Day: January 26, 2021

Neo-Nazis are urging domestic terrorists to create smaller cells and go offline in the wake of increased FBI attention. America has a problem. Due to increased law enforcement pressure and attention, the far right appears to be adopting the offline and off-grid model to evade surveillance. While groups like Atomwaffen Division, the Base, and the Oath Keepers have made headlines as domestic terrorism threats, experts say that in the wake of federal crackdowns and the Capitol Hill insurrection, the far right is increasingly discussing organizational structures similar to that used by Timothy McVeigh, the mastermind behind the devastating Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. Inside chat rooms and on Telegram channels frequented by accelerationist neo-Nazis, who believe acts of terror will hasten the collapse of the U.S. government, many proclaim the “anti-group” era has arrived, where public-facing organizations with symbols and propaganda are no longer viable, being too easily monitored and disrupted by the FBI. Instead, they say, local cells of no more than a half-dozen or so people organizing in person and planning attacks outside of traditional intelligence nets is the only way forward. A move to more underground methods would starkly contrast the way the invasion of Capitol Hill was largely planned out in the open on Facebook and other social media platforms—something that made it very easy for the FBI to identify suspects. Offline terror cells present a major challenge for authorities trying to disrupt attacks before it’s too late. “We want lone wolves, we want local cells without online recruitment,” one Telegram post from a well-followed accelerationist account recently preached, before pointing out that law enforcement, hot on the trail of domestic terrorists, is eager to infiltrate groups. “Without spending extensive resources, agencies like the DHS or FBI can’t trifle or sabotage. It doesn’t matter if you are organizing a cell via Steam, they can’t do ANYTHING if you know and trust each member personally. (…) The same account highlighted how terror groups like the Atomwaffen Division and the Base used social media and email accounts to recruit new members—some of them anti-fascist infiltrators out to expose internal communications, and, in the case of the Base, one an undercover FBI agent—and subsequently had several members arrested on terrorism-related charges.

via vice: The Far Right Looks to Small Cells and Lone Wolves After Capitol Fiasco

The boogaloo movement’s most extreme white supremacist element is ratcheting up calls for civil war. In the wake of last week’s deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol Building, a publicly accessible chat group devoted to sparking a civil war is telling its thousands of subscribers that the moment they have all been waiting for is here. Since the events last week, “Boogaloo Intel Drop,” a channel on the Telegram messaging app with more than 6,600 subscribers, including some self-described active-duty U.S. military personnel, has pushed its followers to usher in a new epoch of political violence in the United States. Subscribers and administrators have called for the murder of police officers with increased fervor and elevated Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran killed by Capitol Police during the riot, to the status of a martyr. The channel is a mid-sized player in a larger, established network devoted to the spread of right-wing terror, a race war, and the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. Within this so-called Terrorgram network, which appears to have grown in the past week, the assault on the Capitol and its political fallout is being treated as an opportunity to enlist and radicalize new recruits. Alex Newhouse, research lead at the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said “Boogaloo Intel Drop” appears to be the “most active” channel in the Terrorgram network currently looking to peel off individuals booted from other social media networks and recruit them into militant extremism. It has also been the most open in calling for violence in the days ahead. “They have been talking in the most specifics that I’ve seen yet,” Newhouse told The Intercept. “But their rhetoric does reflect what’s happening in the other white supremacist accelerationist channels.”

via intercept: On Telegram, the Paramilitary Far Right Looks to Radicalize New Recruits Ahead of Inauguration Day

A right-wing activist known for his unwavering support for former President Donald Trump and for urging Democrats to walk away from their party has been arrested for participating in the Capitol insurrection. Brandon Straka, 43, has been charged with several crimes, including impeding a law enforcement officer during civil disorder and engaging in disorderly conduct with the intent to disturb a hearing before Congress, for his role in the Jan. 6 siege. The ex-New York City hairstylist and self-described “former liberal” is best known for starting the “WalkAway Campaign,” which urged liberal voters to leave the Democratic Party. Earlier this month, Straka announced Facebook had removed the campaign’s page, which had over half a million followers. In June, Straka also made national headlines after he was banned from American Airlines for refusing to wear a mask on a flight to Dallas amid the coronavirus pandemic. In a criminal complaint unsealed Monday, prosecutors state Straka posted several photos and videos during and after the riots. The court documents say investigators were clued into Straka’s involvement when a tipster indicated he had posted a video on Twitter on Jan. 6 in which the activist shouted, “Go, Go!” near the entrance of the Capitol.
“Also—be embarrassed & hide if you need to- but I was there. It was not Antifa at the Capitol. It was freedom-loving Patriots who were DESPERATE to fight for the final hope of our Republic because literally, nobody cares about them. Everyone else can denounce them. I will not,” Straka also wrote in a Jan. 6 tweet. Prosecutors allege that Straka took multiple videos during and after the riots. In one Jan. 7 video, the activist admits, “Yesterday, a lot of us got up very, very early. We went to this event in which Donald Trump spoke. The plan was always to go to the Capitol. We were going to march from that event…to the Capitol, and there was going to be another rally. I was one of the speakers slated to speak at the Capitol.” Straka says that as he was walking to the Capitol, he’d learned “patriots had entered” it. “Wow, so they’re going to basically storm and try to get into the chamber so that they can demand that we get the investigation that we want,” he says in the Jan. 7 video, according to the complaint. Straka then claimed he saw “bursts of teargas coming out of the doors.”

via daily beast: Right-Wing Activist Banned From Airline for Not Wearing Mask Is Charged in Capitol Riots

A 22-year-old Howard County man is in custody in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month. An FBI spokesperson told the 11 News I-Team agents arrested Matthew Miller, of Cooksville. According to the 11 News I-Team, a judge ordered Miller detained due to “dangeressnous.” Miller told judge he’s “too busy” to cause harm because he’s studying to be an insurance agent after losing his job due to “this stuff.” According to an FBI affidavit obtained by the 11 News I-Team, the FBI said Miller was dressed in a black cowboy hat, a Washington Capitals jersey and a black backpack while he discharged a fire extinguisher on the steps leading to an entrance to the Capitol. The FBI said it collected images through open source media that included online tips and complaints.

via wbaltv: FBI: Another Marylander charged in connection with US Capitol riot