Introduction
The challenge of domestic extremism has increasingly become a priority for the United States government. In its October 2020 Homeland Threat Assessment, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ranked domestic violent extremism as the most severe terrorist threat to the U.S. homeland, higher than foreign terrorist organizations.[1] In March 2021, DHS assessed that domestic violent extremisms (DVE) “pose an elevated threat to the Homeland” and that racially motivated violent extremists and militia violent extremists “present the most lethal DVE threats.”[2] This assessment comes months after one of the highest-profile operations by domestic extremists in U.S. history: the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Attacks motivated by far-right extremism have increased in the United States over the past several years. Though the far-right has posed a threat to the homeland for decades, the scale of far-right violence has risen significantly. According to data collected by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, far-right terrorist attacks and plots have comprised more than half of all terrorist incidents in the United States nearly every year since 2011.[3] In 2019, far-right extremism accounted for nearly two-thirds of failed, foiled, and successful attacks. In the first half of 2020 alone, it was responsible for over 90 percent.[4] Since 2013, the far-right has consistently been associated with more terrorist attacks and plots than left-wing, ethnonationalist, and religiously motivated perpetrators.[5]
In 2020, the Mapping Militants Project (MMP) at Stanford University joined the National Counterterrorism, Innovation, Technology, and Education Center (NCITE), a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence. With this funding, MMP is documenting and analyzing the organizational histories and transnational ties of violent far-right groups in the United States and other countries. This webpage provides an overview of how we conceptualize the far-right, transnational ties, and relationships among militant organizations. It aims to help users understand our Global Right-Wing Extremism map and our relational descriptions among actors.
Our research focuses on militant organizations, which differ from lone actors (“lone wolves”) and broader ideological movements. Militant organizations have a group name and an identifiable leadership; solicit funds, recruit members, and make claims in the name of the group; act as a collectivity or entity; and publicize their goals and ideological positions. However, it should be noted that far-right organizations differ from other previously documented militants, such as Al Qaeda or the Islamic State. Membership in far-right groups is typically much more fluid, and individuals can belong to multiple groups at one time. The organizational structure of the far-right also tends to be highly decentralized and may rely on a strategy of leaderless resistance. Additionally, the far-right relies on a different set of tactics. Terrorism, which usually involves deliberate violence against civilians, is less prevalent. When the far-right employs violence, it is typically more open than conspiratorial terrorist attacks and includes activities such as street fighting, brawling, confrontations with counter-protesters, and stand-offs with law enforcement. Members of the far-right often threaten or try to provoke violence to intimidate opponents. These groups also endorse or praise violence conducted by members, even if there is little explicit coordination. The far-right ideology may inspire escalation to terrorism even if not directly ordered (e.g., the Oklahoma City bombing carried out by Timothy McVeigh). To capture this activity, we use the “Major Attacks” section of our profiles to list participation in violent events in addition to planned clandestine violence.
How MMP Researchers Approached Mapping the Far-Right
A diverse set of organizations and ideologies are associated with the far-right. Broadly, far-right extremist ideology in the United States can be classified into three categories: racist extremism, nativist extremism, and anti-government extremism.[6]
Racist extremists seek to protect their racial identity, which they perceive to be under threat by other racial groups. In a similar vein, nativists are motivated by the need to protect themselves and their communities from foreign people, organizations, and ideas.[7] Many of these organizations and individuals espouse beliefs that the state where they reside should be composed of individuals that possess a shared ethnic, racial, cultural, religious, or linguistic identity. This can be accomplished either by forcing non-similar individuals to adopt the dominant identity, if possible, or by excluding them from the state entirely. Actions taken by many far-right groups can be interpreted as attempts to denigrate minorities and promote ethnic, racial, cultural, religious, or linguistic uniformity in society.[8]
In addition to these beliefs about inclusion and exclusion, the ideology of many far-right groups is shaped by the perceived need to protect personal liberties against government incursion and regulation. The third category, anti-government extremism, sees federal governments as an enemy. Anti-government extremists in the United States often invoke historical allusions to the American Revolution to justify taking up arms against what they perceive to be tyrannical federal, state, and local governments.[9]
These ideologies are not mutually exclusive; organizations and individuals can harbor beliefs associated with all of these categories. Far-right groups that do not ascribe to nativist, racist, or anti-government beliefs are usually single-issue organizations, such as violent anti-abortion groups. Some single-issue groups combine their beliefs with an ideology more central to the far-right, creating unique belief-systems such as eco-fascism.[10]
It is important to note that these groups depart from mainstream conservative ideology in that they espouse more radical and revisionist beliefs, which are often backed by the willingness to use violence.[11] To be clear, the Mapping Militants Project does not consider any mainstream political parties to be part of the far-right.
Overall, the far-right is ideologically diverse and fragmented. However, the blending of many far-right beliefs across organizations – referred to by one FBI official as “salad bar” ideologies – has created some commonalities among far-right groups and fostered relationships between them.[12] The Mapping Militants Project aims to document the histories and inter-group connections of the organizations associated with the far-right in both the United States and abroad. The goal of the Global Right-Wing Extremism map is to serve as a visual aid and relevant resource for policymakers, journalists, and scholars interested in understanding the landscape of the far-right.
The Mapping Militants Project is especially interested in far-right groups’ transnational ties. Militant organizations often seek to build networks and relationships with foreign peers. Benefits might include access to resources, such as training or new sources of funding. For example, leaders of the Rise Above Movement, a white supremacist street fighting gang based in southern California, went on a visit to Europe in order to network with peer organizations. Transnational ties can also allow militant organizations to increase name recognition, spread ideology, and expand influence. The Atomwaffen Division, a violent neo-Nazi group founded in Florida, has lent its brand to a series of affiliate groups abroad, including in the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, and Estonia.
