Extremists see U.S. power grid as target: report
WASHINGTON — 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 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 attackers, without inside help at least, would be unlikely to produce widespread, multistate outages, though they could still do damage and cause injuries.
It comes as both the FBI and DHS have repeatedly warned in recent months that the U.S. faces a heightened threat from domestic extremists.
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 areas and because outages may result in 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. “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.”