https://apnews.com/article/business...ent-agencies-9e3d1d4d4cd429b69a787235caa7e4b8
Extremists see US power grid as target, gov’t report warns
WASHINGTON (AP) — Extremist groups in the United States appear to increasingly view attacking the power grid as a means of disrupting the country, according to a government report aimed at law enforcement agencies and utility operators.
Domestic extremists “have developed credible, specific plans to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020,” according to the report from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis. The document, dated Monday, was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
The report warns that extremists “adhering to a range of ideologies will likely continue to plot and encourage physical attacks against electrical infrastructure,”
which includes more than 6,400 power plants and 450,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines that span the country.
Experts on the U.S. power grid in the past have pointed out that it would be difficult to knock out power to the nation given the size and decentralized nature of the grid.
The DHS report also notes that extremist attackers, without inside help at least, would be unlikely to cause widespread, multistate outages.
Both the FBI and DHS have repeatedly warned in recent months that the U.S. faces a heightened threat from domestic extremists. The report notes that an attack on the grid could still result in injuries and damage even without causing a major outage.
The grid is viewed as a target, based on a series of incidents in recent years as well as online discussions in extremist and conspiracy-minded forums, because transmission lines and substations are often in remote, rural areas and causing outages may cause further frustration and divisions within American society, a federal law enforcement official said.
“They feel that disrupting the electrical supply will disrupt the ability of government to operate,” the official said on condition of anonymity to discuss a report that has not been publicly released. “And, secondly, by conducting attacks against the communications and electrical infrastructure, it will actually accelerate the coming civil war that they anticipate because it will disrupt the lives of so many people that they will lose faith in government.”
Some of these concerns are nearly a decade old. In 2014, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered grid operators to increase security following a sniper attack on the Pacific Gas & Electric Company’s Metcalf Transmission Substation in an isolated area southeast of San Jose, California. No arrests have ever been made in an assault that stunned authorities and could have disrupted power to Silicon Valley.
DHS noted the Metcalf incident in the report as more recent incidents, including a suspected plot by white supremacist extremists to attack power stations in the southeastern U.S. as part of an effort to cause havoc if they disagreed with the outcome of the November 2020 election.
Asked about the report, the Edison Electric Institute, an association that represents companies that provide power to about 70% of the U.S. population, said it has been working for years with the government to respond to a range of potential dangers.
“Our industry is working constantly to adapt to new and evolving threats to the grid, whether that’s by protecting against malicious threats like cyber and physical attacks or addressing the challenges of extreme weather caused by climate change,” Scott Aaronson, the association’s senior vice president for security and preparedness, said by email.
The report also mentioned that four suspected extremists were accused in October 2020 of a plot to damage transformers in Idaho and nearby states and the arrest in May 2020 of three alleged militia extremists, tied to the antigovernment Boogaloo movement, who were charged in a conspiracy to attack an electrical substation in Las Vegas.
“The electrical companies and state and local law enforcement need to be aware of this and need to take steps,” said the federal law enforcement official.
Florida MAGAtard man strikes again.
https://apnews.com/article/politics-crime-maryland-baltimore-1b193a88f54001a882691f2c5da37f11
BALTIMORE (AP) — A Maryland woman conspired with a Florida neo-Nazi leader to carry out an attack on several electrical substations in the Baltimore area, officials said Monday.
The arrest of Sarah Beth Clendaniel, of Baltimore County, was the latest in a series across the country as authorities warn electrical infrastructure could be a vulnerable target for domestic terrorists. It wasn’t immediately clear Monday whether she had a lawyer to speak on her behalf.
There was no evidence the plot was carried out or any record of damage to local substations.
Clendaniel conspired with
Brandon Russell, recently arrested in Florida, to disable the power grid by shooting out substations via “sniper attacks,” saying she wanted to “completely destroy this whole city,” according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday. The complaint also included a photo of a woman authorities identified as Clendaniel wearing tactical gear that bore a swastika and holding a rifle.
U.S. Attorney Erek Barron praised investigators for disrupting hate-fueled violence.
“When we are united, hate cannot win,” he said at a news conference announcing the charges.
Authorities declined to specify how the planned attack was meant to fulfill a racist motive but suggested the defendants wanted to bring attention to their cause.
According to the complaint, Clendaniel was planning to target five substations situated in a “ring” around Baltimore, a majority-Black city mostly surrounded by heavily white suburban areas.
“It would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully,” Clendaniel told a confidential informant, according to the complaint. She was living outside the city in surrounding Baltimore County, officials said.
Russell has a long history of ties to racist groups and Nazi beliefs, as well as past plans to attack U.S. infrastructure systems, according to the complaint. It also wasn’t clear Monday whether he had a lawyer.
In recent months, concerns about protecting the country’s power grid have been heightened by attacks, or threatened attacks.
In Washington state, two men were
arrested last month on charges that they vandalized substations weeks earlier in attacks that left thousands without power around Christmastime. One suspect told authorities they did it so they could break into a business and steal money.
A gunfire attack in December on substations in central North Carolina caused power outages affecting tens of thousands of customers. Law enforcement officials have said the shooting was targeted, though no arrests have been made. Lawmakers there have proposed legislation to toughen penalties for intentionally damaging utility equipment.
Baltimore Gas and Electric, which controls the local power grid, thanked law enforcement and said Monday that there was no damage to any substations, that service wasn’t disrupted and that there are currently no known threats to facilities.
“The substations are not believed to have been targeted out of any connection to BGE or Exelon, or because of any particular vulnerability,” BGE said in a news release. “We have a long-standing partnership with law enforcement and state and federal regulators of the grid to secure critical infrastructure; this work is even more important now as threats have increased in recent years.”
