Will Potter's Blog, page 25

Debunked: Prosecutors and Press Calling a Militia Cell “Anarchists”

Click to read the full story at the Daily Beast.

Prosecutors in Georgia are seeking the death penalty for three non-commissioned military officers who formed a militia cell called FEAR (“Forever Enduring Always Ready”), murdered two people, and allegedly plotted to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.

It’s a bizarre tale on its own, but what makes the story even more odd is that prosecutors went out of their way to proclaim that this is a group of “anarchists.” Mainstream press jumped all over it. CNN’s headline: “Anarchists accused of murder; broader plot against government.” NBC is running an AP story: “Anarchist GIs plotted to overthrow the government.”

For anyone familiar with present-day anarchist social movements, this was all simultaneously baffling and not surprising. It’s shocking to see how national media outlets unquestioningly repeat unsubstantiated (and just plain odd) government claims that a militia of military officers is “anarchist.” It’s predictable, though, in the sense that “anarchist” has become a catch-all form of demonization. All too often, anarchism is stripped of any meaning as a political ideology with historical and contemporary significance, and is instead reduced to a synonym for “radical” or “terrorist.”

What’s particularly odd about this whole thing is that it’s actually the inverse of many “anarchist plots” we’ve seen lately. In the case of the Cleveland 4, for example, the FBI used informants to manufacture a plot, going so far as to provide instructions, encouragement, and materials. Afterwards, prosecutors distributed press statements announcing that “terrorists” have been brought to justice. In this case, though, the government didn’t have to manufacture any plot — it just had to label it “anarchist.”

Eli Lake, senior national-security correspondent for Newsweek and the Daily Beast, has an article today about the case in which he debunks the anarchist rhetoric:

“Press reports have described FEAR as an anarchist militia, but Durden [the district attorney] on Wednesday said he had no evidence that the group was linked to any other known anarchist organization.”

I spoke with Lake about the broader campaigns against anarchists that I have documented, and he included a bit from me  in his story:

And no known contemporary anarchist groups have proposed the kind of horrifying violence alleged in the case against Aguigui and FEAR. “There is a lot of debate within the Occupy movement and anarchist circles about tactics like property damage,” said Will Potter, an author who has covered the anarchist movement since the late 1990s. “These are debates about breaking windows. They are not about killing innocent people or assassinating the president.”

U.S. Congressmen Compare Undercover Investigators to Arsonists and Terrorists

Three members of the U.S. Congress have sent a letter to the USDA urging the department to take action against “the onslaught of attacks” by animal welfare groups who have conducted undercover investigations of factory farms.

In a blog post about the letter, one member of Congress equated the recent investigation of Central Valley Meat Co. in California to arson, and called it “economic terrorism.”

A nonprofit animal protection group called Compassion Over Killing released undercover video footage that documented shocking cruelty at that California slaughterhouse. The footage shows workers unsuccessfully shooting cows in the head and then walking away as they writhe in pain, and workers suffocating cows by standing on their faces.

Central Valley Meat Co. had not only been inspected by the USDA, it was one of the USDA’s suppliers; last year, the USDA bought more than 21 million pounds of beef worth more than $50 million from the company. After seeing the footage, McDonald’s, Costco, and In-N-Out Burger cut ties. The USDA shut down the facility pending investigation.

“Onslaught of attacks”

That didn’t sit well with ag industry groups or their allies, who have been on the defensive as one investigation after another has rattled industrial agriculture. In 2008, an investigation by the Humane Society at another California dairy cow slaughterhouse led to the largest meat recall in U.S. history. Dozens of investigations into all aspects of the industry have exposed the reality of our food choices, and they have completely changed the national discussion.

Bad PR and recalls are one thing, though; the USDA shutting down Central Valley Meat Co. represented another threat entirely.

Undercover video from Central Valley Meat Co.

A few days after the plant was shut down, three U.S. Representatives from California stepped in, and sent a letter to the USDA calling for its immediate reopening. U.S. Representatives Devin Nunes, Kevin McCarthy, and Jeff Denham said that its closure was hurting the economy, and the USDA needed “to intervene against the onslaught of attacks that are occurring at the behest of radical groups.”

