Islamist Extremism |  | Sierra Malloy, via 44 News screenshot | Indiana Woman Burns American Flag in Support of ISIS Sierra Malloy of Evansville, Ind., has been arrested after setting an American flag on fire and hanging an ISIS flag. Authorities say they arrested Malloy, who claimed to be part of ISIS and made a comment about cutting off two of the officer's heads. Malloy was booked for two counts of communication intimidation, criminal trespass, criminal mischief, and flag desecration. Read More Massachusetts Man Arrested Over Gift Card Scheme to Support ISIS - Mateo Ventura, 18, from Wakefield, Mass., has been arrested for knowingly concealing the source of material support intended for ISIS.
- Ventura allegedly provided gift cards to an individual he believed was an ISIS supporter, intending for the cards to be sold on the dark web to support ISIS.
- If convicted, Ventura could face up to 10 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000. Read More
Jihadi Saudi National Not Competent to Stand Trial - A Saudi national, Bader Alzahrani, accused of stealing a school bus in New Jersey and driving it to Pennsylvania, has been ruled mentally incompetent to stand trial.
- Alzahrani is facing charges in federal court for receiving and transporting a stolen vehicle, as well as charges in New Jersey court for motor vehicle theft, burglary, and other offenses.
- According to federal officials, Alzahrani left behind journals containing writings about jihad and a variety of threats against Jews and police officers.
- Based on a sealed psychiatric report, a federal judge determined that Alzahrani has a mental disease or defect that prevents him from understanding court proceedings and participating in his defense. Read More
| | | | | Alt-Right & Alt-Left Extremism |  | Ted Kaczynski is guided to his arraignment by federal marshals on April 4, 1996 - Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images | Unabomber Dead by Suicide at the Age of 81 Ted Kaczynski, known as the "Unabomber," died by suicide at the age of 81 in his cell at the Federal Medical Center in Butner, N.C. Kaczynski had been serving four life sentences plus 30 years for a 17-year bombing campaign from 1978-1995 that killed three people and injured 23 others. Kaczynski's bombings targeted universities, airlines, and various individuals, and The New York Times and The Washington Post published his 35,000-word manifesto under threat of continued violence. Kaczynski's case and actions have made him an iconic figure for both the far-right and far-left due to his education and meticulous approach to designing bombs. Read More New Jersey Man Arrested for Antisemitic Vandalism Spree - A house in a New Jersey neighborhood caught fire hours after swastikas were spray-painted on nearby homes.
- A "suspicious" person seen near the blaze and captured on surveillance cameras was identified as the same individual responsible for the swastika vandalism.
- Ron Carr, 34, of Manchester Township, was arrested and is facing charges including bias intimidation, aggravated arson, and criminal mischief.
- Carr is accused of targeting the Jewish community by vandalizing homes, setting a house on fire, and defacing neighborhood fences with Nazi symbolism. Read More
Judge Dismisses Civil Rights Case Against NSC-131 Civil rights charges against the leaders of the neo-Nazi organization NSC-131 in New Hampshire were dismissed due to being deemed "unconstitutionally overbroad" by a Superior Court judge. The defendants are accused of trespassing onto a bridge last summer and hanging a banner that read “Keep New England White.” The judge stated that there was insufficient evidence to prove trespassing, as the bridge where the neo-Nazi members marched could be considered public property. Members of NSC-131 have appeared sporadically around New England, displaying racist banners, chanting, and attempting to disrupt drag events. The group often films its activities and then posts videos on social media. Read More Drag Queen Story Hour Cancelled Due to Threats of Violence A Drag Queen Story Hour event planned at a public library in Tigard, Ore., has been canceled due to threats of violence and a planned counter-protest by Antifa. The Tigard Public Library announced the cancellation and closed for the day "out of an abundance of caution" to ensure the safety of the community. The Tigard Police Department stated that the threats of violence were repeated, and they prioritize the safety of the children, families, and patrons. Antifa members, led by Dajah Renee Beck, planned to disrupt the event and chase away parents protesting the event. Beck has a history of involvement in violent riots and received probation for her charges. Read More Antifa Clash at California School Board Meeting Fights erupted between Antifa and parental rights activists outside the Glendale Unified School District's administration building in California during a school board meeting discussing LGBTQ+ curriculum. Three individuals were arrested by law enforcement due to the protest exceeding peaceful assembly boundaries. Parents expressed concerns about transgender policies, such as allowing students of the opposite sex to use the same facilities, and demanded changes. Masked progressive protesters clashed with Armenian and Hispanic parents, leading to an announcement by the police that the assembly was unlawful and arrests were made. Read More FBI Offering Reward for Info on Threats Against Catholic Center The FBI's Omaha office is offering a reward of up to $15,000 for information on threats of violence targeting the University of Nebraska-Omaha's Catholic campus center. Investigators have identified a vehicle of interest, believed to be a 1998-2004 tan/silver Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck, in connection with the threats. The threatening notes, signed as "Jane's Revenge," were left at the Newman Center on December 3, 2021, and a similar note was left at a nearby church. The pro-abortion group Jane's Revenge has claimed responsibility for acts of vandalism and fire bombings targeting anti-abortion offices and clinics, displaying a pattern of violence and harassment. Read More | | | | | School Threats |  | Laguna Hills High School football field - via Google Maps screenshot | California Man Arrested for Threatening California High School A California man named Eugene Thomas Jenkins, 29, was arrested for allegedly threatening staff and students at Laguna Hills High School after a football championship game in December 2022. Jenkins was arrested in San Rafael, more than 400 miles away from the targeted school, and is being investigated for bomb threats and death threats made through phone calls and letters. The threats began after Laguna Hills High School's football team won the state championship against Bellarmine Prep, and some of the alleged victims were members of the Laguna Hills football team. Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have been involved in the investigation, tracking down the suspect based on the locations from which the threatening letters and calls were made. Read More California Middle School Experiences Second Threat Sutter Middle School in East Sacramento experienced another reported threat, the second in four days, which authorities have determined to be not credible. The threats were made via social media and were revealed to be a hoax perpetrated by a small group of students, including one student from a different school who created a fake social media account and impersonated a Sutter Middle student. The school was placed on a precautionary lockdown following the initial threat, but normal instruction resumed after police found no credible threat. The school is working with the district's office of safe schools to determine safety measures for the remainder of the school year, and support staff are available on campus to assist students experiencing anxiety or trauma. Read More | | |  | Hostile Foreign Influence Operations |  | TikTok restricted Russion users in March 2022 due to a change in a law that threatened prison sentences for statements that differ from the official account of the war in Ukraine - Stringer/picture alliance via Getty Images | Russian Accounts Spread Disinformation on TikTok According to an analysis by the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD), Kremlin-funded media outlets have been using TikTok to spread disinformation, pro-Russian propaganda, and false claims about the invasion of Ukraine. The ASD identified a network of 78 TikTok accounts linked to Kremlin-funded outlets, with 44 of them actively spreading propaganda in 2023. Some accounts have millions of followers, surpassing independent news networks. Despite the labeling of content from Russian site RT en Español as potentially fake news, it has a high reach and interaction on TikTok. The platform appears to do little to restrict Kremlin-funded propaganda, according to the report. Read More US Confirms Chinese Spy Base in Cuba - China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019 as part of its global intelligence-gathering efforts, according to a Biden administration official.
- The U.S. intelligence community has been aware of China's spying activities in Cuba and its broader expansion of intelligence operations worldwide.
- The Biden administration has intensified efforts to counter China's spying operations and claims to have made progress through diplomacy and other actions.
- The existence of the Chinese spy base was confirmed after reports that China and Cuba had reached an agreement to build an electronic eavesdropping station on the island, although the White House called the report inaccurate. Read More
| | |  | Research and Trends in Extremism |  | Protesters enter the U.S. Capitol's Rotunda on January 6, 2021 - SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images | New Research on Connection Between Military Service and Extremism A study conducted by the University of Maryland's National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) found that military service is the strongest individual-level predictor of involvement in mass casualty events. Extremists with military backgrounds were 2.41 times more likely to plan or carry out a mass casualty event compared to those without military experience. Of the individuals in the study with military backgrounds who engaged in extremist violence, 73.5 percent were linked to right-wing ideologies, while 40 percent were tied to white supremacist or nativist views. Extremists with military backgrounds had a higher success rate in carrying out mass casualty events compared to non-military extremists, and a significant proportion of offenders had backgrounds in the U.S. Army. Read More SPLC’s New Hate Report Fudges Numbers The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) released its annual report on hate groups in the U.S., setting a new record by including Moms for Liberty, a rapidly growing organization dedicated to empowering parents to be involved in their child's public-school education. The SPLC has been criticized for its methodology, which counts even small and insignificant hate groups and counts dissolved groups as separate entities in subsequent reports. In 2020 and 2021, the number of hate groups appeared to decrease, contradicting the SPLC's goal of raising concerns about rising hate. To maintain the narrative, the SPLC combined hate groups with antigovernment groups in the report. The 2022 report fails to distinguish between hate groups and anti-government extremists, resulting in a larger total count. The SPLC defends its classification of Moms for Liberty as an extremist group by citing isolated instances of violent threats and disagreement with the group's political agenda, blurring the line between hateful behavior and political organizing. Read More |  | Have You Found A Story You Think We Should Cover? | If you see an article on violent extremism in the U.S. or hostile foreign influence that is reliable, timely, and fits into one of the six categories that we cover in this newsletter, please send us a note, either by replying directly to this email or by submitting a contact form under the appropriate "news tip" category. | | | | | QUOTABLE “The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition, when suffered to exert itself with freedom and security, is so powerful a principle, that it alone and without any assistance, is not only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations”
- Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
| | | NOTE TO OUR READERS: We have pulled out the salient points of the articles in this newsletter to keep you informed and focused on the most relevant, important and timely news in national security and extremism. While our national security experts stand behind the summary bullets and deem them trustworthy, Clarion Project does not endorse all the views expressed in the articles linked. | | | | |
