Extremism

National security officials warn of extremists exploiting coronavirus pandemic

National security officials warned in an intelligence bulletin issued Tuesday that extremist groups are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to incite violence and bolster racist and anti-government narratives.
The bulletin -- from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center -- cites threats from an array of hate groups aimed at minorities, and captures how conspiracy theories about the virus' origins and the government's response are likely fueling potential violence.
It also predicts that spaces vital to the moment, like hospitals and grocery stores, could be potential targets -- as well as police officers enforcing stay-at-home orders.
The four-page document, which was obtained by CNN, is the latest in a string of warnings from the national security community about the threat from extremist groups as the coronavirus has exploded across the country and upended daily life.
Law enforcement have already responded to two extremist plots in recent days, including a train engineer in California who allegedly derailed his train near a naval hospital ship that he thought was being used in a government takeover and a Missouri man who was accused of attempting to detonate a car bomb at a hospital treating coronavirus patients.

Extremism

Terror suspect dead in confrontation with FBI after allegedly targeting hospital

A 36-year-old domestic terror suspect was killed in a confrontation with the FBI Tuesday after allegedly targeting a Missouri-area hospital providing care during the coronavirus emergency, the bureau said Wednesday.

Timothy Wilson, the subject of a long-running undercover terror inquiry, had allegedly considered a range of targets before he "settled on an area hospital ... that is providing critical medical care in today's environment," according to the FBI.

The FBI said Wilson was wounded when agents sought to arrest him Tuesday in Belton, Missouri, after closely tracking his activities. The bureau said Wilson was armed at the time he was shot in the clash with agents. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital

"Wilson was the subject of a months-long domestic terrorism investigation, which revealed him to be a potentially violent extremist, motivated by racial, religious, and anti-government animus," the bureau said in statement.

Extremism

Miss Hitler contestant and her boyfriend convicted on terror charges

A young Yorkshire woman and her boyfriend, who worshipped Adolf Hitler and wanted to start a race war, have been convicted on terrorism charges.

Alice Cutter, 23, from Sowerby Bridge, even entered a Miss Hitler alternative beauty competition and shared an obsession for guns and knives with her partner Mark Jones.

The pair were found guilty of being members of the banned far-right group National Action after a retrial at Birmingham Crown Court.

They were convicted alongside another two young men Garry Jack, 24, from Castle Bromwich, Birmingham and Connor Scothern, 19, from Nottingham.

Extremism

Germany shooting: chants of 'Nazis out' at vigils after gunman kills nine

Thousands of people have taken part in vigils across Germany after a gunman with apparent far-right beliefs killed nine people at a shisha bar and a cafe in the city of Hanau.

The suspect, a 43-year-old German identified as Tobias Rathjen, was found dead at his home after the rampage along with his 72-year-old mother in what appeared to be a murder-suicide.

Hundreds of people, many carrying candles or a white rose, gathered in silence in Hanau in the evening to show solidarity with the victims.

Large crowds also gathered in Frankfurt and at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, some carrying signs that read “Take racism personally” or “Never again!”, in scenes replicated across dozens of German cities.

Extremism

‘Mere Membership’ in Extremist Groups Doesn’t Spark Military Investigations, Congress Hears

Members of the military who claim membership in white supremacist or other domestic extremist groups have to be active in a group in order to warrant investigation, and even then may face an administrative reprimand but not expulsion, Congress heard this past week.

The House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel held two panels — one with experts on extremism, and the other with representatives of the armed forces — to discuss the latest Military Times poll of active-duty readers regarding extremism within the ranks. Thirty-six percent of troops who responded said they personally witnessed evidence of white supremacist and racist ideologies in the military in 2019, up from 22 percent in the 2018 poll.

In November, Tech. Sgt. Cory Reeves at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs was reduced in rank from master sergeant due to his involvement with Identity Evropa, a white supremacist group that actively distributes propaganda and participated in the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally as well as the tiki torch march the night before. The group rebranded last year as the American Identitarian Movement.

Extremism

Mystery as unmarked grave of infamous Nazi Reinhard Heydrich - Hitler's feared 'Butcher of Prague' third in command - is dug up in Berlin

The grave of notorious Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich has been mysteriously forced open in Berlin.

Heydrich, who helped to plan the Holocaust and was dubbed the 'Butcher of Prague' for his brutality in occupied Czechoslovakia, was buried in the German capital after his assassination in 1942.  

The tomb has been unmarked since the end of the war, but last week it was found prised open by an employee at the Invalids' Cemetery. 

