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I have been saying it for the longest time. There is going to be a two pronged attack.
The Chinese and Iran via jihadi sleeper cells in the US.
The Chinese will launch a cyber attack.
That will bring the power down for a few hours. If they just did the cyber attack, then it would only a few hours until the companies can bring everything up manually after they shut down and disconnect the automated control equipment that the Chinese attacked.

But, while the grid is down for that short period of time, then the jihadis will strike.
They will sabotage vital infrastructure across many places at the same time which will make it impossible to bring the power back up.
They will cut light poles. Cut supports to transmission line towers. Destroy insulators in substations.
They will do it in remote locations so that it will take days searching the lines to find where the faults are.
When there is only one fault on an isolated line, then power companies can concentrate manpower to find the fault relatively quickly.
When you have multiple faults that appear all over the system, then it will thin out the manpower, and it will take a lot longer to locate the faults and repair them.

If they continue to sabotage things as the light companies try to repair the existing damage, then it can drag on for a very long time. Before they get one problem fixed, then the next problem will pop up.

If you have thousands of jihadis all across the country start cutting things down, then it would be impossible to keep up.

They found out that it was very effective in Iraq. People went for months without power because they were cutting the poles faster than they could put them up. In Iraq, it was easy to find where the system was sabotaged because of the baron terrain. But in the US, there is a lot more vegetation, and complicated terrain that the power systems go through. Trying to find where someone cut a pole along the back side of a ridge where no one can see it is impossible unless you physically walk the line.

If that happens, then the local people that are familiar with the local system and terrain will have to help out if you want any hope of getting control of the situation. Keep your eyes out for obvious sabotage. If you see it, report it as fast as possible Keep a watch on the power lines in your area. If you see a stranger that isn’t from the area hanging around the mainline, or doing something out of place, then get a hold of law enforcement as fast as possible. If you see them actively messing with something or obviously getting ready to cut/knock a pole down (bolt cutters and chainsaws) then you will know what to do.
Pull out the gun and calmly tell them to “Put the equipment down, lay down and wait until the law gets there or you will be shot.”

Keep in mind, if you see something odd going on. You want to have your weapon with you, because jihadis being jihadis, they will be armed and will try and kill the nosey infidel if they are caught in the act.
If they put guns on you, then drop them.

The people that help will be taking a risk, but the population at large will have to confront the people doing it if they are to be stopped. There isn’t enough cops and linemen to keep watch on every foot of mainline in this country, so the population that lives on that mainline will have to help.

I would say that after a few days of no lights, and after the word gets out about what is happening, then I would say that people will start taking the initiative on their own to guard the network

The thing I worry about is what will they do once they have the power down? What is stage two of the attack when the population is in an information vacuum? What do they plan when the population is already in a state of distress from several days of no power?

Keeping along the same line of thought…
The second wave.

The main problem jihadis have is the response from the authorities with superior firepower. After a day or two of no lights, then the cell network will not be functioning. That means that when they carry out an act, then no one can call for help on their cell phones. If they sabotage the landline telephone network, then they won’t be able to call for help at all. You will truly be on your own. When the jihadis attack in your area, you won’t be able to call for outside help. It will up to the local people to put down the attack.

You will have to physically drive to a police station to get the police.

Remember where someone intentionally cut a fiber into a town a while ago and disabled all the communications to the outside world, including police dispatch. That was a test to see if sabotage would generate the desired result.

All those reports of dry runs that you have seen people reporting. What if all of them use that time to launch their true attack.

The people won’t be able to call the police. And the police won’t be able to call for outside help because all communication with the outside world will be lost. They will have to physically drive to the neighboring town to muster outside help at first.

It will literally be one on one fighting at first.

After a while, people will fall back to two way radio. Police will start monitoring cb for local calls for help, and they will use vhf and HF to call for outside help, but it will take time for people to get things straightened out. That will be the time they can do the most damage.