DHS "very concerned" about white nationalist attacks on power grid

On the heels of a string of high-profile attempted attacks at power substations, the top intelligence official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) remains "very concerned" about copycat attacks on the U.S. energy grid, driven by white nationalist narratives online.  

"We've seen attacks against the power grid for a number of years, and some of those attacks are simply people shooting into substations around the country for purely criminal reasons," said Kenneth Wainstein, undersecretary of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis at the Department of Homeland Security. "But some of these shootings are also being done by domestic violent extremists" who are trying to engineer a societal collapse.

This week, two individuals — including a known neo-Nazi — were indicted by a federal grand jury after allegedly plotting to attack five power substations in Maryland and Pennsylvania to "lay waste" to the city of Baltimore.