Berlin police say the motive is unclear, because no bones were removed.   

The culprits are thought to have had inside knowledge of the grave's location, because the markings on graves of prominent Nazis were removed after World War II to prevent Nazi sympathisers turning them into shrines.

The grave was 'dug up in the night between Wednesday and Thursday' and an investigation has been opened on charges of disturbing a burial site, police said. 

Berlin police told local media that there were no immediate suspects and it appeared that nothing was removed.    

Heydrich was Nazi Germany's third in command after Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, and was marked out for his cruelty even within the Nazi elite. 

Extremism

3 fired from West Virginia agency after apparent Nazi salute photo

Three people were fired and dozens more have been suspended after a photo surfaced of West Virginia correction officer trainees apparently performing a Nazi salute.

The image shows more than two dozen trainees with their arms raised, with the figures' faces blurred. The image was released Thursday by the West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety, according to The Associated Press.

The picture includes only one line of text at the top, reading: "Hail Byrd." A spokesperson for the agency told the AP that the line was a reference to an instructor for the trainees.

Jeff Sandy, the department's head, said of the three fired, two were training instructors and one was a cadet. Thirty-four other employees have been suspended without pay.

Extremism

Italy’s ‘Miss Hitler’ Among 19 Investigated for Starting New Nazi Party in Italy

The tattoo of a Nazi eagle above a swastika that spans the back of Francesca Rizzi leaves no doubt about her political ideology. The 36-year-old winner of an online beauty pageant in which she was crowned “Miss Hitler” was one of 19 people across Italy put under formal investigation this week for illegally forming a Nazi political party. Her co-collaborators include a 50-year-old female civil servant named Antonella Pavin from Padua who dubbed herself “Hitler’s Sergeant Major,” and a former mobster from the Calabria ‘Ndrangheta mafia who was allegedly in charge of militant training.

Italy’s anti-mafia and anti-terrorism forces spent two years investigating the group, which has ties to a number of other far-right clusters across Europe, including the U.K.’s Combat 18 and similar hate groups in Portugal, Spain and Greece.

Armed special forces carried out the sting operation dubbed “Black Shadows” in 16 cities from Palermo to Milan Thursday morning after someone alerted “Miss Hitler” that police were monitoring the group. Fearful she and others involved might destroy or hide evidence, they swooped in.

What they found was more than troubling. In 16 of the homes searched, they found similar caches of weapons including grenades and semi-automatic rifles and explosives. They also found Nazi and fascist memorabilia adorned with swastikas and the faces of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, alongside militant training texts designed to teach new members how to target Jewish people and gays. Their party motto, “Invisible, Silent and Lethal,” was scrawled on the material. 

Extremism

German intelligence agency first in Europe to publish report on Muslim anti-Semitism

A German internal security agency published a 40-page special study entitled “Anti-Semitism in Islamism.” It is the first time that an European intelligence group has published a detailed report on the subject of anti-Semitism in the Muslim community.

The agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), is tasked with monitoring activities of far-right and far-left extremists, including foreigners, who might seek to undermine Germany’s constitution.

While the paper has been downloaded 1,439 times, an agency spokesperson recently told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Muslim groups haven’t responded publicly to the report.

The report distinguishes between “Islamism” and “Islam.” It notes that due to the German experience with Nazism, anti-Semitism has been historically identified with the far-right. However, it says that over the years it has become clear that extremists on the right are not the only ones holding anti- Semitic views. The report says that anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in today’s Germany has become “commonplace” and widespread among the center and socialist left in the country.

Islamists are still more extreme in their views due to religious, geographic and political reasons, the paper finds, noting that all Islamist groups have turned Jew hatred into a cornerstone of their movements.

Extremism

Ukraine’s ultranationalists have no presidential candidate. But they’re still at the polls.

Azov formed as a voluntary military unit in response to Russian incursion on Ukrainian territory in 2014. Its involvement in Ukraine’s bloodiest battles against Russia-backed separatists in Eastern Ukraine earned Azov significant prestige among Ukrainians, but the group has also been accused of possible war crimes by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

From the start, Azov has used the Wolfsangel, a Nazi symbol, as its logo, highlighting its extremist ideology. The US State Department described Azov as a “nationalist hate group” in a recent report.

Azov’s focus on Poroshenko — and not on any other candidate — has reignited speculation that Azov enjoys protection from Ukrainian interior minister Arsen Avakov, who recently emerged as a Poroshenko rival.

