miac report: leaderless resistance

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    Mati BlunlGovernot """*:;;ffiMa* S. JamesDireclot. DPS

    MIAC BULLETINLeaderless ResistanceFebruary 26, zooa

    The concepl of "leaderless resislance sudaces lrom time to lime among various "resistance" groups whoforesee a futlre period ol anarchy, or believe they are at war with lhe governmenl oi the United Slates.Al iis essence, it consisls of either individuals or small groups acting in accordance wiih the goals ol amovemenl or organization, but wjth few or no plausjble or exploitable lres with others who may also beparticjpating in the movement.Ulius L. AmossThere is nol a greal deal ol inJormation available on the man generally credited withcrealing the concept ol Jeaderiess resistance- Uiius Amoss served with iniormalion andintelligence services for the U.S. Army in WorJd War ll, and aJter the war went to worktor the Office of Stiategic Services (O.S.S.), the U.S- entity thai was heavily involvedwith clandesline operaiions during the war and was ihe predecessor oJ the Central ln'lelligence Agency.During his years with the OSS and, Ialer, lhe ClA, Amoss is recognrzed wilh creating analternative to traditional hierarchical resrstance movements, consisling of resilienl cellswjth no discernibie outside chain oi command and known as "phanlom cells."Louis BeamA Vjetnam War veteran, Louis Beam reiurned to the United States and ioined theUnited Klans oi America. During.lhe 1970s, Beam joined David Duke's Knights olthe K! KIux Klan (KKKK), and made altempls to recruit Amerjcan servicemenirom For-l Hood, Texas. For the remainder oi the decade, Beam moved up theranks oi the KKKK, teaching feiiow Klansmen gue(illa war tactics and taking panin anti-Vietnamese activilies as a resull ol disputes between native tjshermen andVielnamese retugees who fished tbe same waters.Slarting in the 1 980s, Beam joined the Aryan Nalions, working with thal organiza'tion's leadership in ldaho. ln 1983, Beam wrote an article on Leaderjess Besis-tance thal sets out gujdelines ior a resistance movemenl drastically ditlerenl lromits historical predecessors.Tenets ahd Principles of Leaderless BesistanceBuildjng on Beam's slatemenl thal "lhis author lears the ledera governmenl, lhe article begins wilh a de-scriptjonofhlsviewoiresistanceagainsllederaloppression.'ThecrackdownonilJegalactivitiesperpe_irated by extremisl gloups, and the resulianl imprjsonmenl ol many high_ranking leaders ol such organi-zalions, provides evrdence for Beam thal a lyplcal hierarchica organizational slructure is nol only ineffi'cienl bul can be used againsl the group. Whether through coercion of imprisoned members or deiectionol others to law enforcemenl, an entire orqanization s membership and conneclions can be quickly ex'posed.