In a globalized world linked by the internet, far-right extremism is not limited by geography. U.S.-based groups do not operate in a vacuum; many have varying degrees of interconnectedness with peer groups in other countries. Policymakers increasingly recognize far-right extremism as a transnational threat. In April 2020, the U.S. State Department for the first time listed a far-right organization, the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), and its leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Based in Russia, RIM has cultivated ties to U.S. extremists, such as the Traditionalist Workers’ Party (TWP). Other governments have also recognized the transnational threat of far-right organizations tied to the United States. For example, the Government of Canada listed the Proud Boys, the Base, and the Atomwaffen Divison – all U.S.-based far-right groups – as terrorist organizations in February 2021.[13]
This resource “maps” organizational relationships across the far-right ideological landscape in the United States and Europe. It seeks to understand how groups relate to each other and the nature of the connections between them. Like the Mapping Militant Project’s other maps, the Global Right-Wing Extremism Map uses several key terms to describe these relationships. Allies are generally considered to be groups with a sustained pattern of coordination and cooperation. They maintain distinct leadership and are independent of each other. A group is classified as an affiliate of another if the relationship is closer than an alliance. There may be a hierarchical aspect to the relationship, with affiliates taking ideological or operational direction from the central organization. By contrast, a splinter is a group that was once a constituent part of another group but split off from it. Rivals are groups that are opposed to each other. Occasionally, far-right groups will fight on opposite sides of a conflict (e.g., the Russian Imperial Movement and the Azov Battalion in Ukraine) and can be classified as rivals, or groups could have an established ideological rivalry. More often, far-right groups with opposing goals will simply operate independently to meet their objectives rather than fighting their peers. Umbrellas are loose associations that include multiple independent groups.
Studying far-right organizations can be difficult for researchers. Arie Perliger (2020) notes that right-wing extremist groups’ frequent divisions, merging, name changes, and ideological shifts “present significant challenges for those interested in mapping the various organizational platforms comprising the American far-right.”[14] Moreover, unlike many other armed groups studied by terrorism researchers, such as jihadist ones, organizational relationships in the far-right are often less formalized.
The violent far-right is characterized by unstructured connections. For example, different far-right groups may attend the same events, such as a rally or street clash with counter-protesters, but do so without direct coordination. Some right-wing extremist organizations (e.g., in the antigovernment movement) have a history of providing security for alt-right or white supremacist groups’ rallies in the name of free speech, yet they do not coordinate with these groups otherwise and often distance themselves ideologically.[15] Other less formalized relationships include attempts at networking, whether online or at conferences. Organizations engaged in these loose relationships can be analogized to acquaintances: their contact is casual and sporadic as opposed to close and sustained.
This type of connection can be difficult to classify and depict in the Global Right-Wing Extremism Map. Generally, the Mapping Militants Project has opted to use the ally relationship with a brief written description of the link between the two groups. The Mapping Militants Project’s group profiles offer the most nuanced explanations. Our researchers continue to study and evaluate its system for coding organizational relationships as the project expands its coverage to include right-wing extremism.
A Brief History of the Violent Far-Right in the United States
The ideologies, goals, and strategies of the far-right organizations featured on the Mapping Militants Global Right-Wing Extremism map are not new. Instead, they are rooted in a long lineage of far-right groups that have been active within the United States for many decades. Many histories of far-right extremism in the United States begin with the founding of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the mid-nineteenth century.
The KKK is generally considered to be the earliest example of a U.S.-based violent far-right organization. Though the group has often possessed nominal national leadership, it has traditionally been decentralized. The first Klan was originally founded in Pulaski, Tennessee in December 1865 by six ex-Confederate officers and used terrorism to prevent Black Americans from exercising civil rights such as voting, serving on juries, and holding public office. Between 1867 and 1869, former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest led the KKK as its first “grand wizard” and oversaw the establishment of chapters across the American South. Though the national organization officially disbanded in 1869, violence by local chapters continued until the 1870s, when the federal government cracked down on the KKK after Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.[16]
In 1915, the Klan, known as the “Invisible Empire,” became active again and expanded its victims beyond its traditional target of Black Americans to include Jews, Catholics, Mexicans, other immigrants, as well as white Protestants who violated the Klan’s code of morality. Over the course of the 1920s, the Klan increasingly used violence to enforce its vision of white supremacy across the United States and became heavily involved in politics. The KKK declined again in the 1930s due to investigations and the onset of the Great Depression.
The third wave of the KKK began amid widespread Southern resistance to the U.S. Supreme Court’s school desegregation mandate in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Multiple groups laid claim to the KKK’s heritage, such as Eldon Edwards’s Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Robert M. Shelton’s United Klans of America, and the White Knights of Mississippi, one of the most violent chapters with 6,000 to 7,000 members in the 1960s. During this period, the KKK frequently targeted civil rights activists and committed some of its most well-known terrorist attacks. These include the assassination of NAACP leader Medgar Evers in June 1963; the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in September 1963, which killed Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and Carol Denise McNair; and the murder of Viola Liuzzo, a civil rights activist involved in the Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights, in 1965.[17]
Due to the clandestine nature of the KKK’s operations, the group’s total number of victims is unknown. The Equal Justice Institute has documented approximately 6,500 lynchings of Black Americans between 1865 and 1950, including 2,000 during the Reconstruction period (1865-1876).[18] Though the KKK cannot be assumed responsible for all of these killings, the figures suggest the scale of the group’s violence. The Klan’s membership has ranged widely, reaching 550,000 in 1871, peaking at 5 million in 1925 (the group’s all-time high), and falling to 42,000 by 1965.[19] Since the 1970s, the group has generally hovered between 5,000 and 11,000 members.[20]
Common KKK tactics over the group’s history include lynchings, shootings, whippings, and bombings. The Klan’s membership has ranged widely, reaching 550,000 in 1871, peaking at 5 million in 1925 (the group’s all-time high), and falling to 42,000 by 1965.[21] Since the 1970s, the group has generally hovered between 5,000 and 11,000 members.[22] Due to the clandestine nature of the KKK’s operations, the group’s total number of victims over its 150 years of existence is unknown. The Equal Justice Institute has documented approximately 6,500 lynchings of Black Americans between 1865 and 1950, including 2,000 during the Reconstruction period (1865-1876).[23] Though the KKK cannot be assumed responsible for all these killings, the figures suggest the scale of the group’s violence.
As the KKK faded in the 1930s, another form of far-right extremism was taking root in the United States. Inspired by the German Nazi Party, several organizations formed to promote pro-Hitler, anti-communist, and anti-Semitic beliefs. These included the Friends of New Germany and the German American Bund, both of which dissolved a few years after being established. The most formidable and wide-reaching Nazi organizations in the United States did not begin to emerge until after World War II. In 1959, the American Nazi Party (ANP) was founded by George Lincoln Rockwell to pursue racial purity and promote anti-Semitic and anti-communist beliefs. Rockwell eschewed violence and relied heavily on rhetoric to convey and achieve the group’s goals.
