"For several years now, law enforcement and researchers have been monitoring racially and ethnically motivated violent white supremacist groups and their growing fascination with our country's power grid. Many in these groups are 'accelerationists,' convinced that the best way to achieve their goal of a white supremacist future is to cause society to collapse by plunging it into darkness. 'The belief is, when the lights go out, people will become violent when they realize the government can't help them,' said Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher with the Counter Extremism Project, an international policy organization. 'It's also a great recruitment tactic.' Attacking the electrical grid, he noted, is a topic of growing interest in the neo-Nazi tracts he's reviewed in recent months."

"Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher with the Counter Extremism Project, cautioned against prescribing unsolved attacks on power stations to a certain ideological bent. Some of the attacks could have been from people hoping to steal wire, he said, or those who are simply destructive. One suspect in an attack on power infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest that cut the lights off for 14,000 people on Christmas Day said he hoped to burglarize a business after knocking out power.

But ideas about attacks on critical infrastructure are discussed constantly in Neo-Nazi messaging groups.

“There are definitely conversations happening on Telegram and happening in places where Neo-Nazi accelerationists congregate where they are discussing these attacks,” he said, “and they’re saying, ‘What can we learn from this?’""
 

"WILSON: Neo-Nazi groups have launched several plots to take out the U.S. grid in recent years. They've even put out how-to manuals to make it easier to attack vulnerable parts of the nation's critical infrastructure. Joshua Fisher-Birch is a researcher with the Counter Extremism Project, which tracks these groups' online activities.

JOSHUA FISHER-BIRCH: The recent substation attacks have been spoken about in glowing terms by certain members of the extreme right and particularly by neo-Nazi accelerationists."

"Researcher Joshua Fisher-Birch of the Counter Extremism Project told KUOW/OPB that the some extremists were energized by the attacks in North Carolina and those in the Northwest.

'The recent substation attacks have been spoken about in glowing terms by certain members of the extreme right, particularly by neo-Nazi accelerationists and white supremacist accelerationists who subscribe to this ideology where they want to push chaos,' Fisher-Birch said."

"Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher with the Counter Extremism Project, a nonprofit that tracks extremists groups’ online activities, said the attacks in North Carolina and those in the Northwest have energized some on the far right.

'The recent substation attacks have been spoken about in glowing terms by certain members of the extreme right, particularly by neo-Nazi accelerationists and white supremacist accelerationists who subscribe to this ideology where they want to push chaos,' Fisher-Birch said."