Who are these “radical groups”?

Nunes spells this out in a blog post about the investigation titled “Eco-extremists Strike Again.”

“The video was posted by extremists who are actively working to undermine production agriculture in the United States,” he says. “In recent years, these kinds of ‘activists’ have increased their attacks on animal agriculture, and have even carried out acts of domestic terrorism.” He points to an arson by the underground activists of tractors and trailers at Harris Ranch, California’s biggest beef processor. “Now,” Nunes said, “area residents are confronted with economic terrorism.”

Undercover video from Central Valley Meat Co.

No one — not the USDA, not FBI — have alleged that the undercover investigation of Central Valley Meat Co. has anything to do with the fires nine months earlier.

So where did this idea come from? Why are members of the U.S. Congress conflating undercover investigations by nationally-respected animal welfare groups with arson and “terrorism”?

This is the rhetoric Big Ag has been pushing for years.

Big Ag’s Enemy #1: Undercover Investigators

For decades, such talk of “eco-terrorism” was mainly reserved for saboteurs and, at worst, arsonists. But the animal rights and environmental movements have changed. Now, the biggest threat facing Big Ag isn’t that activists are breaking windows – it’s that they’re creating them. The transparency ushered in through undercover investigations is seen as on par with, or even more dangerous than, more extreme tactics.

“Now, the biggest threat facing Big Ag isn’t that activists are breaking windows – it’s that they’re creating them.”

For example, just days after that January arson in California, the Animal Agriculture Alliance — the leading industry-wide agriculture group — sent an email blast to its supporters equating the fire with undercover video: “The individuals responsible for Sunday’s attack must be brought to justice and report for their destructive actions. It is also imperative that activists be held accountable for their attempts to undermine farmers, ranchers and meat processors through use of videos depicting alleged mistreatment of animals…”

When corporate groups call undercover investigators terrorists, and members of Congress urge federal agencies to treat them as such, it’s not just chest puffing. It could have dangerous consequences for investigators, and for the rest of us.

AETA and Ag Gag

Learn more about the history fo the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, and how corporations manufactured "eco-terrorism."

This week, the Center for Constitutional Rights is in court arguing that a 2006 law called the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act is so broad that it wraps up a wide range of conduct as terrorism, including investigations, if they hurt the profits of animal industries. Opponents of the law say that this has had a chilling effect on lawful, non-violent activism. The government has dismissed the concerns, and said the fears are overblown.

Yet according to FBI files I have published on GreenIsTheNewRed.com, the FBI has explicitly considered prosecuting undercover investigators as terrorists as far back as 2003. The documents show FBI agents were considering the charges because activists allegedly “illegally entered buildings owned by [redacted] Farm… and videotaped conditions of animals.”

Meanwhile, 10 states have considered their own legislation targeting investigators with harsh criminal penalties. These “Ag Gag” bills in some cases propose criminalizing any video or audio recording of animal abuse. Not surprisingly, the sponsors have close ties to the ag industry, and are liberal in their use of terrorism rhetoric as well.

The Most Damning Exposé

As Mark Bittman wrote in opposition to these Ag Gag bills last year: “Videotaping at factory farms wouldn’t be necessary if the industry were properly regulated. But it isn’t.”

The media smear campaigns by Big Ag groups and politicians are intended to sidetrack the public from that key point: the industry is not regulated. It has insituttionalized practices that most consumers, when educated, find appalling. The multi-billion dollar industry that is animal agriculture is dependent on secrecy, and dependent on politicians bending to its interests.

Perhaps this is the most damning exposé to result from these investigations. The documentation of animal welfare abuses has unintentionally shined a spotlight on politicians so beholden to corporate interests, so stuffed full of their talking points, that they believe “extremists” are not those who engage in unspeakable animal abuse, but those who non-violently expose it.

Seattle Grand Jury is About Intimidation, and Social Mapping of Anarchist Movement

The Stranger's Brendan Kiley covers Seattle grand jury.

 The Stranger’s Brendan Kiley (featured here previously reporting the case of D.K. Pan) has an excellent article on the Seattle grand jury targeting anarchists.

