--- category: Law Enforcement & Legal created: 2026-05-22 location: United States summary: Christopher Jackson is the FBI confidential human source designated CHS-1 in the 2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy case, whose testimony was central to Brandon Russell's 2025 conviction and whose undisclosed pre-testimony payment became the basis for Russell's denied new-trial motion. tags: - Person - FBI - FBIInformant - FederalCase - InfrastructureAttack - AtomwaffenDivision - BrandonRussell - USA - Maryland updated: 2026-05-22 --- Christopher Jackson is the FBI confidential human source (CHS) designated CHS-1 in the [2023 Baltimore Power Grid Conspiracy](/events/2023-baltimore-power-grid-conspiracy/) case, United States v. Russell, 1:23-cr-00029 (D. Md.). Jackson, who worked professionally as a researcher specializing in extremism and domestic terrorism, was recruited into FBI informant work through an agent acquaintance and had been operating across multiple FBI investigations before his contact with [Brandon Russell](/people/brandon-russell/) in 2022. Jackson is identified by pseudonym in court filings; his full identity was withheld from the defense under a September 2024 witness disguise ruling by Senior U.S. District Judge James K. Bredar. ### Role in the Baltimore Investigation In June 2022, Jackson made contact with Russell through invite-only neo-Nazi Telegram channels in which both were participating. Over the following months, Jackson developed a relationship with Russell in which Russell disclosed infrastructure attack plans, distributed propaganda materials, and attempted to recruit Jackson into the [National Socialist Resistance Front](/organizations/national-socialist-resistance-front/) (NSRF) as a prospective member, telling Jackson that prospective members included individuals from Maryland and the Carolinas. Jackson also communicated with [Sarah Beth Clendaniel](/people/sarah-beth-clendaniel/), capturing evidence of her operational planning including the January 29, 2023 recorded conversation in which she described the five Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) substation targets and stated the simultaneous attack "would permanently completely lay this city to waste." Jackson served as the government's primary live witness. He and a second confidential human source (CHS-2) were the main witnesses who could place Russell and Clendaniel in the operational planning conversations. ### Testimony and the Payment Dispute Jackson testified at Russell's trial on January 29, 2025. In his testimony, he disclosed that he had received FBI compensation of "about $70,000," comprising approximately $40,000 in direct payments and $30,000 in reimbursements for plane tickets and travel expenses across several investigations. On January 27, 2025 (the day jury selection occurred, two days before Jackson testified), the government paid Jackson an additional $7,180.11. The [Department of Justice](/organizations/department-of-justice/) did not disclose this payment until March 19, 2025, six weeks after Russell's February 4, 2025 conviction. Jackson's total compensation across all FBI informant work was thus approximately $80,000. Russell subsequently moved for a new trial, arguing Jackson committed perjury by understating his total compensation and that the non-disclosure of the final payment before testimony violated Brady v. Maryland. Bredar denied the motion on April 29, 2025, finding the error "unfortunate" and the payment timing raising "some concern" but insufficient to undermine the verdict given the limited scope of Jackson's testimony, corroborating evidence, and the jury's awareness of his prior disclosed compensation.[^1] ### Witness Disguise Ruling Jackson testified under a court-ordered "light disguise" (altered facial features or hairstyle), using a pseudonym, and the courtroom was partially closed during his testimony. The overflow room received audio and video. Bredar issued the disguise ruling in September 2024 after finding that Russell and his sympathizers posed an "unusually heightened threat of danger" to witnesses cooperating with the government. Jackson's true identity was withheld from Russell's defense team under the ruling, a decision Russell's attorney Ian Goldstein characterized as "a huge impediment to investigating and presenting a defense."[^2] ### Parallel to the Sutter/Cole Pattern The Jackson case is structurally parallel to the informant-disclosure issues in [United States v. Shea et al. (2020)](/events/united-states-v-shea-et-al-2020/), the [Kaleb Cole](/people/kaleb-cole/) prosecution where [Joshua Caleb Sutter](/people/joshua-caleb-sutter/)'s paid informant status was not disclosed in the original affidavit. In both cases, the government acknowledged a disclosure failure regarding informant payments, the defense argued the omission was material to credibility, and the presiding judge denied suppression or new trial relief, finding the omission legally insufficient to undermine the conviction. The Russell/Jackson case is the most recent documented instance of an AWD-network prosecution producing an informant-payment disclosure controversy, and it resulted in the same outcome as Cole: conviction upheld, motion denied. [^1]: The Daily Record. "Neo-Nazi who plotted to destroy BGE substations denied new trial." May 2, 2025. https://thedailyrecord.com/2025/05/02/neo-nazi-baltimore-substation-trial-denial/; NBC News. "Neo-Nazi leader among 2 arrested in plot to attack Baltimore's power grid." February 2023. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fbi-arrests-2-suspects-accused-planning-attack-baltimore-power-grid-rcna69324 [^2]: U.S. District Court, D. Md. Opinion re: Witness Disguise, Case No. 23-0056. September 2024. https://www2.mdd.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Opinions/23-0056%20Russell%20Opinion%20re%20witness%20disguise.pdf; Reuters / Newsweek. "Neo-Nazi Leader Sentenced to 20 Years for Plot to Sabotage Baltimore Power Grid." August 7, 2025. https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-08-07/neo-nazi-leader-sentenced-to-20-years-for-plot-to-sabotage-baltimore-power-grid