WHAT IS IT? The national power grid
An increase in severe weather events, attacks on power stations and the push for green energy are all highlighting the importance of a resilient national power grid.
A woman from Maryland charged alongside a Neo-Nazi leader from Florida with conspiring to attack energy facilities allegedly had a "wish list" of guns and said she wanted to strike five substations around the Baltimore area in one day to "completely destroy this whole city," according to charging documents.
Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 34, of Catonsville, Md., allegedly discussed her plans with an FBI informant just weeks before her arrest.
In Jan. 12 messages through an encrypted communication application, she told the FBI "confidential human source" that she "had a terminal illness related to her kidneys and was unlikely to live more than a few months, confirmed she is a felon, and stated she had previously, but unsuccessfully, attempted to obtain a rifle," an affidavit by FBI Special Agent Patrick W. Straub says.
Clendaniel, messaging under the username "Nythra," asked the FBI informant to purchase a rifle for her because she wanted to "accomplish something worthwhile" before her death and wanted the rifle "within the next couple of weeks" to "accomplish as much as possible before June, at the latest," the affidavit says.
A woman believed to be Clendaniel wearing tactical gear containing a swastika, holding a rifle and with a pistol in a drop holster on her left leg. (FBI)
She later told the informant she would send "wish list" of requested firearms and ammo. In a recorded voice conversation through the app on Jan. 29, Clendaniel allegedly told the FBI informant that the five substations she planned to attack include those in Norrisville, Reisterstown, and Perry Hall, Straub wrote.
The affidavit says she described how there was a "ring" around Baltimore and if they hit a number of substations all in the same day, they "would completely destroy this whole city."
Clendaniel added that they needed to "destroy those cores, not just leak the oil…" and that a "good four or five shots through the center of them… should make that happen."
Sarah Clendaniel, 34, is one of two people suspected of planning to attack five substations in Maryland. (Maryland State Police)
"It would probably permanently completely lay this city to waste if we could do that successfully," she said, confirming to the informant that the goal was to complete a "cascading failure."
The affidavit includes a photo of a woman believed to be Clendaniel wearing tactical gear containing a swastika, holding a rifle and with a pistol in a drop holster on her left leg.
The informant began communicating with Clendaniel about the substation attack plot at the instruction of co-defendant Brandon Clint Russell, 27, of Orlando, Fla.
The affidavit says Clendaniel and Russell had been communicating since at least 2018 through the encrypted app when they were both incarcerated at separate facilities.
Sarah Beth Clendaniel is seen in a photo included in the affidavit by Special Agent Patrick W. Straub, of the Joint Terrorism Task Force ("JTTF") in the FBI Baltimore Division. (FBI)
Clendaniel told the FBI informant that she had a prior conviction for the armed robbery of a convenience store with a "machete," which she committed under the influence of drugs. A police report says she wielded a "large butcher knife" during the May 2006 robbery. Clendaniel was sentenced to five years in prison in December 2006 with two years suspended in that incident.
Russell, an admitted Neo-Nazi leader, did prison time after police responding to the murders of two of his roommates at their Tampa residence found illegal explosive devices belonging to him. He wasn’t at home at the time a third roommate murdered the two others following a dispute about converting to Islam, according to the affidavit.
Brandon Russell seen in a June 7, 2017, mugshot provided by the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. (Pinellas County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)
Communicating under the username "Homunculus," Russell has been speaking with the FBI informant since at least June 2022 about plans to attack critical infrastructure in furtherance of his racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist ideology, according to Straub.
On Oct. 14, 2022, during a conversation about the use of Mylar balloons to short out a power transformer, Russell allegedly told the FBI informant that "putting holes in transformers though is the greatest thing somebody can do." On Nov. 5, 2022, Russell allegedly stated that the "goal is for when most people are using max electricity" and that "follow on [attacks] could lead to cascading failure costing billions of dollars," the affidavit says.
Erek L. Barron, U.S. Attorney for Maryland, announced the arrests and a federal criminal complaint charging Sarah Beth Clendaniel, of Catonsville, and Brandon Clint Russell, of Orlando, with conspiracy to destroy an energy facility. (Amy Davis/The Baltimore Sun via AP)
He also encouraged an attack be carried out "when there is greatest strain on the grid," like "when everyone is using electricity to either heat or cool their homes."
Russell asked the informant to collaborate with Clendaniel on the attack, describing the woman as 100 percent "serious and can be trusted," the affidavit says.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland and the FBI Baltimore Field Office announced Monday that Clendaniel and Russell had been arrested and charged through a federal criminal complaint with conspiracy to destroy an energy facility. They could face up to 20 years behind bars if convicted.
