DHS intelligence report warns of domestic right-wing terror threat

[Suzanimal]

Washington (CNN)They're carrying out sporadic terror attacks on police, have threatened attacks on government buildings and reject government authority.

A new intelligence assessment, circulated by the Department of Homeland Security this month and reviewed by CNN, focuses on the domestic terror threat from right-wing sovereign citizen extremists and comes as the Obama administration holds a White House conference to focus efforts to fight violent extremism.

Some federal and local law enforcement groups view the domestic terror threat from sovereign citizen groups as equal to -- and in some cases greater than -- the threat from foreign Islamic terror groups, such as ISIS, that garner more public attention.​

The Homeland Security report, produced in coordination with the FBI, counts 24 violent sovereign citizen-related attacks across the U.S. since 2010.

ISIS burned up to 40 people alive in Iraq, official says

The government says these are extremists who believe that they can ignore laws and that their individual rights are under attack in routine daily instances such as a traffic stop or being required to obey a court order.

They've lashed out against authority in incidents such as one in 2012, in which a father and son were accused of engaging in a shootout with police in Louisiana, in a confrontation that began with an officer pulling them over for a traffic violation. Two officers were killed and several others wounded in the confrontation. The men were sovereign citizen extremists who claimed police had no authority over them.

Among the findings from the Homeland Security intelligence assessment: "(Sovereign citizen) violence during 2015 will occur most frequently during routine law enforcement encounters at a suspect's home, during enforcement stops and at government offices."

http://i.imgur.com/PuJBZXC.jpg

The report adds that "law enforcement officers will remain the primary target of (sovereign citizen) violence over the next year due to their role in physically enforcing laws and regulations."

The White House has fended off criticism in recent days for its reluctance to say the words "Islamist extremism," even as the conference this week almost entirely focused on helping imams and community groups to counteract the lure of groups like ISIS.

Absent from the White House conference is any focus on the domestic terror threat posed by sovereign citizens, militias and other anti-government terrorists that have carried out multiple attacks in recent years.

An administration official says the White House is focused on the threat from all terrorists, including from sovereign citizen and other domestic groups.

"I don't think it's fair to say the (White House) conference didn't address this at all," the official said, adding that President Barack Obama addressed the need to combat "violent ideologies" of all types.

An official at the Justice Department, which is leading the administration's counter-radicalization effort, says many of the tactics aimed at thwarting radical Islamic recruitment of young people can also be used to fight anti-government extremist groups.

While groups like ISIS and al Qaeda garner the most attention, for many local cops, the danger is closer to home.

A survey last year of state and local law enforcement officers listed sovereign citizen terrorists, ahead of foreign Islamists, and domestic militia groups as the top domestic terror threat.

The survey was part of a study produced by the University of Maryland's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism.

In 2013, a man who held anti-government views carried out a shooting attack on three Transportation Security Administration employees at Los Angeles International Airport, killing one TSA officer. Last year, a couple killed two police officers and a bystander at a Las Vegas Walmart store.

Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said that by some estimates, there are as many as 300,000 people involved in some way with sovereign citizen extremism. Perhaps 100,000 people form a core of the movement, he said.

The federal government's focus on the domestic groups waxes and wanes, Potok said, in part because the threat from foreign groups like al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Potok says sovereign citizen groups have attracted support because of poor economic conditions. Some groups travel the country pitching their ideology as a way to help homeowners escape foreclosure or get out of debt, by simply ignoring the courts and bankruptcy law.

The Homeland Security report's focus on right-wing terrorists is a subject that garnered political controversy for the Obama administration in the past. In 2009, a Homeland Security report on possible recruitment of military veterans by right-wing militia groups prompted an outcry from veterans groups.

The report was produced by staff members during the Bush administration but wasn't published until then Homeland Security Janet Napolitano had taken office. Napolitano criticized her own agency for the report.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/19/politics/terror-threat-homeland-security/index.html

[nobody's_hero]

Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said that by some estimates, there are as many as 300,000 people involved in some way with sovereign citizen extremism. Perhaps 100,000 people form a core of the movement, he said.

If the SPLC didn't exist, I doubt we'd be hearing much about this. Their sole purpose as an organization seems to be to try to link political opposition to terrorism in any way possible. No one ever fact-checks the SPLC, no one ever challenges their bullshit assertions, and as an organization they seem to be largely irrelevant when it comes to getting anything done, and yet EVERYONE cites them or interviews them whenever they need a 'source.' Really? What makes them so credible?

