The Targeting of Infrastructure by America’s Violent Far-Right – Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
ctc.westpoint.edu
Abstract: Violent far-right extremists have targeted critical infrastructure to radicalize and recruit members, promulgate their narratives, and sow chaos, all in an attempt to precipitate the destruction of political systems and society writ large. Accelerationist ideology, conspiracy theories, disinformation, and far-right extremist narratives have played a key role in the prioritization of critical infrastructure as … Continued

The U.S. government has taken notice of far-right extremists’ renewed interest in targeting critical infrastructure, releasing numerous bulletins and warnings to educate the public and communicate transparently about the nature of the threat. According to CNN reporting, in late April 2023, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bulletin noted that domestic violent extremists in the United States are increasingly sharing tactics with each other, trading best practices related to how to attack electric power stations and other forms of critical infrastructure. In February 2022, DHS released a National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin noting the following: “Domestic violent extremists have also viewed attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure as a means to create chaos and advance ideological goals, and have recently aspired to disrupt U.S. electric and communications critical infrastructure, including by spreading false or misleading narratives about 5G cellular technology.”

One of the primary drivers of this increased focus is the growing popularity of accelerationism among extreme far-right and white supremacist groups, the ideology that influenced Russell and his Atomwaffen Division co-founders and that continues to contribute to far-right extremist radicalization. “Accelerationism is an ideologically agnostic doctrine of violent and non-violent actions taken to exploit contradictions intrinsic to a political system to ‘accelerate’ its destruction through the friction caused by its features.”

  • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.comEnglish
    17·
    6 months ago

    https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/two-charged-attacks-four-pierce-county-power-substations

    Tacoma – Two Puyallup, Washington, men will appear in U.S. District Court in Tacoma today charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities and possession of an unregistered firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Matthew Greenwood, 32, and Jeremy Crahan, 40, were arrested Saturday, December 31, 2022, following a fast-moving investigation by the FBI. Prosecutors will ask that both men remain detained at the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac pending future hearings.

  • DevCat@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    6 months ago

    The left needs to emphasize this much more. If the extreme right can be associated with domestic terrorism, it will help swing the center toward the left, or at least away from the right. It’ll help the undecideds make the decision to vote blue much easier on their conscience.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    7·
    6 months ago

    Many of them are set on inducing a race war, largely inspired by The Turner Diaries. Please don’t order a copy out of curiosity as it still funds these groups. You can find it free online. I skimmed different sections to find out what they’re reading / fantasizing and it’s dogshit but also disturbing.

    • cmbabul@lemmy.world
      1·
      6 months ago

      More people need to know the history of William Luther Pierce and his predecessor George Lincoln Rockwell

  • stoy@lemmy.zip
    5·
    6 months ago

    This makes me wonder about if people have completely forgotten about just taking a step back and considering what you are actually about to do…

    Then I remember the endless stream of hate and anger that can be targeted towards anyone and how it never mentions reflection or just calming down.

    Reflection tells you that the world is complex, and that your actions have concequences, it has all the questions, but few absolute answers, hate has no question, but all of the absolute answers, hate tells you that the world is simple, and that the other guy deserved it.

    Sorry, this post turned out more pilosophical than I expected…

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.worldOP
      4·
      6 months ago

      It’s too easy to be misunderstood…I write stream of consciousness sometimes and it sounds far better in my head and reads terribly, so I get those feels. Thanks for the clarification, though. Your comment makes more sense.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.worldOP
      3·
      6 months ago

      These are the same people that:

      Refused to wear masks during covid, refused to acknowledge that it could (and did) kill hundreds of thousands while they actively spread it, and are still.

      Support laws like the ones that allow you to run over protesters.

      Support killing people for saying hurtful things to you because you’d rather incite a fight by standing your ground rather than just walking away.

      Would rather women die or experience traumatic child births because they can’t access safe abortions.

      And on, and on…

      So their actions causing harm or death by attacking infrastructure is just par for the course.

  • collapse_already@lemmy.mlEnglish
    4·
    6 months ago

    At this point I am rooting for bird flu to evolve human-to-human transmission with the expectation that it would disproportionately infect anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers.