U.S. military planners timed a cyberattack that cut power across large parts of Caracas in the early hours of Jan. 3 to support a pre-dawn raid to capture Venezuela's Nicolás Maduro while limiting risks to civilians, according to a new report from The New York Times based on accounts from U.S. officials briefed on the operation.
The blackout was part of a broader effort that combined cyberoperations with air and ground forces, allowing U.S. helicopters and aircraft to approach undetected. Officials said the Pentagon demonstrated not only the ability to disable parts of a city's power grid, but also to restore electricity quickly, reducing the chance of widespread disruption.