Here’s an excerpt from “Political Convictions?: Federal Prosecutors in Seattle Are Dragging Activists into Grand Juries, Citing Their Social Circles and Anarchist Reading Materials“:

Journalist Will Potter, author of Green Is the New Red, who has written extensively about US law enforcement and its relationships with political dissidents from the 1990s onward, said such investigations don’t just incidentally chill free speech—in some cases, he believes, they’re trying to do that.

“Sometimes, law enforcement believes this knocking-down-the-door, boot-on-the-throat intimidation is part of a crime-prevention strategy,” he said. But a more pernicious goal may be social mapping. The anarchist books and cans of spray paint can be sexy items to wave around a courtroom, he said, but “address books, cell phones, hard drives—that’s the real gold.”

During the raid at her home, Plante said, some of the agents were initially hyperaggressive, but seemed “confused” by finding nothing more sinister than five sleepy young people. “It seemed like what they expected was some armed stronghold,” she said. “But it’s just a normal house, with normal stuff in the pantry, lots of cute animals, and everyone here was docile and polite.”

“That’s a really important point,” Potter said when I mentioned that detail. “There’s a huge disconnect between what the FBI and local police are being told and trained for, and what the reality is. There are presentations about ominous, nihilistic, black-clad, bomb-throwing, turn-of-the-century caricatures—the reality is that many anarchists are just organizing gathering spaces, free libraries, free neighborhood kitchens.”

He directed me to a 2011 PowerPoint presentation from the FBI’s “domestic terrorism operations unit”—posted on his blog—that described the current anarchist movement as “criminals seeking an ideology to justify their activities.” Following that logic, the very presence of anarchist literature could be construed as evidence that someone has motivations to commit a crime. And it makes attorneys, journalists, and others who care about First Amendment protections nervous about a law-enforcement practice that conflates political beliefs with criminal activity.

Read the full story here.

Interview on FBI Raids, Grand Juries & Political Repression

FBI agents being trained that anarchists are all "criminals seeking an ideology

I had a great discussion with independent journalist Kevin Gosztola about the recent raids in the Northwest seeking “anarchist literature,” grand juries, and the tactics the FBI has historically used against dissidents.

Gosztola posted a transcript of the interview on his site. Here’s an excerpt:

GOSZTOLA: How would you relate this to the other mechanism or tactic that the FBI uses, which is the infiltration—the sending in of people you could call provocateurs—as we’ve seen quite clearly in Cleveland and even in Chicago around the NATO summit? They’ve used coded language to specifically isolate individuals arrested and insert language and make it seem these are “self-proclaimed anarchists” intentionally. How would this relate to the grand jury use?

POTTER: I think that’s a great question. There are a couple immediate connections between them. One is that they are all part of the FBI’s obsession with identifying people perceived as leaders. The FBI historically has a difficult time conceptualizing anti-hierarchical movements. So, anarchists are very difficult for them to understand and they are always attempting to find the so-called leaders. And like you said, to point them out at protests for arrests, to target them with raids, grand juries, to some cases use entrapment attempts with informants.

More importantly, I think some of the parallels of the two are this criminalization of this ideology. I would argue that these entrapment attempts really grew out of not specific individuals and not the alleged crimes they were alleged to be a part of but their perceived politics. That’s what really happened everything that happened in Cleveland, everything that happened in Chicago. That’s what guided the timing of those announcements of the arrests of those people as “terrorists.” And that’s what guiding everything that’s going on in the Northwest with the focus on “anarchist literature.”

I think what we’re seeing is the scope of tactics that are being used against radical movements. In some cases, it’s extremely heavy-handed of directly targeting people through I would argue entrapment attempts, such as the five people in Chicago. In other cases, you have these raids and grand juries that are quite different and they’re not arresting and not charging them terrorists but the intent is to criminalize them because of their politics.

Read the full interview on FireDogLake’s “The Dissenter.”

FBI Agents Raid Homes in Search of “Anarchist Literature”

When FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force agents raided multiple activist homes in the Northwest last week, they were in search of “anti-government or anarchist literature.”

