“I was wondering what was required to become an oath keeper,” one Texas soldier reportedly wrote in an email to the violent extremist group. Records hacked from the Oath Keepers show that interest in joining the violent, far-right extremist group surged following the deadly U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6 ― including among law enforcement and the military, according to BuzzFeed News and The Guardian. Some of the membership records were made available to journalists this week by the group Distributed Denial of Secrets, a nonprofit that makes hacked data available to the press and to researchers. “I was wondering what was required to become an oath keeper,” wrote one person who said he was an active-duty soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, according to BuzzFeed News. The email, dated Jan. 19, noted that the author was “not liking what the world is coming to” and had “a growing concern for our nation.” Oath Keepers were among the supporters of former President Donald Trump who stormed the Capitol building in January, leaving several people dead. More than a dozen have been arrested and charged in connection with the violence. BuzzFeed News’ analysis of email addresses found in the data indicated that as many as 500 people who sought Oath Keeper membership over the past decade may be currently or formerly “employed by the military, state or local police, sheriff’s departments, or federal law enforcement.” The outlet noted that many did not appear to be active members of the group. Despite a clear conflict of interest between law enforcement work and the anti-government Oath Keepers, some would-be members bragged about their credentials in their messages. “I have a wide variety of law enforcement experience, including undercover operations, surveillance and SWAT,” one person wrote on a membership application, according to USA Today, although it is not clear when the message was sent. Another person reportedly declared that they were “currently working as a deputy sheriff in Texas” in their message to the group.
via huff: Police, Service Members Bragged About Credentials To Join Oath Keepers: Reports
siehe auch: Exclusive: Oath Keepers leak includes 160 U.S. military, government email addresses. The controversial militia’s membership list was leaked online after an alleged hack. Official military and government email addresses can be found throughout a leaked membership list from the Oath Keepers militia. The paramilitary group, which is currently embroiled in controversy after 19 of its members were arrested and charged for their alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, had its data exposed on Monday after allegedly being targeted by a hacker. The 5GB data cache, most of which was made public by the journalism and transparency collective DDoSecrets, contains emails and group chats as well as information on members and donors. Among the files included is an alleged membership list filled with more than 38,000 emails. Some of the entries show corresponding names, physical addresses, phone numbers, and IP addresses. The membership list does not detail whether an alleged member is or was ever active with the Oath Keepers. An email address on the list does not necessarily mean they are a member. Analysis of the data by the Daily Dot found 160 alleged members who shared their official military or government emails with the militia. It is unclear whether the alleged members are currently active within the paramilitary group. Approximately 28 email addresses included in the list use the .gov domain, including those from local city governments to sheriff’s departments. Other email addresses are linked to more obscure government bodies, like the California Department of Water Resources (DWR). Federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) are represented in the data as well. One domain even originates from the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a Department of Energy (DOE) lab that helped design nuclear weapons during World War II. A total of 132 email addresses found in the list used the .mil domain, 100 of which were from the U.S. Army. Other branches of the military found on the list include the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Marine Corps.