I want to be really clear about why I don’t think that these Threat Assessments are as threatening to run-of-the-mill wingnuts as they are so very eager to claim. Let’s start with what the US News and World Report wrote back in 2005 n the occasion of a SPLC report on right wing terror:
In the 10 years since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people, roughly 60 right-wing terrorist plots have been uncovered in the United States, according to an upcoming report by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project. The plots, all foiled by law enforcement, reportedly included violent plans by antigovernment militia groups, racist skinhead organizations, and Ku Klux Klan members to use various types of chemical bombs and other weapons.
The SPLC was writing this report to support efforts to get the BushCo DHS to work as hard to curb right-wing terror threats as they were for the left wing ones. The left wing treat report had been leaked earlier that year, and to date, no one knows if there really was a right wing one. But read the whole thing and take a good look at the types of actions that were stopped by law enforcement doing what we’d expect them to do.
In addition, the FBI publishes periodic reports on Domestic Terrorism (this one covers 2001-2005, there are probably more recent ones not released or residing in places I didn’t look). This document lists out a number of the preventions and incidents the FBI has been concerned with as well as some discussion of future expectations. Here are just a few of the kind of preventions and incidents (not including the Islamic terrorist-related incidents) that the DHS Threat Assessments are intended to red flag:
Planned Attacks against Minorities
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
(Prevention of one act of Domestic Terrorism)As noted in 2004 Terrorist Incidents, the FBI arrested Sean Michael Gillespie on April 16, 2004, for having firebombed the Temple B’nai Israel in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The attack against the synagogue in Oklahoma City was likely the first of a series of unspecified attacks Gillespie intended to commit. Following Gillespie’s arrest, a search of his residence revealed a videotape containing surveillance of a Las Vegas synagogue and a statement by Gillespie that he was on a “mission for the white race,” which was to involve a cross-country spree of unspecified terrorist acts. Concern for future attacks was also supported by Gillespie’s admission following his arrest to having previously committed random acts of vandalism and violence against minorities.
Convictions of Project 7 Militia Extremists
Flathead County, Montana
(Prevention of one act of Domestic Terrorism)On May 6, 2004, several extremist members of the Project 7 Militia were arrested following an extensive investigation into the group by FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and local police. Investigation had identified leader David Burgert and five other members of the Project 7 Militia as having committed various violations of federal law in furtherance of violent plans targeting law enforcement officers and other government officials. Burgert, along with Tracy Brockway, James Day, John Slater, and Steven Morey, pled guilty to various federal weapons charges, including possession of machine guns and other illegal weapons as well as conspiracy to possess illegal weapons. On November 12, 2004, Burgert received an 87 month prison sentence for his role in the plotting. In early 2005, the four other members who entered guilty pleas received sentences ranging from 18 to 37 months in federal prison. A sixth subject, Larry Chezem, was convicted in a federal trial of conspiracy and was sentenced on September 30, 2005, to 15 months in prison.
Attempted Arson
Lincoln, California
(One act of Domestic Terrorism)
On December 27, 2004, four incendiary devices were placed in two homes under construction in Lincoln, California. However, the devices failed to function as intended. The site contained Earth Liberation Front (ELF)-related graffiti on one of the homes as well as the letters “ELF” on the cul-de-sac where the homes were located. Members of the Sacramento Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested Ryan Lewis, Eva Holland, Lili Holland, and Jeremiah Colcleasure in connection with the incident. The four were convicted of arson and Colcleasure, Holland, and Holland were each sentenced to two years in federal prison; Lewis received a six year prison sentence for his role in this incident and for arsons that took place in early 2005.
From this report’s conclusion:
Twenty three of the 24 recorded terrorist incidents were perpetrated by domestic terrorists. With the exception of white supremacist Sean Michael Gillespie’s firebombing of a synagogue in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, all of the domestic terrorist incidents were committed by special interest extremists active in the animal rights and environmental movements. The acts committed by these extremists typically targeted materials and facilities rather than persons. The sole international terrorist incident in the United States recorded for this period involved the attack by Hesham Hedayet, who fatally shot two people at the El Al ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport.
The terrorist preventions for 2002 through 2005 paint a more diverse threat picture. Eight of the 14 recorded terrorist preventions stemmed from right-wing extremism, and included disruptions to plotting by individuals involved with the militia, white supremacist, constitutionalist and tax protestor, and anti-abortion movements. The remaining preventions included disruptions to plotting by an anarchist in Bellingham, Washington, who sought to bomb a U.S. Coast Guard station; a plot to attack an Islamic center in Pinellis Park, Florida; and a plot by prison-originated, Muslim convert group to attack U.S. military, Jewish, and Israeli targets in the greater Los Angeles area. In addition, three preventions involved individuals who sought to provide material support to foreign terrorist organizations, including al-Qa’ida, for attacks within the United States.
What has been clear about the manufactured outrage on this is that the right continues to 1) look to legitimize their own use of bullying and violent rhetoric by working the refs on this issue and 2) none of them can come up with any real data that shows that these reports will have the DHS or the FBI actually monitoring other than the criminal parts of the right and the left. They aren’t monitoring every utterance of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders or even the right’s Pajamadeen for their nonstop wingnuttery over Obama’s birth certificate, the Queen of England’s iPod, or even the mind boggling criticism of Obama based on the fact that Obama doesn’t govern as a conservative or as a libertarian. These Threat Assessments — Right or Left — aren’t providing direction to do stuff like this — surveillance of an anti-war group. This was specific surveillance that BushCo and even a few states directed against known, law-abiding anti-war groups. Specific surveillance that the right saw no problem with at the time, with the usual mantra being if you aren’t doing anything wrong, then why would you worry? This same right would claim that these Threat Assessments are functionally the equivalent of the kind of surveillance that antiwar groups suffered through — which is probably right if they happen to belong to or collaborate with the folks looking to carry out some criminal act. And the claim itself (while based in the projection of government behavior that a dissident left lived through) — of the government targeting the run-of-the-mill wingnuts is based on their own self-identity as victims. Victims of what, — exactly — changes by the day as the outrage moves to some new imaged slight.
So maybe they still have have their handshake outrage on. And we should view this serial outrage through the performance lens it is being conducted in. And you can see the performance quality of this business in just how hard they are working — in spite of the history of these Threat Assessments (there are others up on the FBI website on Gang Activity and School Shootings — since they don’t see themselves as Gang Members or School Shooters, then DHS and FBI monitoring of these guys is OK) they have tortured this single DHS report into a massive conspiracy theory of how the government will now be watching what each and every one of them is doing. But you cannot underestimate the power that their victimization narrative has over them. These people are not interested in liberty as much as they are their TV ratings, their radio ratings and their blog hits. Wait a few minutes and something else will come up that will occupy their victimhood shortly.