[Mach]

Morris Dees (SPLC - Propaganda for Profit)

In 1962, with an arraignment in federal court hanging over his head, (Claude) Henley went to visit Morris Dees at his law office. Dees says that he was on the verge of agreeing to represent the Klan thug for $500 dollars until Henley mentioned that another lawyer had wanted $15,000 to take the case. Dees seized the moment and said he would do the job for “only” $5,000.




----------------


Morris Dees

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c60bf53ef017eea205e96970d-pi

[muh_roads]

How does the SPLC get their funding?

[jllundqu]

Again with this shit???

Heard Buck Sexton talking about this memo.... DHS considers "sovereigns" to be a bigger threat than anything?? Wow.... ok DHS

[Anti Federalist]

Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said that by some estimates, there are as many as 300,000 people involved in some way with sovereign citizen extremism. Perhaps 100,000 people form a core of the movement, he said.

Oh, this asshole again.

Jeez, I wish we were such a "threat".

If there was a shred of justice and human outrage and resistance left in the hearts of the people of this country, that whole damn map would be covered in red dots.

[56ktarget]

Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

[jllundqu]

Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

The "Paulite" ad hominem is pretty lame, even from you 56K. It shows a real lack of critical thinking just to go straight to insults and cheap shots. Typical of liberal arguments, though. I read the report. It said there were 24 acts of violence in the last 5 years that involved these so-called "sovereign citizens." Now I'm no mathematician, but 24 incidents in 5 years is friggin ridiculously small. ISIS just beheaded roughly the same amount of Christians in one day, yet they are considered less of a threat than some-rag-tag-loosely-defined-leaderless group that really does nothing but bitch about federal government legitimacy, UCC codes, and other sovereign bullshit.

If you'd care to step out of the mud and onto that battlefield of ideas, I'd go a few rounds with you, but me thinks you prefer trolling with low-information talking points like the above.

:rolleyes:

[acptulsa]

Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

Libtard thinking: Thousands were killed by cops last year, 47 cops were killed last year, so obviously the people who complain about the killer cops are scary miscreants and just the biggest threat ever OMG.

Besides we need the cops to protect all those corporations I love to hate oh wait...

Oh, yeah. Obama said all those corporations are all right after all, so it's all good.

[Anti Federalist]

Who drew first blood?


Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

[devil21]

Typical collectivist. That's an amazing rep bar you have. It's a wonder you're still allowed to post here.


Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

Source? I rarely ever see any Paulite outright call for overthrowing the government by force. Political activism? Civil disobedience? Exposure to sunlight? Using rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights such as the First Amendment to effect change? Yep. For sure.



2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

A threat to the status quo does not equal terrorism, especially without threats of violence. Seems it's the state that has the monopoly on threats of force, not us.



3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

Odd how using their type of language makes us the terrorist threat. When they talk about 'Peace Through Strength' it's patriotic American exceptionalism. When we talk about creating peace through political strength we're terrorists. :rolleyes:

eta: btw, I seriously doubt any RPF members are actual "sovereign citizens" by definition.

------------------------------

Libtard thinking: Thousands were killed by cops last year, 47 cops were killed last year, so obviously the people who complain about the killer cops are scary miscreants and just the biggest threat ever OMG.

Besides we need the cops to protect all those corporations I love to hate oh wait...

Oh, yeah. Obama said all those corporations are all right after all, so it's all good.

When one small state (SC) confirms that police killed 20 people in 2014 and shot 50, simple ball park extrapolation puts the countrywide numbers at at least 1000 killed and 2500-3000 shot in a single year.

[westkyle]

Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

Yeah, this really is quite pathetic. Even though you disagree with everyone here, you would gather respect if you gave real arguments. We aren't people of hate or violence here, but most of us believe in the right to protect ourselves from force. Gathering from your posts you seem to be just a troll offering nothing in real conversation. Grow up, kid.

[JK/SEA]

Yeah, this really is quite pathetic. Even though you disagree with everyone here, you would gather respect if you gave real arguments. We aren't people of hate or violence here, but most of us believe in the right to protect ourselves from force. Gathering from your posts you seem to be just a troll offering nothing in real conversation. Grow up, kid.

for what its worth, i gave out one of my RARE neg reps to our friend in question...