In August 2014, Avakov appointed Andrey Biletsky — Azov’s founder and main figure — a lieutenant colonel of the National Guard, and later appointed another top Azov officer as head of the Kyiv police. While Avakov has admitted to being in contact with Biletsky, he denies having any specific influence over Azov. Azov representatives also deny the relationship.

Extremism

Muslim Cyber Army: a 'fake news' operation designed to derail Indonesia's leader

Police in Indonesia believe they have uncovered a clandestine fake news operation designed to corrupt the political process and destabilise the government.

In a string of arrests across the archipelago in recent weeks, authorities have revealed the inner workings of a self-proclaimed cyber-jihadist network known as the Muslim Cyber Army (MCA).

 Indonesia is about to outlaw homosexual sex. Can we stop it?

Stanley Widianto

 

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The network is accused of spreading fake news and hate speech to inflame religious and ethnic schisms; fan paranoia around gay men and lesbians, alleged communists and Chinese people; and spread defamatory content to undermine the president.

Police say the network was orchestrated through a central Whatsapp group called the Family MCA.

One wing was tasked with stockpiling divisive content to disseminate, while a separate “sniper” team was employed to hack accounts and spread computer viruses on the electronic devices of their opponents.

The arrest of 14 individuals is the second such syndicate police have busted in the last year – deepening fears around Indonesia’s vulnerability to the pernicious spread of fake news.

Extremism

Canadian Intelligence Identifies Key Trends in Terrorist Mobilization to Violence

For many “radicalized” and “violent” are the same, but for those studying terrorists and their process of radicalization there is a distinct final step that mobilizes a “radical believer” into performing an act of violence. To further this understanding, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) released a number of key findings on this phenomenon in Canada.

CSIS developed the study, Mobilization to Violence Terrorist Research, to understand how a person mobilizes to terrorism and found factors related to both an individual mobilizing as a “lone wolf” and mobilizing in a group.

“Radicalization is a highly individualized process through which a person becomes convinced that violence is a legitimate (and eventually individually obligated) means to advance their ideological cause or beliefs,” says the study. “It is influenced by factors such as personal history, peer pressure, grievances, charismatic ideologues and international events.”

There is no single characteristic or even group of characteristics like age, gender or socioeconomic background. Rather, analysts looked for threat-related activities to determine intent in addition to capability, preparation, and planning.

Extremism

Five dead after church shooting in southern Russia, attacker killed (PHOTO, VIDEO)

Five people have been killed and several others injured in a gun attack on a crowd of churchgoers in Dagestan in southern Russia, local police confirmed. The shooter was killed by security forces.

The shooting happened in the city of Kizlyar, a provincial capital in the Republic of Dagestan. The gunman opened fire with a hunting rifle at a group of people leaving a church ceremony dedicated to the end of the Russian folk festival of Maslenitsa, which marks the start of Lent for Russian Orthodox Christians.

The attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" [God is great] as he opened fire on worshippers, father Pavel, the church's senior priest, told Russian RBC news portal.

Extremism

The Terrorist Threat After ISIS is Here

Many Americans, including those in leadership positions, believe the dominant terrorist threat to the United States originates abroad and is motivated by an extremist interpretation of Islam. They’re wrong. The narrative that posits terrorism is primarily a tactic of foreign-born extremist Muslims is woefully and dangerously incomplete. It’s time to get our facts straight.

White supremacist groups are growing in size, lethality and capability. While the United States spent more than a decade disrupting terrorist organizations abroad, a different threat was growing here at home. Its ambitions were different, but its tactics increasingly mirrored those being used by our adversaries in al-Qaeda, ISIS and other groups. This should not come as a surprise.

In 2009, a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) Directorate report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” held up a mirror to America that didn’t fit the common narrative (i.e., terrorism is purely a tactic of extremist Muslims). The report found that economic hardship, the election of the first African-American president, and the volume of veterans returning from foreign wars (who could be targeted for radicalization and recruitment) were coalescing into a troubling picture of right-wing extremism in America.

Extremism

Terrorists Stalk Dark Web for Deadlier Weaponry

Bottom line: Terrorists are turning to the dark web’s crypto-bazaars, social media channels and e-commerce sites to buy more coveted military equipment than the usual rocket launchers and AK-47s in the traditional black market. These digital black markets are also allowing terrorist organizations from Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen, as well as self-radicalized individuals in the West, to access a larger assortment of arms, explosives material and expertise from the comfort and anonymity of their home computers. 

