EXCLUSIVE: Neo-Nazi domestic terrorists are targeting critical power stations with guns and explosives in co-ordinated attacks as they seek to destroy the American way of life, watchdog warns

Neo-Nazi terrorists are targeting critical power stations with guns and explosives as they seek to hasten the end of American society, a US energy chief has told DailyMail.com.

The US has been hit by a rise in ballistic threats on its energy sector this year as saboteurs share information online on how to inflict maximum damage, according to Manny Cancel of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

Previous attacks have resulted in entire counties losing power for days, with one death recorded as a result.

But there are now fears co-ordinated plots – possibly sponsored by hostile foreign actors from China, Russia or Iran – could result in catastrophic damage.

Cancel, who is in charge of the team that analyzes security threats within NERC, said: ‘All the data indicates this trend is going in the wrong direction.’

Physical attacks on the US power grid rose by 71 percent last year, according to data from the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC)

Smaller substations are the most common targets as they are less well protected, but fears are growing of a potentially cataclysmic fallout amid a growing number of plots against interstate power hubs and even nuclear reactors, Cancel said.

Physical attacks on the US power grid rose by 71 percent last year, according to data from the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E-ISAC), of which Cancel is president and CEO.

E-ISAC is a division of NERC, which oversees grid security in the US, Canada and the northern portion of Baja California, Mexico.

Just last week, a former Marine pleaded guilty on a charge connected to a neo-Nazi plot to attack US energy infrastructure, hatched over three years at a military camp in North Carolina.

Liam Collins, 24, was accused of stealing military gear and delivering them to co-conspirators who planned to use them for assaults on power stations.

His conviction comes after a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) threat assessment published last month warned that domestic terrorists have ‘increasingly called for physical attacks on critical infrastructure this year’ in the belief that they ‘would have cascading impacts on US industries and the American way of life’.

The growing threat from the far right is attributed to the growth of ‘accelerationism’ – an ‘ideology that seeks to destabilize society and trigger a race war’, according to the DHS.

Indeed, a report published by The George Washington University in September last year noted the number of white supremacist plots targeting energy systems had ‘dramatically increased’ since 2016.

The study found 13 individuals with far-right links had been arrested and charged in federal court with planning attacks on the energy sector in that period, with 11 of these having been charged since 2020.

Cancel said the majority of attacks involved gunmen shooting at substations and noted a growing technical knowledge among groups on which types of equipment to target to cause maximum damage.

He also noted instances of small explosives being planted and the potential of drones to drop or plant an incendiary device.

READ MORE HERE