to; they could accomplish the same thing by attacking a larger number of sub-stations, increasing their chances of hitting the critical ones which will start the domino effect. This may not be all that hard to do.

Part of the design of the grid is a “self-healing” function. It is designed to shuttle power through alternate routes, if the primary ones go down. That helps ensure that the overall system keeps working.

However, if enough sub-stations are taking down, it will cause other sub-stations to overload, as they try to keep the system functioning. Eventually, that will reach a point where it will have the desired effect.

There’s no question that we’re vulnerable. The only questions are: why haven’t they attacked and when will the attack come. They could be waiting for a certain event or date, there’s no real way of knowing.

All we really know is that when it comes, it will be spectacular, but we won’t enjoy the show.

This article has been written by Bill White for Survivopedia.

Written by

Bill White is the author of Conquering the Coming Collapse, and a former Army officer, manufacturing engineer and business manager. More recently, he left the business world to work as a cross-cultural missionary on the Mexico border. Bill has been a survivalist since the 1970s, when the nation was in the latter days of the Cold War. He had determined to head into the Colorado Rockies, should Washington ever decide to push the button. While those days have passed, the knowledge Bill gained during that time hasn’t. He now works to educate others on the risks that exist in our society and how to prepare to meet them. You can send Bill a message at editor [at] survivopedia.com.

Latest comments
  • Good article and I totally agree with the risk and premise. However, an important bit of info to incorporate into current events is this:
    Since the 1980’s the US has funded, armed, and trained Al Queda (and since 2011 the “splinter group” ISIS/ISIL.
    That’s right. the United States of America has funded Al Queda (et al) to wage proxy wars against Russia, against Syria, etc. The USA has also been the “rebels” that have “risen up” in many countries worldwide: Egypt, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Brazil.
    This information does NOT negate the warning and concern of the article for me, it HEIGHTENS it. Many would be surprised at the behavior of the USA during the past 2 centuries in matters of foreign affairs.
    Follow the money. During the 1980’s the proxy war in Afghanistan vs USSR was for the purpose of bleeding USSR financially and facilitating its collapse.
    Ukraine, Libya, and Syria are about beating them into submission in order to place NATO bases/troops/”defenses” in these places.
    After the collapse of USSR, Reagan and Gorbechev agreed that no NATO bases would be placed in any of the Eastern Bloc countries that were previously part of USSR. How’s that agreement holding up?

    “Give me control of a nation’s money and I care not who makes her laws.” (Mayer Amschel Rothschild).

  • “taking out a transformer manufacturer”
    Do we still have domestic transformer manufacturers, or are they all made offshore today?

    • I heard from SGT Report or X22 Report not sure exactly, that the transformers take 2 years to build and they are the size of a house and there are SIX railway cars in the entire USA to transport them…and they are NOT made in the USA.

  • Bill, Your absolutely right on about the ” Plan of Obama “. The clock is on high mode! These last two years of his presidency will prove this out. Anyone without a means of producing electricity or water storage will be out of luck. The people that can’t see that immigration increase isn’t part of the bigger picture of smuggling anything necessary to start this process is badly mistaken. Children, then, terrorist’s masquerading as parents will allow them all the access needed. The NSA is too worried about IPOD’s and unpowered laptops and nothing about border control. Sounds more like attention grabbing. The agendas’ are clear and the battle lines are also. The ISIS and the Al Qaeda are bringing the war to our turf and it seems that they are being assisted. Is a ” Dumb and Dumber ” scenario our should we say well orchestrated ?

  • Que sera ,sera, what ever will be ,will be. you cant stop the will of God, the only choice you have is to accept Jesus as your savour. Those that die in Christ will live again.
    my videos are now on Youtube
    Pastor C.Walrond.>Watchman for the Church. http://www.sleepingbride.com

    • Gott mit uns.

  • The people in San Jose and the rest of CA laughed at it and said the CIA did it. If it happens again, it will probably be the CIA as well.

  • I wonder how many terrorists have come into our country in the past three months
    as well as their equipment.
    Everyone who has entered our country ILLEGALLY this year needs to be rounded up
    and sent back to whence they came.
    The Border Guards need to be armed with orders to arrest/detain them.
    Of not armed Border Guards then send the National Guard–Armed, to arrest/detain the ILLEGALS.
    Only LEGAL immigrants to be allowed into our country.

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