Background: Traditionally, militant groups have armed themselves by raiding local military and police depots, purchasing weaponry from transnational criminal networks or acquiring military hardware from international and regional backers. In internationalized conflict zones and civil wars with significant levels of violence, where small arms and light weapons saturate a country’s shadow economy, such traditional methods will continue to predominate for large-scale insurgencies.

• The capture of weapons from opposing security forces is often the primary method of attaining access to arms for militant groups. Following the February 2011 uprising against Moammar Gadhafi in Libya, rebels and other militant and criminal groups looted the arsenals of the fallen state, creating a stockpile of weapons, from heavy machine guns and grenade launchers to antiaircraft missiles, that has fueled violence throughout the country and spilled out across the region. Similarly, following the fall of Mosul in June 2014, ISIS militants were able to seize military hardware en masse from fleeing Iraqi forces, including armored Humvees, rockets, artillery, rifles and ammunition...

Extremism

German soldier charged with planning to kill top politicians in fake Islamist attacks

A “right-wing nationalist” German soldier has been presented with new charges of plotting to carry out false flag attacks that would result in retribution against immigrants, after an earlier case against him was thrown out of court.

Federal prosecutors have charged 28-year-old former lieutenant Franco Hans A., who was arrested in April, and two of his accomplices with planning an act of violence and violating weapons and explosives laws.

“Motivated by a nationalist attitude, he planned to carry out an attack at an unknown time on high-ranking politicians and public figures who stood up for what the accused regarded as an especially refugee-friendly policy,” said the prosecutors’ statement. “He wanted people to believe that his attacks were related to radical Islamist terrorism committed by somebody who had been granted asylum.”

Extremism

Egypt mosque attack leaves at least 155 dead, 120 wounded

Islamist militants are suspected of orchestrating the attack on a Sufi mosque in Egypt’s volatile Sinai Peninsula on Friday, killing at least 155 people and injuring at least 120 others, Egyptian media reported.

The extremists launched an attack on the al-Rawdah mosque in the town of Bir al-Abd, some 25 miles from the North Sinai provincial capital of el-Arish, Egypt's state news agency MENA reported. The attack appeared to be the latest by the area's local Islamic State affiliate.

The security officers said the men opened fire on worshipers during prayers while driving in off-road vehicles. A Ministry of Health spokesman said the terrorists set off a bomb during the attack.

Extremism

UK must beef up its jihadi cyber defences, says ex-CIA chief: Former director warns extremists are acquiring 'virtual weapons of mass destruction'

Former CIA director General David Petraeus yesterday warned Britain must beef up its cyber defences to stop extremists acquiring virtual weapons of mass destruction.

The ex-intelligence chief, one of the most senior post-9/11 US military commanders, said one day soon there would be a ‘stake through the heart’ of Islamic State’s leader.

But he warned the West could not just play ‘whack a mole’ when it came to defeating the group online, as he slapped down web giants for not doing enough to stop terror.

He urged the UK to step up its cyber capabilities, as well as increase its Special Forces troops and maintain its ability to send a division to war.

Gen Petreaus said in a major speech in London: ‘We will defeat the (IS) army. At some point we will put through a stake through the heart of Baghdadi, the leader of Islamic State.

‘We are not going to be able to put a stake through the heart of the virtual caliphate, this is ideology that is being propagated on the internet.’

Extremism

FBI terrorism unit says 'black identity extremists' pose violent threat

The US government has declared “black identity extremists” a violent threat, according to a leaked report from the FBI’s counter-terrorism division.

The assessment, obtained by Foreign Policy, has raised fears about federal authorities racially profiling activists and aggressively prosecuting civil rights protesters.

The report, dated August 2017 and compiled by the Domestic Terrorism Analysis Unit, said: “The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) perceptions of police brutality against African Americans spurred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement and will very likely serve as justification for such violence.” Incidents of “alleged police abuse” have “continued to feed the resurgence in ideologically motivated, violent criminal activity within the BIE movement”.

Extremism

‘Danger to national security’: Belgium strips ‘radicalized’ imam of residency

The Belgian immigration minister is set to revoke the residence permit of an imam for preaching hatred at Brussels’ Grand Mosque. The Salafist preacher is very radicalized and a danger to Belgian society and security, the official added.

“There is a problem with the Grand Mosque... I have taken the decision to withdraw the residence permit of the imam of that mosque,” the secretary of state for asylum and migration, Theo Francken, said Tuesday in an interview with BelRTL.