The raids were part of a multi-state operation that targeted activists in Portland, Olympia, and Seattle. Five people were served subpoenas to appear before a federal grand jury on August 2nd in Seattle.

In addition to anarchist literature, the warrants also authorize agents to seize flags, flag-making material, cell phones, hard drives, address books, and black clothing.

The listing of black clothing and flags, along with comments made by police, indicates that the FBI may ostensibly be investigating “black bloc” tactics used during May Day protests in Seattle, which destroyed corporate property.

If that is true, how are books and literature evidence of criminal activity?

To answer that, we need to look at the increasing harassment, surveillance, and prosecution of anarchists and political activists associated with the Occupy Movement.

In some cases, such as the May Day arrests in Cleveland, the FBI has been so desperate to arrests “anarchist terrorists” that it supplied them with bomb-making materials and used an informant to entrap them. The same thing happened in Chicago.

The motivation for these operations, and the instruction that “anarchist” means “terrorist,” is coming straight from the top levels of the federal government. As I recently wrote, new documents show that the FBI is conducting “domestic terrorism” training presentations about anarchists.

The FBI presentation described anarchists as “criminals seeking an ideology to justify their activities.”

This is the guilt-by-association mentality that is guiding FBI and JTTF assaults on political activists; if agents find “anarchist literature” in a raid, it is evidence of criminal activity because anarchism, in and of itself, is criminal activity.

The Seattle grand jury may or may not be investigating May Day protests. What’s clear, though, is that the grand jury is being used as a tool in this criminalization of those suspected as “anarchists.” Grand juries are secretive processes that are frequently used against political activists in order to acquire information. They are fishing expeditions. If activists refuse to testify about their personal beliefs and political associations, they can be imprisoned. Jordan Halliday, for example, was recently released after serving more than six months in prison (and being imprisoned once already for four months) for asserting his First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights and refusing to provide information about the animal rights movement.

As one organizer with Occupy Seattle said after the raid: “…we are not being raided for connection to any crime, but to some political ideology that the police think we have.

“I was just doing research on the old Pinkerton strikebreaking paramilitaries, so it’s kind of funny, you know, to have that old Red Scare history burst through my front door at six AM.”

Counter-Terrorism Unit Keeps Files on Journalists, Reports that My Book Is “Compelling and Well Written”

Counter Terrorism Unit keeping files on Green Is the New Red, published by City Lights.

New documents reveal that the federal Counter-Terrorism Unit is creating reports and maintaining files about the writing, interviews, and lectures of journalists who are critical of the government’s repression of political activists.

The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request in coordination with the Center for Constitutional Rights, raise a wide range of civil rights concerns, but for this article I am only at liberty to comment on the files that pertain to my work. These documents show that the unit, which operates through the federal Bureau of Prisons, regularly maintains files on explicitly First Amendment activity.

Counter-Terrorism Unit Monitors Critical Journalism

Multiple articles that I have written critical of counter-terrorism policies are cited, summarized, and quoted. For instance, one document includes a lengthy excerpt from my March 7, 2011 article, “Supreme Court Will Not Hear SHAC 7 Case.”

The government is especially interested in a quote I included from Lauren Gazzola, one of the SHAC 7 prisoners, saying:

“I spent three-and-a-half-years of my life trying to put HLS out of business and three-and-a-half-years in prison for it. Every single day was worth it and I’d do it again. Today, I’d simply like to repeat this: I’d do it again. It was all worth it.”

In another file, the government describes an article I wrote called “Making an Animal Rights Terrorists,” about the case of Fran Trutt in 1988. Trutt was the target of an entrapment plot coordinated by a private firm hired by the animal testing corporation that she was protesting. This little-known case was a historic point in the campaign by corporations to demonize animal rights activists as domestic terrorists.

I’m not the only reporter included in these files. In another document, Daniel McGowan wrote to a journalist, whose name is redacted, and said thank you for writing about his case and about his imprisonment as a “terrorist” in a Communications Management Unit. Only the thank you note is legible; the rest of the document is redacted.

Intelligence Files on Public Lectures

I have written previously about Counter-Terrorism Unit files on my public lectures at public conferences. Unfortunately, these new documents reveal more of the same.

One of the lectures was hosted by the Center for Constitutional Rights: “Red to Green: Political Panic from McCarthyism to ‘Eco-Terrorism.” It featured Robert Meeropol, son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Executive Director of the Rosenberg Fund for Children, speaking about the Red Scare and anti-communist hysteria. I spoke about how “terrorists” have become the new enemy of the hour and a rhetorical tool to excuse all manner of harassment, intimidation, and surveillance.

Counter-Terrorism Files on My Book

The government is also quite interested in my book.

“Potter recently authored a book titled, ‘Green Is the New Red: An Insider’s Account of a Social Movement Under Siege,” one report says. “The book centers around the underground world of radical environmental and animal rights activism, and Potter’s views regarding [using] anti-terrorism resources to target environmentalists.”

It goes on to quote a letter written by Daniel McGowan to me in which he says: “O.K., seriously- the book is stellar – really really well done and the way you tell the story is excellent.”

In a different document, the Counter-Terrorism Unit reports:

“[Name redacted] described Will Potter’s new book, Green Is the New Red, as a compelling and well written focus on many cases across the country involving animal and environmental” movements.

If the Counter-Terrorism Unit finds my book so interesting that they include pages of summaries and positive reviews, perhaps you’ll enjoy it as well! You can order a copy here or on Amazon.

Jokes aside, I don’t mean to make light of this situation. When the Counter-Terrorism Unit creates files like this, it sends a chilling message to all journalists.

Surveilling Journalists Is an Attack on Freedom of the Press

Remember: These documents are circulated to FBI, prison officials, and other law enforcement advising them on the activities of “terrorists,” with the ostensible purpose of using this intelligence to prevent terrorist attacks.

Seeing one’s work repeatedly listed in this context is unsettling, to put it mildly. This is lawful, public, First Amendment activity. So why is it being monitored and circulated in this way? What does this say about our government and our culture’s understanding of “terrorism threats” that these dossiers include articles, speeches, and books?

On a personal level, I am always hesitant to write about things like this. I was going to publish this article yesterday, and then learned that the FBI was raiding activist homes and serving grand jury subpoenas, and then learned that one of the Cleveland 5 has agreed to cooperate against his co-defendants. Seeing my work in terrorism files is disturbing, but it has few immediate personal ramifications. It’s nowhere on par with what folks around the country are experiencing.

It is, however, part of the same systemic crackdown on dissent. We need to understand these files in the bigger context that I have documented on this website and (as the Counter-Terrorism Unit notes) in my book. It’s yet another step in the steady, incremental expansion of the “War on Terrorism” not only to include non-violent saboteurs, not only to include the civil disobedience of Tim DeChristopher and the undercover investigations of the Humane Society, but to go even further, and wrap up those attempting to document that any of this is happening.

BREAKING: FBI and JTTF Raid Multiple Homes, Grand Jury Subpoenas in Portland, Olympia, Seattle

FBI agents raid homes in Portland, Ore.

As I’ve been reporting on Twitter, there have been multiple homes raided and grand jury subpoenas issued in Portland, Olympia, and Seattle.

Three homes were raided in Portland, by approximately 60-80 police including FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force. Individuals at the homes say police used flash grenades during the raid.

Grand jury subpoenas have been served to individuals in all three cities: 2 in Olympia, 1 in Seattle, and 2 in Portland. The grand jury is scheduled to convene on August 2nd at the federal courthouse in Seattle.

No arrests have been made. Electronics were confiscated along with additional personal items.

All legal documents related to the searches and grand jury are sealed, and the FBI will only say it is related to an “ongoing violent crime” investigation. But based on interviews with residents, and what police told them at the scene, this is clearly related to the ongoing demonization of anarchists and the Occupy movement.

I’ll continue updating as this develops; please follow me on Twitter (@will_potter) for the latest.

UPDATE: Here’s local press from the Oregonian.

UPDATE: Reports of FBI and police lingering around after the raids, trying to get people to voluntarily talk. Know your rights, never talk to police without an attorney.

@will_potter lawyer like person just came to my house with papers in hand. My house was not raided. They are still out front.

— Ari P (@kvltcake) July 25, 2012

UPDATE: KGW news has photos of a raid. FBI agents dressed paramilitary. More photos on KGW. 

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Earth First! Journal Review: “significant realism at times visionary and prophetic”

Publishing my first book was a nerve-wracking process, for a long list of reasons. Foremost among them was the notion that people were actually going to read the thing. I wasn’t so much concerned with backlash from the opposition as I was about the response from activists, and their friends and family, who lived through, are living through, what I wrote. So it has been wonderful to see positive reviews come in from activist organizations, individuals, and publications I respect. The Earth First! Journal has a great review of the book, which you can read online. Here’s an excerpt from Sasha:

[Potter] opens “the scene” to the casual reader, showing us that the Green Scare is not something that could happen, or something that is happening somewhere else to someone else; it is, instead, a near-invisible part of our everyday life. The Green Scare is something that permeates modern life, and if we do not understand its fundamental role as such, then we will understand neither ourselves, nor our crucial position in history. “Like the Red Scare, with its hysteria against ‘godless communists’ threatening the American capitalist way of life,” says Potter, “this Green Scare is a culture war, a war of values.”

…Potter moves beyond the repression by taking credible positions, positing distinct perceptions, that dismantle the ideological structure of the Green Scare, but his style is particular, individualized, and analytical; readers won’t find a light at the end of the tunnel, a strategy to lead them out of the bonds of cruel repression, but they will find themselves in the midst of a significant realism at times visionary and prophetic, that will prove very useful in the planning and execution of actions in the future.

Read the full review at the Earth First! Journal website. And you can order a signed copy of the book directly from me.

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On the Road

I’m heading out the door now for a flight to Hamburg, where I’ll start a 2-week lecture tour of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. I won’t be posting new articles during this time, but I will be posting photos, video, and brief comments from the road. I’ve got about a dozen lectures in as many cities, plus interviews along the way. If you’re interested, you can follow along for the misadventures:

Twitter, @will_potter
Instagram, @willpotter
Tumblr
And as always, the best stuff will end up on the Green Is The New Red Facebook page.

Here we go!

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Newly Released FBI “Domestic Terrorism” Training on Anarchists, Environmentalists, Show COINTELPRO Tactics

Newly released FBI presentations show the flawed and misleading information the government is using to train agents to identify and investigate “domestic terrorist” groups such as “black separatists,” anarchists, animal rights activists, and environmentalists.

Among the more troubling portions of the training materials are warnings of activists using the Freedom of Information Act, engaging in non-violent civil disobedience, and gathering in coffee shops.

The domestic terrorism training materials were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the ACLU. They offer additional insight into a disturbing pattern of FBI activity misrepresenting political activists as “terrorists” and manufacturing “domestic terrorism threats” where none exist, akin to the notorious COINTELPRO program of J. Edgar Hoover.

Anarchists Are “Criminals Seeking an Ideology”

In presentations on “Anarchist Extremism,” the FBI warns:

– Anarchists are “Criminals seeking an ideology to justify their activities”

– Anarchists are “Not dedicated to a particular cause”

– Green anarchists believe “individuals should ‘get back to nature’”

Their meeting locations include “college campuses, underground clubs, coffee houses/ internet cafes.” Their criminal activity includes “Sleeping Dragons” (a form of civil disobedience in which people lock arms in PVC pipes).

Anarchists are also “paranoid / security conscious,” according to the presentation. This is an interesting observation coming from the FBI, considering there have been two recent cases where the FBI played a key role in infiltrating anarchist groups in order to orchestrate alleged terrorist attacks. In the Cleveland May Day arrests, and in the Chicago NATO arrests, the FBI trumpeted the arrest of “terrorists” that agents themselves tried desperately to create.

However, not all anarchists are engaged in these types of plots, the FBI acknowledges. They use a “variety of tactics” including “civil disobedience” (such as resisting home foreclosures, creating community gardens, and many other activities not mentioned by the bureau).

The FBI also warns that anarchists may have “crossover ideologies” including animal rights extremism and environmental extremism.

