US energy infrastructure targeted in attempt to overthrow government - Bloomberg

According to Bloomberg, targeting the power grid has long been part of the playbook for right-wing extremists who have been planning such attacks for years. Recently, they found renewed momentum on Terrorgram, a loose network of channels on the social media platform Telegram, where users around the world advocate for violent racism.

For example, the platform featured calls for violence during recent anti-immigration riots in the United Kingdom. In June 2022, a few months before the shooting in Moore County, a 261-page document circulated online, providing detailed instructions on using automatic weapons and explosives to disrupt power supply. One of the suggestions in the document was to target transformers at substations with high-caliber firearms.

Bloomberg reports that attacks on energy infrastructure in the United States have increased in recent months. According to the North American Reliability Corporation (NERC), an industry group that monitors risks to utilities, energy companies reported 185 physical attacks or threats against network infrastructure in 2023, more than double the number in 2021. Court records indicate that extremists had planned to cut power at substations near scheduled Black Lives Matter protests. Others had plotted to target hydroelectric plants and other critical infrastructure. Since 2022, police have charged suspects in conspiracies to attack energy facilities in Idaho, Maryland, and Ohio.

Threats increase as elections approach

Threats to critical infrastructure are intensifying as elections draw closer, according to a senior US law enforcement official monitoring this activity.

Strategic blackouts could affect voting locations or impact the certification of elections, says Kristofer Goldsmith, founder of the nonprofit Task Force Butler Institute, a group dedicated to combating extremism. "Something like a grid attack before, during, or after an election could sow an unbelievable amount of political chaos," he says.

In Moore County, investigators have linked the attacks to members of a right-wing group called Moore County Citizens for Freedom, which was also involved in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. In 2022, three men pleaded guilty to planning attacks on multiple substations in the US in hopes of igniting a race war.

It is worth noting that Michael Sparks, a resident of Kentucky who was the first rioter to breach the US Capitol during the attack by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, was sentenced to more than four years in prison.

Arrest of Telegram’s founder and CEO

Durov was detained at Le Bourget Airport in the suburbs of Paris on the evening of August 24.

He is accused of terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering, dealing in stolen goods, and sexual crimes against children, as well as failing to moderate the platform and cooperate with investigators. Durov could face up to 20 years in prison.

Telegram has denied the charges, stating that the company operates within the legal framework of the EU.

For more details on Durov’s arrest in France and the future of Telegram, see RBC-Ukraine’s report.