[DamianTV]

Boogity Boogity. You need them to protect you from <insert threat>.

[DamianTV]

Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

The problem youre gonna have with a group of people that are fully awake to your manipulations is they will recognize your statements as a manipulation and will never internalize your proposed ideas. This is NOT what either Paulites or Libertarians or NORMAL PEOPLE think. This is the way YOU think.

[morfeeis]

How does the SPLC get their funding?

You know how.....

[muh_roads]

You know how.....

Seems to me the SPLC is not being attacked enough. Need more websites exposing their garbage.

[Henry Rogue]

Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.You got some impressive red since I was here last. Congratulations.

[westkyle]

You got some impressive red since I was here last. Congratulations.

I'm hoping for a reply, so I can get some lulz.

[Lucille]

Again with this BS? They need a new script.

http://www.theburningplatform.com/2015/02/20/the-war-on-terror-turns-inward-dhs-report-warns-of-right-wing-terror-threat/


What you are about to read from CNN is just the very beginning of the intentional demonization of a growing segment of the U.S. population that rightly believes the government is run by a collective of thieving, corrupt, immoral sociopaths. This isn’t speculation either, years of content on this site serves as definitive proof that this is true. Commingling dissent, violence and “right wing” ideology will be key in the ultimate division of government critics in these United States, and a successful attempt to scare people away from questioning a clearly degraded and parasitic status quo.

The writing has been on the wall for many years, and I’ve warned about this development on many occasions (links at the end). If Martin Armstrong’s model is correct, and the U.S. economy starts to move downward in fall 2015, dissent will spread across the land like brushfire and the status quo will call dissenters terrorists (they already did this during Occupy Wall Street). My advice to everyone listening is don’t fall for it, and instead unite together in order to achieve a peaceful societal and economic paradigm shift.

Sure, there will always be Neo Nazis and genuine racist crazies out there who hate the government merely because they are small-minded and filled with hate, but they are a small number compared to those who have genuine grievances against the system which are not being redressed. Stories like the following are pure government propaganda and are guaranteed to increase exponentially in the years ahead.
[...]
Notice how CNN commingles violence with “rejecting government authority.” This is intentional, and meant to subliminally link the two ideas in the minds of the feeble minded who still get their news from CNN. In reality, there is no such connection. Conversely, this country was founded on the idea that a people should only submit to government when it working in their best interests.
[...]
The DHS is an agency looking for a problem. Which is why it had nothing better to do last year than raid the makers of women’s world series underwear. Recall: “War on Terror” Targets Underwear – Department of Homeland Security Raids Maker of Unlicensed World Series Panties.

We simply don’t need it, and the longer it exists, the great threat to liberty it will become.

Sorry but ending the DHS would not end the campaign against "right wing extremists" by this fascist government.

Hey, cheapass 56K, I'm curious. What would you do if the govt started loading people like us on the trains? Celebrate?

[Anti Federalist]

Hey, cheapass 56K, I'm curious. What would you do if the govt started loading people like us on the trains? Celebrate?

No, he would do nothing to attract attention to himself.

He would hide meekly behind his blinds, peeping out with sweat running down his nose, hoping and praying that it won't be him, this time.

Once the danger had passed, and the SWAT teams had retreated back to the Green Sector, he would double his efforts at appeasing the system, attending rallies, denouncing even more neighbors, friends and family to the authorities, generally "copsucking" like a five dollar hooker.

One day though, long after all of us are rotting away in a mass grave somewhere, they'll come for him in the middle of the night.

He'll bleat and moan and protest and try to throw everybody, including his family, at the feet of his oppressors, to try and "beat the rap".

But it will do no good.

And he'll meet the same fate as the ones he denounced.

[CPUd]

similar report from 2009:
http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf

[amy31416]

Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

Oh come on. Am I really a threat to anyone? I just want freedom, lower taxes and less gov't intrusion. There are ways to inspire conversation on these topics and you're abysmal at it. Be constructive or STFU.

[oyarde]

Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.
As you can clearly see , nothing wrong with #1 .

[Czolgosz]

Oh, this asshole again.

Jeez, I wish we were such a "threat".

If there was a shred of justice and human outrage and resistance left in the hearts of the people of this country, that whole damn map would be covered in red dots.

i'm outta rep.

[BV2]

Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

Neolib thinking:
1. Use the government to consolidate control of ideology producing facets of society.
2. Inculcate ideology beneficial to status quo in children via compulsory education.
3. Graft them mercilessly. Some one has to. Its for their own good. Forward, I mean backwards, oh fuck it: I'm to ignorant to know the difference.


Keep on pushing, the edge might not be near but it's there. :) 56, if you are ever in Chicago send me a message. I'd love to show you around my gym :). You'll have a blast, 1213?

[Dianne]

24 Incidents in 4 years? Illegal aliens kill more Americans than that every sixty minutes.

[DamianTV]

...

And he'll meet the same fate as the ones he denounced.

That is the biggest problem with those who call to governments to take something from someone else for themselves.

When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, there were no atheists left, because I did not defend them when they came under fire. There were no jews left because I did not defend them either. Nor were there any hispanics. No tea partiers. No libertarians. Not even Communists were left. When they came for me, there was no one left to defend me against the power of the State to Divide and Conquer.

[Suzanimal]

I'm not worried about ISIS or Right Wing Terror groups.



Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

LOL, we're coming to gitcha, 56ktarget...:rolleyes:


Boogity Boogity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4tWtakWsMk

[DamianTV]

Hush Hush Hush! Here comes the Boogeyman!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fAjyFbyb4o

[amy31416]

I'm not worried about ISIS or Right Wing Terror groups.




LOL, we're coming to gitcha, 56ktarget...:rolleyes:


Boogity Boogity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4tWtakWsMk

We're the scariest lot of peaceniks you'll ever come across.

I wonder if that 56ktarget guy realizes that a lot of us became activists because of Ron Paul's message of peace? That's my journey anyways--the economic part of this movement is secondary, but still important, at least to me.

[AuH20]

Paulite thinking:

1. Overthrow the government, those traitorous bastards...

2. DHS study confirms Paulites are a threat

3. Huh? Why do these govt pigs think we are a threat? Don't they understand we are for peace and liberty? Die, govt scum.

56k, I don't think you get it. Who is the aggressor in all this? How are libertarians/conservatives dangerous when they want to be left alone? Who is the party that is listening to everyone's conversations? Who is the party forcing others to do things against their will? I don't think you will like the answers that you have arrived at.

Imagine for a second, you're stuck in a trash compactor of a garbage truck and the hydraulic compressor is activated. The space available is getting smaller and smaller as the metal wall closes in. That's what many of us are reacting to. You either fight to escape or you can lie down & get crushed.

[Lucille]

The cosmotarians got a copy and they think it's pretty benign (of course). They save their criticism for CNN (and "LRC type idiots" in the comments).

Exclusive: Here is the New Homeland Security Report on 'Sovereign Citizen Extremist' Violence
http://reason.com/blog/2015/02/25/homeland-security-sovereign-citizens


In short, the DHS report presents sovereign-citizen violence as a fairly rare risk that officers should nonetheless be prepared for should it arise. It does not claim that the threat to police is growing, it does not conflate the sovereigns with other anti-government groups, it makes no broad claims about terror on the right (the word "right-wing" appears nowhere in the document), and it does not compare the sovereigns to ISIS or to any other foreign terrorists.

So where did CNN get the headline "Bigger threat than ISIS?" By also citing a completely separate study published last July, in which the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism surveyed state and local police. The cops ranked sovereign citizens as America's most serious terror threat, with Islamists coming in second. The survey did not ask specifically about ISIS, and it's unlikely that the group was on many officers' minds: The poll took place in late 2013 and early 2014, before the Islamic State started to dominate the headlines. (The results may also reflect the fact that the police are the group by far most likely to be affected by SCE violence.)

Citing the Southern Poverty Law Center as its source, CNN also claims that "by some estimates, there are as many as 300,000 people involved in some way with sovereign citizen extremism"—more than the Amish!—and estimates that around 100,000 people form the movement's core. I very strongly doubt that there are 300,000 sovereign citizens by any definition of the term, but there certainly are not 300,000 "sovereign citizen extremists" under the DHS's definition, since the Homeland Security paper explicitly distinguishes SCEs from "their non-violent sovereign citizen counterparts."

Below the jump, you'll find the 24 incidents listed in the Homeland Security report, as described in that document and in media coverage. (In some cases there are disputes over the facts; the list presents the incidents as the police see them.)