Though the ANP membership was small (estimated to be around 100-200 active party members), its mark on the development of far-right and white supremacist organizations cannot be understated.[24] Rockwell distanced American neo-Nazism from the traditional racial views of the German Nazi Party and toward the more unifying concept of “White Power.” Rockwell broadened white identity to include all whites who were not Jewish, including previously excluded groups such as Catholics and non-Northern Europeans.[25] In addition to broadening perceptions of “whiteness,” Rockwell also popularized the use of religion to justify far-right goals and the use of violence to achieve those goals. This practice would later be embraced by the Christian Identity movement, which shared strong anti-Semitic views with the Nazi movement.[26]
The ANP declined in influence after Rockwell was assassinated in 1967. Rockwell’s successor rebranded the group in 1984 as the New Order and attempted to reorient the organization by adopting a more religious and cult-like focus.[27] Meanwhile, many ANP members defected from the organization to establish their own new neo-Nazi groups. The organizational breakdown of the ANP contributed to several shifts in the American neo-Nazi movement. First, it contributed to the movement’s growing fragmentation, which transitioned away from fewer large and central organizations to many small and poorly resourced groups.[28] Second, the absence of Rockwell’s influence over the movement’s tactics created space for neo-Nazi organizations to adopt more violent means of achieving their goals. This transition toward violence was helped by the ideological mixing of neo-Nazism with beliefs espoused by other far-right organizations.[29] New flavors of ideological extremism – such as the mix of neo-Nazism, white supremacy, and punk counterculture promoted by the Skinheads – contributed to the growing ideological diversity of the far-right.
Though the KKK lost its predominant position in the U.S. far-right with the advent of new groups and ideologies after World War II, it left several key legacies for the right-wing extremist movement. Among these legacies was the creation of a white supremacist, Christian identity umbrella organization known as the Aryan Nations (AN), which was led by Richard Butler from the mid-1970s until his death in 2002. AN included members from the Ku Klux Klan; the Order; the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA); and Posse Comitatus.
In the early 1980s, Louis Beam, a former Texas Klan leader affiliated with AN, began popularizing a theory known as “leaderless resistance,” which he formalized in a 1992 essay. A method for organizing paramilitary groups, the leaderless resistance model holds that violent acts should be committed by small clandestine cells disconnected from the group’s central leadership. This way, if any individual member’s operation is foiled, the group as a whole remains operational.[30]
Beam also pioneered the far-right’s use of digital technology. In 1984, he founded Liberty Net, one of the first online bulletin boards for white supremacists and traveled the country seeking to connect white supremacist groups online. Beam was soon followed by Thomas Metzger, a leader of the White Aryan Resistance, who created his own more popular computer bulletin board.[31] For context, in 1984, only 8.2 percent of U.S. households owned a computer, a percentage that had only risen to 15 percent by 1989.[32] White supremacists were thus among the earliest adopters of computers in the United States, beginning a close relationship with digital technology that continues to the present day.
The U.S. far-right has a history of embracing technology, starting with the use of computers by white supremacists like Louis Beam and Thomas Metzger in the 1980s. The ubiquity of the internet and social media fueled a resurgence of white supremacist organizations in the United States beginning in the 2010s. Notably, this decade witnessed a splintering of the U.S. white supremacist movement into a diverse array of small violent groups no longer tied to geography.
In the past, organizations such as the KKK or AN that aspired to a national reach often relied on a network of local chapters, each with their own leadership. Today’s internet-based groups, on the other hand, possess a national footprint by virtue of organizing online. Groups such as the Atomwaffen Division may be small in numbers but are able to attract adherents willing to commit violent acts across the country and across the world. Thanks to the internet, extremist groups’ operations are not limited by geography. According to terrorism studies expert Bruce Hoffman, “today […] the Internet and social media are capable of uniting disparate, disgruntled individuals into an ideologically more cohesive echo-chamber that serves as a platform to radicalize, inspire, motivate, and ultimately perpetrate acts of wanton violence as we have recently seen.”[33] Though Hoffman referred mainly to lone actor attackers, his analysis also applies to the online activity of far-right militant organizations and movements.
Though a precedent exists for white supremacist groups organizing online via message boards, today’s scale surpasses Beam’s Aryan Nations Liberty Net. One internet forum in particular, Iron March, served as a global hub for the movement in recent years. Officially founded in 2011 by a user known as “Alexander Slavros,” believed to be a Russian man named Alisher Mukhitdinov, Iron March traces its origins to a message board launched by Slavros in 2010.[34] Iron March itself was active from spring 2011 to its sudden closure in November 2017, and the forum served as a platform for networking, recruitment, and coordination across organizations.[35] Iron March facilitated the spread of extremist ideologies, most notably “accelerationism,” a philosophy inspired by the ideas of U.S. neo-Nazi James Mason that seeks to violently overthrow the liberal democracy.[36] The forum also launched a new white supremacist visual culture marked by skull masks and internet memes that traffic in racist and violent themes.[37]
Information leaked by an anonymous individual under the screen name “antifa-data” in November 2019 revealed details on Iron March’s users, including account information and IP information.[38] Iron March hosted approximately 1,200 users, with a median self-reported age of 26.[39] Of 18 Iron March users identified by open-source researchers affiliated with Lawfare, 16 were white men and two were white women.[40] Nearly three-quarters of Iron March users belonged to English-speaking countries, with a slight majority of users (52 percent) hailing from the United States.[41]
Iron March played a key role in the development and growth of white supremacist groups in the United States and abroad. The forum served as a central hub for members of geographically dispersed groups to connect. An analysis by the Southern Poverty Law Center found links between Iron March and multiple far-right organizations in different countries, including National Action (UK), Nordic Resistance Movement (Scandinavia), Serbian Action (Serbia), Casa Pound (Italy), Golden Dawn (Greece), Skydas (Lithuania), and Azov Battalion (Ukraine).[42] Iron March allowed U.S.-based white supremacists to develop transnational ties. For example, Matthew Heimbach, a leader of the U.S. white supremacist movement and founder of the Traditionalist Workers Party (TWP), posted on Iron March about bringing European far-right groups, including the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD), and Golden Dawn.[43] Founders of the Atomwaffen Division (AWD) and National Action, two of the most violent white supremacist groups in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively, connected on Iron March, initiating a relationship that later produced a photo op in front of Buckingham Palace.[44] A National Action splinter group, the Sonnenkrieg Division, became an Atomwaffen affiliate in 2018.
Iron March also left a legacy in the form of a new crop of white supremacist groups born by virtue of the site itself. By connecting disparate extremists, the site provided a platform for individuals to cohere into organizations. The AWD is the highest-profile group that launched from Iron March. Brandon Russell, then a teenager living in Florida and a member of Iron March since 2014, founded AWD in June 2015 and used Iron March as a training ground for recruitment and propaganda.[45] Using the screen name “Odin,” Russell attracted followers for his nascent neo-Nazi group, which he named the “Atomwaffen Division” and bragged in July 2015 was “almost a militia.”[46] Other significant white supremacist groups that formed thanks to Iron March included American Vanguard, based in the United States, and the Antipodean Resistance, based in Australia.[47]
In addition to niche platforms like Iron March, white supremacist groups have also leveraged more mainstream social media sites for recruitment. For example, the Base, a violent neo-Nazi organization, has used iFunny, a platform for creating and sharing internet memes, to spread propaganda and attract new members.[48] Another neo-Nazi group, AWD, has engaged with internet users and recruited members in online communities centered around video games.[49] Instagram has also emerged as a major neo-Nazi recruitment platform. U.S.- and U.K.-based groups have both used Instagram to recruit members, commonly using memes to share extremist ideology under the guise of humor or irony.[50] Several reports have found that extremist content shared on popular social media platforms, including Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, can be amplified by recommendation algorithms and influencers.[51] As a result of internet-based recruitment strategies, the membership of many major white supremacist groups today skews young. Though the Base has an official membership age of 18, the group is known to have admitted teenagers as young as 17, and most members appear to be in their late teens or early 20s.[52]
Though the internet has deeply affected the far-right extremist landscape, today’s white supremacist groups retain organizational and ideological links to the movement’s history. For example, the “leaderless resistance” organizational model pioneered by the KKK in the 1980s has become a central principle of internet-based groups like the Base. According to internal messages, the Base organized its members in disparate three-person “Trouble Trio” cells to commit violent acts.[53]
AWD based its ideology on the writings of James Mason, a former member of Rockwell’s American Nazi Party (ANP). Mason joined the ANP as a teenager and became a protégé of William Pierce, author of the virulently anti-Semitic novel The Turner Diaries.[54] After Rockwell’s assassination, Mason joined an ANP splinter group called the National Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF), founded by Joseph Tommasi, and began a correspondence with cult leader Charles Manson, then in prison.[55] Frustrated with the failure of the ANP to achieve success in politics, Mason gave up on the political process. Beginning in the 1980s, he published newsletters urging white supremacists to adopt terrorism and guerilla warfare tactics to bring about a race war and take down the U.S. government by force.[56] Mason’s work, titled SIEGE, fell into obscurity, and AWD resurrected it in 2017 by publishing an anthology of the newsletters and filming an interview with Mason.[57] Mason’s ideas, often called “accelerationist” for their emphasis on triggering a race war and the downfall of the U.S. political system, have influenced numerous neo-Nazi groups, including AWD and the Base
In the last ten years, the racially-motivated violent extremist movement in the United States has expanded to include a new segment of white nationalists known as the “alt-right.” The Anti-Defamation League describes the alt-right as “a segment of the white supremacist movement consisting of a loose network of racists and anti-Semites who reject mainstream conservatism in favor of politics that embrace implicit or explicit racist, anti-Semitic and white supremacist ideology.”[58] Broadly, the alt-right believes that “‘white identity’ is under attack by multicultural forces using ‘political correctness’ and ‘social justice’ to undermine white people and ‘their’ civilization.”[59] Alt-right followers separate themselves from mainstream conservatives, whom they see as too moderate and unwilling to protect the interests of white people.[60] A less extreme version of the alt-right, often termed “alt-lite,” rejects the overt white supremacy and racism of the alt-right, but still embraces misogynistic and xenophobic beliefs.[61] This “alt-lite” label includes groups like the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer.
Much of the alt-right’s initial activity was based online.[62] Using websites such as 4chan and 8chan, alt-right followers developed a shared language of memes, inside jokes, and slang to share and discuss white supremacist content.[63] The alt-right movement did not gain significant attention outside of these online imageboards until the 2016 presidential campaign. The rhetoric employed by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump created space for the alt-right’s racist, xenophobic, and misogynistic ideology to gain traction among U.S. voters.[64] As the movement’s popularity grew, alt-right followers began to move offline and form new extremist organizations, including Identity Evropa (American Identity Movement), Patriot Front, and the Rise Above Movement.[65]
Members of the alt-right were prominent organizers of the 2017 “Unite the Right Rally” in in Charlottesville, Virginia. The rally turned violent when a white supremacist drove his car into a crowd of counter-protestors, killing one person and injuring more than 30.[66] Following the rally, the alt-right suffered several setbacks. First, federal authorities filed a lawsuit against the organizers that, in November 2021, would force them to pay $25 million in damages.[67] Additionally, websites, including Twitter and Facebook, de-platformed alt-right accounts, reducing the alt-right’s online reach.[68] Finally, ideological disagreements among alt-right followers further weakened the movement and contributed to its fragmentation.[69]
Though the alt-right has grown weaker in recent years, the far-right still poses a significant challenge for U.S. law enforcement. Individuals and groups associated with the alt-lite and broader white supremacist movement continue to perpetrate or threaten violence. For example, participants in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, utilized many white supremacist symbols, including a noose, a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt, and a Confederate flag.[70]
In recent years, the number of domestic terrorist attacks perpetrated by individuals tied to white supremacy and the far-right has increased. Between 2015-2020, right-wing extremists were involved in 267 terrorist plots and successful attacks. According to the director of this data collection effort, “the number of domestic terror plots and attacks are at the highest they have been in decades.”[71] Violent attacks carried out by white supremacists, such as Dylann Roof in Charleston, South Carolina, have inspired others followers of the far-right to plan and carry out copycat acts of violence.[72]
Also concerning for law enforcement is the presence of white supremacists within its own ranks and those of the U.S. military.[73] In March 2021, the U.S. Department of Defense asserted that “DoD is facing a threat from domestic extremists (DE), particularly those who espouse white supremacy or white nationalist ideologies.”[74] Several active and former members of the military and law enforcement were involved in the January 6 riot.[75]
Anti-government extremism in the United States is often referred to as the Patriot or Militia movement. The name references a uniquely American strain of far-right ideology. Distinct from white supremacism, this movement fears federal government overreach as a threat to American liberty. Anti-government extremists often adhere to conspiracy theories that fear collaboration between the federal government and global elites. This theory suggests a cabal of elites known as the New World Order or Deep State is supposedly bent on dismantling the rights of U.S. citizens, most notably the Second Amendment right to bear firearms.[76] After the government declares martial law with the support of the United Nations and foreign troops, U.S. citizens’ guns will be confiscated, those who resist will be interned in concentration camps, and the country will be annexed into the New World Order socialist world government.[77] Members of the Patriot movement often see themselves as analogues to the American colonists who fought against Great Britain (e.g., the Three Percenters).[78] Other ideologies that fall under the anti-government umbrella include the sovereign citizen movement, whose adherents believe that they are not under the government’s authority and do not need to obey laws or pay taxes,[79] and the constitutional sheriff movement, which holds that local sheriffs’ law enforcement power trumps that of the federal government.[80]
U.S. anti-government extremism traces its roots to the Posse Comitatus movement. Founded by a Christian Identity minister in the early 1970s, this decentralized movement took hold across the western United States. In contrast to neo-Nazi groups, the Posse promoted white supremacism in reference to American political and legal traditions, arguing that the U.S. Constitution, intended only for white Christians, was appropriated by a Jewish-controlled federal government.[81] The Posse also introduced the concept of the “constitutional sheriff,” which became a cornerstone of the broader anti-government movement.[82]
Today’s Patriot movement began in the early 1990s. Catalysts included the federal government’s handling of the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents, which were sieges of an Idaho cabin belonging to white supremacist Randy Weaver and the Branch Davidian compound, respectively, by federal agents that led to deaths of U.S. citizens.[83] In reaction, activists formed self-defense organizations under the patriot/militia label. Often organized on the state or local level, these groups drew on the Posse Comitatus tradition and began promulgating conspiratorial anti-state narratives.[84] Some entities, such as the Montana Militia, engaged mostly in propaganda and largely eschewed acts of violence, while others, such as the Michigan Militia, embraced paramilitary tactics.[85]
From the beginning, members of the anti-government movement have networked and coordinated across organizational boundaries. A major turning point came in October 1992, when over 150 members of the U.S. far-right met for a multiday conference in Estes Park, Colorado following the August 1992 Ruby Ridge siege. There, attendees allegedly embraced Klan leader Louis Beam’s doctrine of “leaderless resistance” and adopted a strategy of appropriating the language of constitutional rights to further their cause.[86] The Patriot movement underwent two phases of activity. The first phase operated from 1992-1995. It began to fade after the April 22, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which killed 168 people. Lead perpetrator Timothy McVeigh’s ties to the movement, including the Michigan Militia, prompted greater scrutiny of militia groups by law enforcement.[87] A second phase operated from 1997-1999, but failed to gain any serious momentum due to informants, infiltrations, and the successful foiling of several plots (e.g. San Joaquin Militia).
Since 2000, the trajectory of anti-government extremism in the United States has generally paralleled the tenor of national politics. With Republican George W. Bush in office at the beginning of the 21st century, the movement became less active as New World Order conspiracy theories lost some potency. However, the movement regained traction at the end of the 2000s. An economic recession, the election of Democrat Barack Obama to the presidency, and growing right-wing activism in opposition to Obama’s liberal policies fueled a resurgence of anti-government extremism.
Though smaller militias and other localized “patriot” groups continued to exist and operate, this period marked another turning point for the movement with the founding of large paramilitary organizations with national scope. In 2008, Michael Vanderboegh started the Three Percenters, a decentralized far-right group named after the historically inaccurate myth that only three percent of American colonists volunteered to fight the British in the American Revolution. The next year, Stewart Rhodes launched Oath Keepers, a far-right organization aimed at former military and law enforcement personnel dedicated to upholding oaths to defend the U.S. Constitution against allegedly unconstitutional actions by the federal government. These organizations rapidly attracted a national following and participated in a series of standoffs with federal agents in the western United States.
Around 2016-2017, some militia groups began to shift focus away from the federal government. With his election to the presidency, Donald Trump promised to fight the “deep state” loathed by the anti-government groups. The federal government was a longtime enemy of the patriot/militia movement, but now with Trump at its head, the government suddenly became an ally.[88] New World Order conspiracy theories were no longer as salient without a traditional president occupying the White House. As a result, the movement was thrust into confusion.[89] Some militia extremist groups coalesced around targeting anti-fascist (antifa) activists as a primary adversary.[90]
On January 6, 2021, anti-government extremists participated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. As Congress met to count electoral votes, a mob of Trump supporters breached security and trespassed on Capitol grounds. According to police, approximately 800 people in total entered the Capitol without authorization on January 6.[91] Federal authorities have identified two anti-government groups, the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters, as central to the planning and execution of the January 6 riot.[92]
Conclusion
This overview of our Global Right-Wing Extremism map aims to help users understand how we – the researchers on the Mapping Militants Project – choose specific profiles for inclusion and why we characterize relationships, major attacks, or other organizational behaviors. Far-right militant organizations are distinct from jihadist militants like those profiled on our Global Al Qaeda or Global Islamic State maps in several ways. Far-right organizations often have fluid membership and decentralized organizational structures. Members can belong to multiple organizations or float between organizations. Groups may not engage in organized acts of violence but inspire or encourage individuals to use violence
Like the Mapping Militant Project’s other maps, the Global Right-Wing Extremism Map uses several key terms to describe relationships between organizations including alliances, affiliates, umbrella, rivals, and splinters. However, far-right groups are uniquely defined at times by their unstructured connections, sporadic contacts, and loose relationships. Generally, the Mapping Militants Project has opted to use the ally relationship with a brief written description of the link between the two groups. Moving forward, our researchers continue to study and evaluate its system for coding organizational relationships as the project expands its coverage to include other far-right profiles.
References
[1] “Homeland Threat Assessment: October 2020.” U.S. Department of Homeland Security. October 2020. https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/2020_10_06_homelan…
[2] “Domestic Violent Extremism Poses Heightened Threat in 2021.” U.S. Department of Homeland Security. March 1, 2021. https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/21_0301_odni_uncla…
[3] Jones, Seth G., Catrina Doxsee, and Nicholas Harrington. “The Escalating Terrorism Problem in the United States.” Center for Strategic and International Studies. June 17, 2020. https://www.csis.org/analysis/escalating-terrorism-problem-united-states
[4] Jones, Seth G., Catrina Doxsee, and Nicholas Harrington. “The Escalating Terrorism Problem in the United States.” Center for Strategic and International Studies. June 17, 2020. https://www.csis.org/analysis/escalating-terrorism-problem-united-states
[5] Jones, Seth G., Catrina Doxsee, and Nicholas Harrington. “The Escalating Terrorism Problem in the United States.” Center for Strategic and International Studies. June 17, 2020. https://www.csis.org/analysis/escalating-terrorism-problem-united-states
[6] Sam Jackson. “A Schema of Right-Wing Extremism in the United States.” ICCT Policy Brief, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hauge, October 2019. https://icct.nl/app/uploads/2019/11/ASchemaofRWEXSamJackson-1.pdf
[7] Sam Jackson. “A Schema of Right-Wing Extremism in the United States.” ICCT Policy Brief, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hauge, October 2019. https://icct.nl/app/uploads/2019/11/ASchemaofRWEXSamJackson-1.pdf
[8] Arie Perliger. American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism (New York: Colombia University Press, 2020), 14-17.
[9] Samuel Jackson, Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Anti-government Group (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020).
[10] Wilson, Jason. “Eco-fascism is undergoing a revival in the fetid culture of the extreme right.” The Guardian, March 19, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2019/mar/20/eco-fascism…
[11] Jackson’s (2020) defines extremism as “purposeful disruptive political behavior that aims to change a political system fundamentally” (12) He builds on this definition to conceptualize right-wing extremism as “activity that, in reaction to perceptions of negative change, aims to revert fundamental features of the political system to some imagined (though not necessarily imaginary) past state” (12). This includes racist, nativist, and anti-government extremism. See Chapter 1 in Samuel Jackson, Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Anti-government Group (New York: Columbia University Press, 2020).
[12] Hoffman, Bruce, and Jacob Ware. “The Terrorist Threat from the Fractured Far Right.” Lawfare, November 1, 2020. https://www.lawfareblog.com/terrorist-threat-fractured-far-right
[13] “Currently listed entities.” Public Safety Canada, Government of Canada. Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/ntnl-scrt/cntr-trrrsm/lstd-ntts/crrnt-lstd-ntts-en.aspx
[14] Arie Perliger, American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism (New York: Colombia University Press, 2020), 12.
[15] By alt-right, we use the Anti-Defamation League definition to describe “a segment of the white supremacist movement consisting of a loose network of racists and anti-Semites who reject mainstream conservatism in favor of politics that embrace implicit or explicit racist, anti-Semitic and white supremacist ideology.” See “The Growth of the Alt-Right” section below for an expansion on this point.
[16] For information on the early history of the KKK, consult these sources: “Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism.” Southern Poverty Law Center. March 1, 2011. https://www.splcenter.org/20110228/ku-klux-klan-history-racism#the%20in…. Glass, Andrew. “Grant signs KKK Act into law, April 20, 1871.” POLITICO. April 20, 2019. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/20/this-day-in-politics-april-20…
[17] “Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism.” Southern Poverty Law Center. March 1, 2011. https://www.splcenter.org/20110228/ku-klux-klan-history-racism#the%20in….
[18] “Reconstruction in America: Racial Violence after the Civil War, 1865-1876.” Equal Justice Initiative. 2020. https://eji.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/reconstruction-in-america-re…
[19] “Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism.” Southern Poverty Law Center. March 1, 2011. https://www.splcenter.org/20110228/ku-klux-klan-history-racism#the%20in…
[20] “Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism.” Southern Poverty Law Center. March 1, 2011. https://www.splcenter.org/20110228/ku-klux-klan-history-racism#the%20in…
[21] “Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism.” Southern Poverty Law Center. March 1, 2011. https://www.splcenter.org/20110228/ku-klux-klan-history-racism#the%20in…
[22] “Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism.” Southern Poverty Law Center. March 1, 2011. https://www.splcenter.org/20110228/ku-klux-klan-history-racism#the%20in…
[23] “Reconstruction in America: Racial Violence after the Civil War, 1865-1876.” Equal Justice Initiative. 2020. https://eji.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/reconstruction-in-america-re…
[24] Simonelli, Frederick J. "The American Nazi Party, 1958–1967." The Historian 57, no. 3 (1995): 553-66. Simonelli, Frederick J. “Preaching Hate with the Voice of God: American Neo‐Nazis and Christian Identity, Patterns of Prejudice 30, no. 2 (1996), 43-54.
[25] Maschmann, Sean. “Staying Power: George Lincoln Rockwell’s Legacy.” Master’s Thesis, University of British Colombia, April 2006. https://open.library.ubc.ca/media/download/pdf/831/1.0092590/1
[26] Simonelli, Frederick James. American Fuehrer: George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nazi Party (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1999), 122.
[27] This is independent from the Italian far-right organization Ordine Nuovo (New Order). It is also distinct from The Order founded by Robert Jay Mathews. For an account of the ANP’s rebranding, see Arie Perliger, American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism (New York: Colombia University Press, 2020), 42-43.
[28] Arie Perliger, American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism (New York: Colombia University Press, 2020), 42-43.
[29] Arie Perliger, American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism (New York: Colombia University Press, 2020), 47-48.
[30] Smith, Laura. “Armed resistance, lone wolves, and media messaging: meet the godfather of the ‘alt-right.’” Timeline. November 6, 2017. https://timeline.com/louis-beam-white-supremacy-history-20d028315d. “Louis Beam.” Anti-Defamation League. 2013. https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/combating-…
[31] Smith, Laura. “Lone Wolves Connected Online: A History of Modern White Supremacy.” The New York Times. January 26, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/26/us/louis-beam-white-supremacy-intern…
[32] “Percentage of households with a computer at home in the United States from 1984 to 2010.” Statista. February 1, 2010. https://www.statista.com/statistics/184685/percentage-of-households-wit…
[33] Hoffman, Bruce. “Back to the Future: The Return of Violent Far-Right Terrorism in the Age of Lone Wolves.” War on the Rocks. April 2, 2019. https://warontherocks.com/2019/04/back-to-the-future-the-return-of-viol…
[34] Ross, Alexander Reid, Emmi Bevansee, and ZC. “Transnational White Terror: Exposing Atomwaffen and the Iron March Networks.” Bellingcat. December 19, 2019. https://www.bellingcat.com/news
/2019/12/19/transnational-white-terror-exposing-atomwaffen-and-the-iron-march-networks/
[35] Singer-Emery, Jacques and Rex Bray III. “The Iron March Data Dump Provides a Window Into How White Supremacists Communicate and Recruit.” Lawfare. February 27, 2020. https://www.lawfareblog
.com/iron-march-data-dump-provides-window-how-white-supremacists-communicate-and-recruit
[36] Wilson, Jason. “Leak from neo-Nazi site could identify hundreds of extremists worldwide.” The Guardian. November 7, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/07/neo-nazi-site-iron-marc…
[37] Wilson, Jason. “Leak from neo-Nazi site could identify hundreds of extremists worldwide.” The Guardian. November 7, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/07/neo-nazi-site-iron-marc…
[38] Wilson, Jason. “Leak from neo-Nazi site could identify hundreds of extremists worldwide.” The Guardian. November 7, 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/nov/07/neo-nazi-site-iron-marc…
[39] Singer-Emery, Jacques and Rex Bray III. “The Iron March Data Dump Provides a Window Into How White Supremacists Communicate and Recruit.” Lawfare. February 27, 2020. https://www.lawfareblog
.com/iron-march-data-dump-provides-window-how-white-supremacists-communicate-and-recruit
[40] Singer-Emery, Jacques and Rex Bray III. “The Iron March Data Dump Provides a Window Into How White Supremacists Communicate and Recruit.” Lawfare. February 27, 2020. https://www.lawfareblog
.com/iron-march-data-dump-provides-window-how-white-supremacists-communicate-and-recruit
[41] Singer-Emery, Jacques and Rex Bray III. “The Iron March Data Dump Provides a Window Into How White Supremacists Communicate and Recruit.” Lawfare. February 27, 2020. https://www.lawfareblog
.com/iron-march-data-dump-provides-window-how-white-supremacists-communicate-and-recruit
[42] Hayden, Michael Edison. “Visions of Chaos: Weighing the Violent Legacy of Iron March.” Southern Poverty Law Center. February 15, 2019. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/02/15/visions-chaos-weighing-v…
[43] Ross, Alexander Reid, Emmi Bevansee, and ZC. “Transnational White Terror: Exposing Atomwaffen and the Iron March Networks.” Bellingcat. December 19, 2019. https://www.bellingcat.com/news
/2019/12/19/transnational-white-terror-exposing-atomwaffen-and-the-iron-march-networks/
[44] Ross, Alexander Reid, Emmi Bevansee, and ZC. “Transnational White Terror: Exposing Atomwaffen and the Iron March Networks.” Bellingcat. December 19, 2019. https://www.bellingcat.com/news
/2019/12/19/transnational-white-terror-exposing-atomwaffen-and-the-iron-march-networks/
[45] Weill, Kelly. “Inside the Private Messages of Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Division.” The Daily Beast. November 8, 2019. https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-private-messages-of-neo-nazi-g…
[46] Weill, Kelly. “Inside the Private Messages of Neo-Nazi Group Atomwaffen Division.” The Daily Beast. November 8, 2019. https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-private-messages-of-neo-nazi-g…
[47] Ross, Alexander Reid, Emmi Bevansee, and ZC. “Transnational White Terror: Exposing Atomwaffen and the Iron March Networks.” Bellingcat. December 19, 2019. https://www.bellingcat.com/news
/2019/12/19/transnational-white-terror-exposing-atomwaffen-and-the-iron-march-networks/
[48] Lamoureux, Mack and Zachary Kamel. “Neo-Nazi Terror Groups Are Using iFunny to Recruit.” VICE News. November 14, 2019. https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/vb5kx3/neo-nazi-terror-groups-are-us…
[49] Ross, Alexander Reid, Emmi Bevansee, and ZC. “Transnational White Terror: Exposing Atomwaffen and the Iron March Networks.” Bellingcat. December 19, 2019. https://www.bellingcat.com/news
/2019/12/19/transnational-white-terror-exposing-atomwaffen-and-the-iron-march-networks/
[50] Zitser, Joshua. “Neo-Nazi groups are using Instagram to recruit young teenagers, experts warn. Memes are being used to entice them.” Insider. March 27, 2021. https://www.businessinsider.com/instagram-memes-used-recruit-young-peop…
[51] “Malgorithm: How Instagram's algorithm publishes misinformation and hate to millions during a pandemic.” Center for Countering Digital Hate. 2020. https://www.counterhate.com/malgorithm; O’Connor, Ciarán. “Hatescape: An In-Depth Analysis of Extremism and Hate Speech on TikTok.” Institue for Strategic Dialogue. 2021. https://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/24/ISD-TikTok-Hatescape-Report-August-2021.pdf; Lewis, Rebecca. “Alternative Influence: Broadcasting the Reactionary Right on YouTube.” Data & Society. September 18, 2018. https://datasociety.net/library/alternative-influence/
[52] Wilson, Jason. “Prepping for a race war: documents reveal inner workings of neo-Nazi group.” The Guardian. January 25, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/25/inside-the-base-neo-nazi-…
[53] Bailey, John. “Update: Affidavit links former Canadian army extremist to local white nationalist group, target of murder plot was Bartow County couple.” Rome News-Tribune. January 17, 2020. https://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/rome/news/local/update-affidavit-l…
[54] “Atomwaffen and the SIEGE parallax: how one neo-Nazi’s life’s work is fueling a younger generation.” Hatewatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. February 22, 2018. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/02/22/atomwaffen-and-siege-par…’s-life’s-work-fueling-younger-generation
[55] “Atomwaffen and the SIEGE parallax: how one neo-Nazi’s life’s work is fueling a younger generation.” Hatewatch. Southern Poverty Law Center. February 22, 2018. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/02/22/atomwaffen-and-siege-par…’s-life’s-work-fueling-younger-generation
[56] Thompson, A.C., Ali Winston, and Jake Hanrahan. “Inside Atomwaffen As It Celebrates a Member for Allegedly Killing a Gay Jewish College Student.” ProPublica. February 23, 2018. https://www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-inside-white-hat…
[57] O’Brien, Luke and Christopher Mathias. “The Maniac Neo-Nazis Keeping Charles Manson’s Race War Alive.” HuffPost. November 21, 2017. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alt-right-charles-manson-atomwaffen_n_5a…
[58] “From Alt Right to Alt Lite: Naming the Hate.” Anti-Defamation League. N.d. https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/from-alt-right-to-alt-lite-naming-the-hate
[59] “Alt-Right.” Southern Poverty Law Center. N.d. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/alt-right
[60] “Alt Right: A Primer on the New White Supremacy.” Anti-Defamation Lague. N.d. https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/alt-right-a-primer-on-the-new-white-supremacy
[61] “From Alt Right to Alt Lite: Naming the Hate.” Anti-Defamation League. N.d. https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/from-alt-right-to-alt-lite-naming-the-hate
[62] “New Hate and Old: The Changing Face of American White Supremacy.” Center on Extremism, Anti-Defamation League. 2018. https://www.adl.org/new-hate-and-old#the-alt-right-now-moving-into-the-real-world-
[63] “New Hate and Old: The Changing Face of American White Supremacy.” Center on Extremism, Anti-Defamation League. 2018. https://www.adl.org/new-hate-and-old#the-subculture-of-the-alt-right
[64] “From Alt Right to Alt Lite: Naming the Hate.” Anti-Defamation League. N.d. https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/from-alt-right-to-alt-lite-naming-the-hate
[65] “New Hate and Old: The Changing Face of American White Supremacy.” Center on Extremism, Anti-Defamation League. 2018. https://www.adl.org/new-hate-and-old#the-alt-right-now-moving-into-the-real-world-
[66] “Ohio Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Federal Hate Crimes Related to August 2017 Car Attack at Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.” Office of Public Affairs, U.S. Department of Justice. June 28, 2019. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/ohio-man-sentenced-life-prison-federal-hate-crimes-related-august-2017-car-attack-rally
[67] Doubek, James, and Vanessa Romo. “Jury finds rally organizers liable for the violence that broke out in Charlottesville.” NPR. November 23, 2021. https://www.npr.org/2021/11/23/1058024314/charlottesville-unite-the-right-trial-verdict
[68] Hayden, Michael Edison. “Alt-Right Is Fractured, Violent Headed Into Trump's Second Year.” Newsweek. January 21, 2018. https://www.newsweek.com/alt-right-fractured-violent-headed-trump-second-year-785552
[69] Fausset, Richard, Serge F. Kovaleski and Alan Feuer. “A Year After Charlottesville, Disarray in the White Supremacist Movement.” The New York Times. August 13, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/us/charlottesville-unite-the-right-white-supremacists.html
[70] Neilson, Susie, and Morgan McFall-Johnsen. “Several groups of extremists stormed the Capitol on Wednesday. Here are some of the most notable individuals, symbols, and groups.” Business Insider. January 6, 2021. https://www.businessinsider.com/hate-symbols-and-extremist-groups-at-the-us-capitol-siege-2021-1
[71] O’Harrow Jr., Robert, Andrew Ba Tran, and Derek Hawkins. “The rise of domestic extremism in America.” The Washington Post. April 12, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/domestic-terrorism-data/
[72] Zapotosky, Matt. “Man with white supremacist ties accused of plotting attack ‘in the spirit of Dylann Roof.’” The Washington Post. February 16, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/02/16/man-with-white-supremacist-ties-accused-of-plotting-attack-in-the-spirit-of-dylann-roof/
[73] Levin, Sam. “White supremacists and militias have infiltrated police across US, report says.” The Guardian. August 27, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/27/white-supremacists-militias-infiltrate-us-police-report
[74] Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. “Report to Armed Services Committees on Screening Individuals Who Seek to Enlist in the Armed Forces” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Defense. March 2021. https://media.defense.gov/2021/Mar/02/2002592042/-1/-1/0/REPORT-TO-ARMED-SERVICES-COMMITTEES-ON-SCREENING-INDIVIDUALS-WHO-SEEK-TO-ENLIST-IN-THE-ARMED-FORCES.PDF
[75] Margolin, Josh. “White supremacists 'seek affiliation' with law enforcement to further their goals, internal FBI report warns.” ABC News. March 8, 2021. https://abcnews.go.com/US/white-supremacists-seek-affiliation-law-enforcement-goals-internal/story?id=76309051; Geller, Laura, and Becca Knier. “‘They know about it all’ | Pentagon report reveals concrete examples of white supremacists in the military.” WUSA9. March 3, 2021. https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/military-news/pentagon-report-reveals-concrete-examples-of-white-supremacists-in-the-military/65-b6f49896-4012-4471-8329-3453a0b05b83; Waston, Eleanor, and Robert Legare. “Over 80 of those charged in the January 6 investigation have ties to the military.” CBS News. December 14, 2021. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/capitol-riot-january-6-military-ties/
[76] “The Oath Keepers.” Anti-Defamation League. 2021. https://www.adl.org/Backgrounders/OathKeepers
[77] “Oath Keepers.” Southern Poverty Law Center. N.d. https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/oath-keep…
[78] “Militia Movement.” Anti-Defamation League. N.d. https://www.adl.org/resources/glossary-terms/militia-movement
[79] “Sovereign Citizen Movement.” Anti-Defamation League. N.d. https://www.adl.org/resources/glossary-terms/sovereign-citizen-movement
[80] Tsai, Robert L. “The Troubling Sheriffs’ Movement That Joe Arpaio Supports.” POLITICO. September 1, 2017. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/09/01/joe-arpaio-pardon-sh…
[81] “The Patriot Movement, Past and Present.” Up in Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s Patriot Movement. Rural Organizing Project. N.d. https://rop.org/uia/section-i/the-patriot-movement-historically-nationa…
[82] “The Patriot Movement, Past and Present.” Up in Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s Patriot Movement. Rural Organizing Project. N.d. https://rop.org/uia/section-i/the-patriot-movement-historically-nationa…
[83] “The Patriot Movement, Past and Present.” Up in Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s Patriot Movement. Rural Organizing Project. N.d. https://rop.org/uia/section-i/the-patriot-movement-historically-nationa…
[84] “The Patriot Movement, Past and Present.” Up in Arms: A Guide to Oregon’s Patriot Movement. Rural Organizing Project. N.d. https://rop.org/uia/section-i/the-patriot-movement-historically-nationa…
[85] Arie Perliger, American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism (New York: Colombia University Press, 2020), 56.
[86] Arie Perliger, American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism (New York: Colombia University Press, 2020), 54.
[87] Arie Perliger, American Zealots: Inside Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism (New York: Colombia University Press, 2020), 57.
[88] Michel, Casey. “How Militias Became the Private Police for White Supremacists.” POLITICO. August 17, 2017. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/17/white-supremacists-m…
[89] Michel, Casey. “How Militias Became the Private Police for White Supremacists.” POLITICO. August 17, 2017. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/17/white-supremacists-m…
[90] Pitcavage, Mark, interviewed by Dave Davies. “Armed Militias Face Off With The ‘Antifa’ In The New Landscape Of Political Protest.” Fresh Air. WBUR. August 23, 2017. https://www.wbur.org
/npr/545509627/armed-militias-face-off-with-the-antifa-in-the-new-landscape-of-political-protes
[91] Hsu, Spencer S., Peter Hermann, and Emily Davies. “Two arrested in assault on police officer Brian D. Sicknick, who died after Jan. 6 Capitol riot.” The Washington Post. March 15, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/legal-issues/two-arrested-in-assault-on-police-officer-brian-d-sicknick-who-died-after-jan-6-capitol-riot/2021/03/15/80261550-84ff-11eb-bfdf-4d36dab83a6d_story.html
[92] “’This is Our House!’ A preliminary Assessment of the Capitol Hill Siege Participants.” Program on Extremism, The George Washington University, March 2021. https://extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/zaxdzs2191/f/This-Is-Our-House.pdf