38 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
38 lines
4.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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category: "Extremism & Violent Networks"
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tags:
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- Person
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- NeoNazi
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- Accelerationism
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- AtomwaffenDivision
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- NationalAlliance
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- FederalCase
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- Tennessee
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- USA
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- InfrastructureSabotage
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- WeaponOfMassDestruction
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summary: "Skyler Philippi is a Columbia, Tennessee man with prior Atomwaffen Division and National Alliance affiliations who pleaded guilty September 9, 2025, to attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction by deploying a drone loaded with C-4 against a Nashville-area electrical substation."
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created: 2026-05-22
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updated: 2026-05-22
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born: 2001
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location: "Columbia, Tennessee"
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---
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[[Skyler Philippi]] (born approximately 2001, [[Columbia, Tennessee]]) pleaded guilty on September 9, 2025, to two counts in the [[Middle District of Tennessee]]: attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction under 18 U.S.C. § 2332a, and attempting to destroy an energy facility. His plot involved attaching what he believed to be C-4 plastic explosive to a drone and flying it into a Nashville-area electrical substation. FBI undercover employees and confidential human sources disrupted the plot during its November 2024 operational phase, arresting Philippi on-site as he prepared to attach the explosive device to the drone. Sentencing was scheduled for January 8, 2026, with a maximum penalty of life in prison.[^1]
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### Prior Extremist Affiliations
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In August 2024, Philippi told an undercover employee that he had written a "manifesto" outlining his desire to attack "high tax cities or industrial areas" and disclosed prior affiliation with [[Atomwaffen Division]] and the [[National Alliance]]. The National Alliance, founded by [[William Luther Pierce]] and the original publisher of *[[The Turner Diaries]]*, had undergone multiple leadership transitions after Pierce's 2002 death; its surviving membership in the early 2020s overlapped significantly with Terrorgram-adjacent online communities. Philippi's path from AWD-adjacent ideology to Terrorgram-era infrastructure targeting mirrored that of other defendants in the [[Terrorgram Collective]] network, though his case was charged separately, not within the [[United States v. Humber]] prosecution.
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### Planning and Operational Conduct
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In June 2024, Philippi communicated to a confidential human source (CHS) that he wanted to commit a mass shooting at a [[YMCA]] facility near Columbia, Tennessee. He subsequently shifted his focus to infrastructure attack, researching previous attacks on electrical substations and concluding that firearms-only attacks were insufficient. He planned instead to use a drone with explosives capable of causing damage sufficient to knock out power to thousands of homes and critical facilities including hospitals.
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Philippi researched self-built drone construction to reduce detection risk and identified TATP (Triacetone Triperoxide) and C-4 as preferred explosive materials. In November 2024, in a staged operation, Philippi and undercover FBI employees drove to his intended Nashville launch site; he was arrested as he prepared to attach a device he believed to contain 3 pounds of C-4 explosive to the drone.
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The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney [[Josh Kurtzman]] of the Middle District of Tennessee and Trial Attorneys [[Justin Sher]] and [[James Donnelly]] of the [[National Security Division]]'s Counterterrorism Section.[^2]
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: U.S. Department of Justice, OPA. "Man Pleads Guilty to Attempting to Use a Weapon of Mass Destruction and Attempting to Destroy an Energy Facility in Nashville." September 9, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/man-pleads-guilty-attempting-use-weapon-mass-destruction-and-attempting-destroy-energy; U.S. Department of Justice, USAO-MDTN. "Columbia Man Pleads Guilty." September 9, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdtn/pr/columbia-man-pleads-guilty-attempting-use-weapon-mass-destruction-and-destroy-energy
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[^2]: CNN. "Skyler Philippi pleads guilty to charges that he meant to blow up a Nashville power site with a bomb-laden drone." September 9, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/09/us/nashville-power-substation-bomb-plot-plea; ABC News. "Man pleads guilty to neo-Nazi-inspired plot to bomb Nashville energy facility: DOJ." September 9, 2025. https://abcnews.com/US/man-pleads-guilty-neo-nazi-inspired-plot-bomb/story?id=125401895
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