Charter Communications Says Damage To Its Cables In Van Nuys, CA Was “Domestic Terrorism”
Leading pay-TV and broadband provider Charter Communications says its internal probe into a June 15 attack on its network in Van Nuys, CA has determined it was “an act of domestic terrorism.” Citing “the nature of the fiber cuts, extent of damage and makeup of impacted customers,” the company called for stronger federal and state legislation to protect first responders, military bases and other institutions. The early morning attack saw 13 cables severed, spanning more than 2600 individual fibers, a Charter investigation found. The cuts affected emergency services, including a U.S. military base, emergency dispatch and 911 communication services, and local fire and police departments. Also hit were financial institutions, court buildings, healthcare facilities and hospitals, educational institutions, as well as cell towers providing mobile services. In all, more than 50,000 residential customers and more than 500 business customers lost service for up to 30 hours, Charter said. Citing industry research, the company said that between June and December of 2024, there were nearly 6,000 intentional attacks on critical communications infrastructure. The incidents are estimated to have compromised access to key public resources for more than 1.5 million residential and business customers. Watch on Deadline “These criminal attacks on our country’s vital communications networks are intentional and cause outages that put lives at risk,” CEO Chris Winfrey said in a statement. “This is a pervasive and persistent threat to American families and businesses across the country that cannot be tolerated, and such life-threatening events should be declared acts of domestic terrorism and prosecuted accordingly.” Federal and state laws should classify the acts as felonies, Winfrey added. He called for “dedicated engagement from federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, and swift, aggressive prosecution of those criminals causing the perilous situation that results from these outages.” L.A. City Councilman John Lee said, ”the rise in deliberate attacks on critical communications infrastructure poses a significant threat to national security, with resulting outages impacting military bases and emergency services while imposing substantial financial burdens on taxpayers and local governments.” Charter’s Spectrum services unit is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information related to these criminal infrastructure attacks that leads to an arrest. Anyone with information is urged to call 833-404-TIPS (8477) or reach out to local law enforcement.