Law enforcement authorities are on alert for threats against critical U.S. infrastructure as the November general election approaches, BNN Bloomberg reported.
One senior U.S. official told the Canadian news outlet that threats against infrastructure, such as the nation's power grid, are becoming more acute with the election little more than two months away.
Kristofer Goldsmith, founder of the nonprofit Task Force Butler Institute, told BNN Bloomberg that strategic blackouts could affect voting locations or impact the certification of elections.
"Something like a grid attack before, during or after an election could sow an unbelievable amount of political chaos," Goldsmith said.
A May Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll found that half of swing state voters expect violence around the election.
Politico's E&E news reported in April that rising incidents of domestic terrorism and a surge in state-sponsored cyberattacks on critical infrastructure are posing a heightened risk to the U.S. power system and are likely to climb as the U.S. election season ramps up.
"The current geopolitical situation has significant ramifications for the North American grid," North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) Senior Vice President Manny Cancel told reporters, and that's contributed to "a dramatic increase in malicious cyber activity.
Power companies reported 185 physical attacks or threats on grid infrastructure in 2023, more than double the number from 2021, according to NERC.
Many companies have raced to increase their defenses, and the Department of Energy has said it will dedicate $70 million to boost resiliency.
NERC recently involved more than 250 participants in an emergency simulation that assessed grid reliability, BNN Bloomberg reported.
Extremists seeking to disrupt the power grid communicate via online venues such as "Terrorgram," a loose network of channels on the social media platform Telegram.
Court records show that extremists planned to knock out power at substations near scheduled Black Lives Matter protests, and hit hydroelectric stations.
Police have charged suspects in connection with plots to attack energy facilities in Idaho, Maryland, and Ohio since 2022.