Pry pointed out that public information indicates “the person or persons attacking the cables is deliberately targeting them, knows where the underground cable junctions are located, knows how to gain access and knows which cables to cut.”
He noted that utility companies and law enforcement agencies have tried to minimize the seriousness of such criminal acts.
“In the recent past, utilities in the San Francisco area dismissed attacks on fiber optics communications cables as probable vandalism by thieves hoping to steal copper wire, who severed the fiber optics cables by accident,” he said.
Following the 2013 attack against the Metcalf transformer substation that provides electricity to the Silicon Valley and San Francisco area, Pry charged that “for months the electric utility PG&E tried to cover up the incident as vandalism.”
“Later, an investigation by the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Navy Seals determined the attack on Metcalf was probably by well-trained terrorists or special forces, practicing for a larger future attack on the electric grid,” he said.
In the still largely unexplained attack April 16, 2013, on PG&E Corp’s Metcalf Transmission Substation outside of San Jose, California, a team of gunmen fired sniper and assault rifles, severely damaging 17 transformers.
Want To Know Trump’s Tax Plan? Read His Book
During the second Republican presidential debate last Wednesday, Donald Trump teased the tax plan he says he will be releasing in about two weeks, calling it a “major reduction for the middle class.”
“What I’d like to do, and I’ll be putting in the plan in about two weeks, and I think people are going to like it, it’s a major reduction in taxes,” he said. “It’s a major reduction for the middle class. The hedge fund guys won’t like me as much as they like me right now. I know them all, but they’ll pay more.”
While Trump has yet to unveil his plan, he laid out a plan to completely transform the tax code in his 2011 book, “Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again,” a code largely ignored by media.
Trump’s revenue prescription, which he labeled his 1-5-10-15 income tax plan in the book, could form the basis for his campaign’s platform on the issue. Trump wrote that his plan is so simple, it could eliminate the need for accountants and tax preparers, which he referenced during last week’s debate when he complained that someone making $50,000 a year “has to hire H&R Block to do the – because it’s so complicated.”
Here’s Trump’s proposed income-tax plan as outlined in his 2011 book:
- Those making up to $30,000 will pay 1 percent.
- Income from $30,000 to $100,000 is assessed a flat 5 percent tax.
- $100,000 to $1 million income will be taxed at 10 percent.
- $1 million or above will be taxed at 15 percent.