Animal rights / environmental extremism

In the training presentation on these so-called “eco-terrorists,” the FBI lists lawful, First Amendment activity and low-level criminal activity (such as civil disobedience) as examples of domestic terrorism.

The FBI is particularly focused in these presentations on information gathering and what it calls a “public relations war” by activist groups. “Media is sometimes slanted in favor of activists,” the FBI says. “Activists spin the truth.”

Examples of information gathering listed by the FBI include requests for public documents under the Freedom of Information Act. In one presentation, FOIA requests are listed as examples of “University targeting.”

Elsewhere the FBI warns of “cold calls” and using “USDA Report [sic].”

The FBI also warns of activist attempts to use “false employment.” This is undoubtedly related to activists who seek employment at factory farms and vivisection labs in order to expose animal welfare abuses. As I have reported here previously, the FBI has considered terrorism charges for non-violent undercover investigators. And multiple states have been seeking to criminalize undercover investigations as well.

As I document in Green Is the New Red, there has been a slow and relentless expansion of “terrorism” rhetoric and investigations over the last 30 years. This type of language and FBI investigation was initially confined to property crimes by the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front (groups that have caused millions of dollars in economic loss, but have never harmed a human being).

Now this already-broad terrorism classification has been expanded even further.  The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act was drafted to target anyone who causes the “loss of profits” of an animal enterprise. The FBI acknowledges this shift in “terrorism” investigations in a slide that says the new law “alleviates the use of force or violence criteria.”

Relentless Expansion of “Domestic Terrorism”

The ACLU’s Mike German has an excellent dissection of the FBI’s “black separatist” documents. German writes:

Who are “Black Separatists” and is there any evidence they pose a terrorist threat?

Internet searches of “Black Separatist terrorism,” “Black Separatist bombing,” and “Black Separatist shooting” fail to bring up any recent incidents that could be fairly described as terrorist violence. No “Black Separatist” terrorist incidents are included in the FBI’s list of “Major Terrorism Cases: Past and Present,” nor on the more comprehensive list of terrorist attacks going back to 1980, which are detailed in an FBI report entitled “Terrorism 2002-2005.” While Black nationalist groups like the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army were certainly involved in political violence back in the 1970s, they no longer exist, and the last acts of violence attributed to either group were more than two decades ago.

So why are Atlanta FBI agents now searching for black separatist threats?   Because the FBI appears to be training them to believe there is one using factually flawed materials.

The FBI is targeting “black separatists,” anarchists, animal rights activists, and environmentalists in nearly identical methodologies. And these new documents show just how little these tactics change over time and between movements.

The FBI is manufacturing these “terrorism threats” through what I would call a process of conflation. Disparate groups are being conflated, across ideological and tactical divides, and presented as a united “threat.” For instance, the FBI notes that “black separatists” are a movement that “consists of multiple groups” lacking a unified ideology, but they are lumped together because they “all share racial grievances against the U.S., most seek restitution, or governance base [sic] on religious identity or social principals [sic].”

Just as the FBI invented a new class of domestic terrorists in 2009 called “American Islamic Extremists,” the FBI long ago embraced a new class of domestic terrorists called “eco-terrorists.” A wide range of groups, from the Humane Society to the Animal Liberation Front, have been conflated into this catch-all term. This use of language is essential to the demonization of entire social movements because it aides in reshaping them as an “other.” They are not individuals with specific political grievances, they become a mass of unreasonable extremist threats.

At the same time, the FBI is conflating a wide range of tactics. People who support anarchists or “black separatists” in their words are conflated with the very small group of people who have engaged in illegal activity. That’s how the FBI is including FOIA requests and civil disobedience as example tactics in a domestic terrorism presentation. Juxtapose this with the tactics of militia extremists and white supremacists, who have murdered, lynched, bombed, assaulted government officials and created weapons of mass destruction.

To most reasonable people, such a stark disparity between these groups would raise questions about how the FBI is allocating its domestic terrorism resources. How did such misguided policies come about?

These presentations point to one possible answer to that question: The FBI creates terrorism threats by directly training agents to believe they exist.

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