Keystone XL Vulnerable To “Terrorism”
Weekend Edition June 6-8, 2014
The Navy SEAL Commander's Warning
Keystone XL Vulnerable To Terrorism
by STEVE HORN
Dave Cooper, Command Master Chief SEAL (Retired) for the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU), has authored a threat assessment concluding TransCanadas Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is potentially at-risk of a terrorism attack.
In the report, Cooper concluded operational security vulnerabilities for the pipeline have been overlooked by the U.S. government. Cooper most famous for overseeing the Abbottabad, Pakistan Osama Bin Laden raid as the commander of Navy SEAL Team Six wrote the report as a consultant for billionaire Tom Steyers advocacy group NextGen Climate Action.
The very nature of Keystone XLs newsworthiness, should it ever be built, increases its attractiveness as a target to terrorists: Keystone XL, aside from being a soft target just like any other pipeline, has a built-in emotional impact that cant be denied or wished away, he wrote in the reports introduction.
That simple fact, a newsworthy proposal that engenders strong passions, should clue in pipeline owners and government officials to the very real possibility of intentional attack.
For the report, Cooper utilized a red cell methodology, parlance for U.S.special operations forces performing pre-mission reconnaissance, using open source data readily available to terrorists on the internet. In so doing, the special operations forces snuff out operational security (OpSec in military lingo) weaknesses, which they use as actionable intelligence in defense missions.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/06/06/keystone-xl-vulnerable-to-terrorism/