Fiber Network Attacks Spotlight Growing Threat to U.S. Infrastructure from Anarchist Sabotage Campaigns
Executive Summary
A series of coordinated fiber optic cable cuts in San Antonio and Kansas City are being highlighted and celebrated by a known anti-government anarchist blog, Unravel, as acts of “destruction and attack.” The disruptions—impacting internet, phone, and emergency services—affected school districts, commercial businesses, and residential communities. While the incidents had already drawn media attention due to their impact and restoration efforts, their adoption by radical political actors signals a more insidious motive: undermining critical infrastructure as a form of political warfare. These acts are now under federal investigation, with Spectrum offering a $25,000 reward for tips leading to arrests.
Analysis
What began as suspected cases of criminal vandalism has taken on a more dangerous dimension. A post on the anarchist site Unravel openly glorified and cataloged the attacks on fiber networks in Texas and Missouri. It offered dates, locations, and implied ideological support by listing the incidents under its “Destruction and Attack” category—language frequently used by anti-state insurgent groups.
In San Antonio, five separate attacks between March and May 2025 targeted Charter Spectrum infrastructure, severely disrupting services including to Northside, Judson, and other independent school districts. In Kansas City, multiple lines operated by Spectrum and Google Fiber were severed in densely trafficked regions, affecting businesses, homes, and restaurants, while another cut targeted fiber in an isolated wooded area—suggesting tactical knowledge and intent.
According to KSAT and KMBC reporting, these outages brought education and commerce to a standstill for hours and in some cases days. Zayo, the San Antonio provider, confirmed third-party fiber was involved, while in Kansas City, Google Fiber cited “strong evidence of vandalism” and filed police reports. The attacks were not random; in Kansas City alone, three geographically spread lines were severed on May 17, forcing teams into 30-hour shifts to restore service.
Spectrum’s decision to issue a $25,000 reward reflects the gravity of the threat, which the FBI is now investigating as a potential case of infrastructure sabotage. The blog post by Unravel may be interpreted as a tacit claim of ideological alignment if not direct responsibility. While it stops short of claiming the attacks outright, its gleeful framing of the chaos strongly echoes messaging from far-left anarchist cells operating under “direct action” philosophies.
Such sabotage poses a significant risk not just to economic activity but to public safety. Several school districts lost emergency communication capacity, and point-of-sale systems across the Kansas City metro were disabled, cutting off access to essential services. Federal agencies are increasingly concerned that fiber cuts—often easy to execute and difficult to immediately detect—may be emerging as a low-cost, high-impact tool for ideological insurgents in the U.S.
