The FBI is looking into an incident in south Nebraska that investigators say could be a possible act of domestic terrorism. The Furnas County Sheriff's Office believes someone or some people intentionally took down a communications tower in a rural area of the county. Oxford Fire and EMS, Southern Valley Schools and the sheriff's office had equipment on that tower, the incident rendering them all offline."These are the types of things that we tend to take for granted until we don't have them, right? Things like water, power or, in this case, communications," said Austin Doctor, the lead of counterterrorism research initiatives at the University of Nebraska Omaha's National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center.The incident produced more than $500,000 in damages. While the FBI wants to know if this is domestic terrorism, it is coming in the midst of a broader national trend, according to Doctor. "Elements of our nation's critical infrastructure, to include elements of our power grid or transportation sectors, have been under attack by violent extremists," he said. Federal authorities recently looked into attacks on power grids that happened coast-to-coast. Two electrical substations in North Carolina were hit with gunfire in the last month, with 100,000 residents losing power. Four power substations in Washington were also attacked on Christmas Day. When it comes to the towers closer to home, OPPD sent KETV a statement: "OPPD works with other local, regional and national utilities and other organizations to stay informed about industry concerns and aware of best practices. We regularly participate in drills to prepare for emergency situations. Members of our team also have the proper security clearance to work confidentially with federal, state, and local officials, with regards to threats to our electric system, including the grid itself, as well as our assets, including substations. We continually assess our security practices and implement additional measures, as necessary, to meet emerging threats, such as those that we have seen recently across the country. OPPD will continue this important work to protect our assets, employees and customers and deter those wishing to do harm to our electric system."Experts say extremists could use these incidents to draw attention to their ideology, and rural targets like Furnas County can be more vulnerable. "Looking and keeping a sharp eye and to remain vigilant to this potential threat in both urban and rural areas will be an important priority moving forward," said Doctor. It bears repeating that federal agents and investigators cannot disclose exactly what they are looking into right now, so there is no indication thus far that this case was ideologically motivated. The Nebraska State Patrol is also investigating.