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    lnBeam'sview,Amoss'sworkandtheoriesprovidethebasisiorasolllronlolhisproblem. Caliinghismeihod the'cell syslem," Beam compares i1 lo ihe "Committees 01 Correspondence" sel up by the colo'nies in the early days ol Anerica's bid for independence. Also known as phaniom cells" or leaderlessresisiance, !nder ihis concepl "al individuals and groups operate independenlly oi each olher, and neverreport to a cental headquariers or s nqle leader ior direction or instuction, as wo!ld those who belong 10atypicalpyramidorganjzation."'zFesponsibilityfortraining,planning,andaclionisplacedontheindivid-ual. if 1983, Beam called for inlormation distributjon via newspapers, leaflels and compulers. Ilodernday practitroners ot /eaderless resjstanoe rely aimost exclusively on compulers and the iniernet, as dem-onstated by tbe sheer volume oi websites dedrcaled 10 exilemisl groups and ideology.Beam staled again and again that adhering lo haditional pyramid organizational sfuctures only serves loassist the federal governmenl in their work oi letreting out such organizations. As Beam makes only toociear, [a] single penetialion 01 a pyramid type ol organization can lead to the destruction ol the whole.Whereas LeaderlessResistancepresenlsnosingleopporiunilyiortheFederalstodesiroyaslgnilicantporlion ol lhe Resrstance.""Dahger of Leaderless ResistanceLeaderless Resistance is, in many ways, dangerous lor the very reasons thal people like Louis Beampromote il. lt provides a high degree 01 inherenl operational security for those who striclly follow its ien'ets- One document, wrillen by White Aryan Besistance Jounder Tom Metzger and provlding the "Laws ofthe Lone Woll," calls for adherents to "lnl ever utler more lhan the 5 Words to any agent or representativeot ZOG lzionisl Occupalion Governmentl: I Have Nolhing To Say.' There are no exceptions. Anyonewho does talk must be shlnned irom the movemenl Jorever.' Metzger goes of to call for even harshermeasures: "Former associates oi the talker may consider much harshet punishnent."4Transnalional tetrorisl groups slch as al-Qaeda have, since lhe 9-'11 altacks,had difticllty placing operatives in the Uniied States. As most ol these opera-tives were not born and raised in the United States, ihey lend to work coopera_lively with others with the same plans, making it easier tor law enforcemett tofind ihem. Another danger ol LeaderJess Resistance is the abil:ty of extremjstgroups to'remotely' inspire disaffecled or radjcalized individuals already iiving inrne Ulireo Sraies. A.read) possessing a legrlrnale place ir lhe socrety. lhese r'_dvouars are less p'one lo d.scovery,t Tne g.oup spreaorng Ine nessagp seesits cause Jorwarded al ljttle or no expense or danger io itsell and can even main_tain plausible deniability of the motivated agent, as there is littie or no direct cof-lacl between the two. ln some instances there is no contacl al all. Ailer a Jew_ &ish Amencan murdered 29 Musljms in the Wesl Bank in February 1 994, Rashid Haand Palestinlan descent, killed one and injured several Timothy Mcveigholner Orr'odo) Jews as rhey raveled across lhp B'oohlyl Bnoge.6 A weer ano ahalf after the shooting, HAlv4AS issued a stalement praising Bazs actions.' in this case there was nocontact at all between the lerorisl group and one who acled in a way thal turthered the terorists' cause.Examples of Leaderless ResistanceTwo ol the mosl noted recenl exampies of the "lone wolf" are Timothy l\lcvejghand Tefiy Nichols, architecls oi ihe bomblng ol the Mutrah Federal Building jnOklahoma Ciiy, Oklahoma on April 19, 1995. Bolh had previous conneciions 10miljt a groups, but their speci{ic actions were disconnected from any particuiargroup allowing for a higher degree ol secrecy in iheir plannjng and preparaiion.An additional case is thal ol Eric B!dolph, bomber of abortion clinlcs and the1 99b Ar.anta Olynpics. wro nao lormer assoc,arions wrlf lhe Chnsltan ldenlil\movemetr o Aqain, TanyqroLps wiln tl_'e sane ideology oeneriled Iom lhesealrachs. whi,e ar l-e same Iine oerlo able Io 'JlhiLlly mailtal lhel own ilnoExtremisl anima rights advocales and radical environmenlalists are some ol themore outspoken advocales of leaderless resislance. Arson commitled a1 buildingsjtes and animal research laboraiodes, as weil as improvised incendiary device Eric Rudolphattacks againsl luxury SUVs, are olten perpelraled by persons wilh a hjgh degree 0lafllnity lor the beJiels ol radical organizattons, bui with litlle or no aclual connection

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    The MIAC requests ieedback on this producl (email [email protected]) as well as suggestions ontopics ot inleresl to the Missouri law enlorcemenl community thal may be ulilized for iuture productsrLouis Beam,'I-eaderless Resistance," in Tr. Sedrioillrl. hsue 12, February I 992. page 1rtb;a., p. 3.'ttia.,p. +rTon Meeger.'!aws ofthe Lone Wolfl" accessed September 7 2007, at htt!://wws"whitehonor'con/lonelaws.htnT,Anspoiladon Secutty Adnlinistradon Olfice oflnlelliSence, "Speculntive ADalysis: Tie Terrorist Cell olthe Fu-ture," l3 September2007. 5.rFedemlBurauofInvestigadonLilelligenceAssessnenl,'TheThrcalPosedbyLoDeWolfTeroristsSvnpathetic

    10 the Prlestinian Cause," I I January 2007,5.tbid..8.I Mark Polok, "Eric Rudolph, atL^s|" lntatlireilt? 1l?r,1- Suilrnrer 2003.ll4ike German. tsehind the LoDe Terrcrj$, a I'ack^4cnt^I;rl,''

    woshrlSton Prt. -5 June 2005, B0l.r Applied Mariie Technolog), lnc s lDtelljSence and Tercrisn Analysis GlouP, 'Universnl Adve$ary Order ofBatlle: Ecoteilorism," I Apdl 2006.4.lbirl.i KathleeD Pucker, 'Lone Wolf Study,'' Ioverpoin( presertatjon, HSIN Snte and Local lntelh!ence,htps://ct-i.jes.dhs.gov/sites/SLIP3/detanll.aspx, accessed 7 Novenrbc' 2007.