Islamist Extremism |  | Military-style humvees are parked along the southern border wall in Texas on May 4, 2023 - Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images | FBI Reportedly Searching for Smugglers With Ties to ISIS Federal agents are monitoring a group of more than a dozen Uzbek nationals who entered the U.S. as asylum seekers with the assistance of a smuggler connected to ISIS. An emergency intelligence report was issued to senior Biden administration officials due to the seriousness of the situation. The FBI is working to identify and assess all individuals involved, and while no specific terror plot has been identified, some individuals are being closely scrutinized for possible criminal activity. No evidence justifying detention has been found so far. Read More On the Ground on 9/11: Video Footage From Ordinary People of an Extraordinary Tragedy On the morning of 9/11 in New York City, ordinary people picked up video cameras and recorded. This is what they saw—and how they reflected on the experience years later. On the anniversary of 9/11, we remember. Read More | | | | | Alt-Right & Alt-Left Extremism |  | A man does a Nazi salute as two neo-Nazi groups hold a rally on September 2, 2023 in Orlando - Stephanie Keith/Getty Images | Neo-Nazis Demonstrate Outside Disney World Neo-Nazis and white supremacists staged demonstrations outside Disney World and in the Orlando, Fla., area, spreading antisemitic, white supremacist, and anti-LGBTQ messages. About 15 individuals with Nazi insignia clothing and flags protested outside Disney Springs, displaying hateful flags and signs. The groups involved were identified as neo-Nazi organizations. Later in the day, another extremist gathering involving two different groups occurred in the greater Orlando area, where participants waved swastika flags, saluted Hitler, and shouted hateful messages, including "White power" and "Jews will not replace us." Read More Man Pleads Guilty to Death Threats Against Georgia Election Officials - A Texas man, Chad Christopher Stark, pleaded guilty to posting an online threat against several Georgia public officials following the 2020 election.
- Stark posted the threatening message on Craigslist, offering a reward of $10,000 for harming one official and advocating violence against multiple officials, including judges.
- He pleaded guilty to one count of sending a threat using a telecommunications device and faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison; sentencing is pending. Read More
Two Proud Boys Leaders Sentenced For Role in Jan. 6 Riot Two former leaders of the Proud Boys, Joseph R. Biggs and Zachary Rehl, were sentenced to prison for their roles in the U.S. Capitol breach on January 6, 2021. Biggs received a 17-year prison sentence, while Rehl was sentenced to 15 years. Both also face 36 months of supervised release. A jury convicted them of multiple felonies, including seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, for their actions during the Capitol breach, where the Proud Boys played a significant and violent role. Read More Atlanta Cop City Protestors Indicted on RICO Charges Over 60 people have been indicted in Fulton County, Ga., on RICO and other charges related to their opposition to the "Cop City" project, a planned public safety training center. The project aims to create an 85-acre complex in south DeKalb County, offering training facilities for the police, Atlanta Fire Rescue Department, and the city's 911 center. Many individuals involved in the protest movement against the training center have been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism and arson. Read More | | |  | Hate Crimes |  | Adam Michael Nettina, 34 - Department of Justice via Daily News screenshot | Maryland Man Pleads Guilty to Threatening LGBT Groups Adam Michael Nettina, of Maryland, pleaded guilty to using a telephone to threaten an LGBT advocacy group. Nettina left a threatening voicemail referencing a mass shooting and made multiple threats, targeting the group because of their gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation. He also admitted to sending threatening messages to state delegates in two prior incidents, resulting in federal charges. Read More New York Man Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime Against Priest Dylan Vok, a 40-year-old man from Manhattan, pleaded guilty in connection with two separate incidents that authorities described as a hate crime against a priest at a church in West Brighton and a robbery in South Beach. Vok has a history of prior arrests and has been featured in discussions about mental illness and the criminal justice system. In one incident, Vok threatened a priest at Sacred Heart R.C. Church, using homophobic slurs and making violent threats based on the priest's sexual orientation and religion. In another incident, he was involved in a heist and demanded money and cigarettes from a male victim. Read More | | | | School Threats |  | Police tape blocks entry to Chabot Elementary in Rockridge after the school received a bomb threat - Ashley McBride via The Oaklandside screenshot
| California Elementary School Cancels Classes Following Bomb Threat Chabot Elementary School in Rockridge, Calif., canceled classes and evacuated students following a bomb threat received via email. The Oakland Police Department is investigating the bomb threat, which had racial undertones, and the FBI has been asked to assist in the investigation. The threat comes after a series of hateful messages were sent in response to a playdate for families of color organized by the school's equity and inclusion group. Read More Man Arrested for Threatening Middle School A man was arrested for making a shooting threat at Heritage Middle School in Horace, N.D. The suspect, 35-year-old James P. Donnelly, was apprehended at a hotel in Fargo and arrested for an outstanding warrant and a felony terrorizing charge related to the middle school threat; he did not have any weapons with him at the time of his arrest. Authorities have stated there is no further threat to the public. Read More Michigan Child Suspected of Online Threats to West Virginia Schools An online threat disrupted classes at North Middle School and nearby schools in Martinsburg, W.Va., but police stated there was no immediate threat to students. Law enforcement conducted a thorough investigation and identified a 10-year-old male from Michigan as the suspect behind the threat; there was no active threat at the middle school. Read More | | Hostile Foreign Influence Operations |  | Binary code on a phone screen and microchip, examples of microelectronics - Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images | Russian-German National Arrested for Exporting Microelectronics to Russia Arthur Petrov, a dual Russian-German citizen residing in Russia and Cyprus, has been charged with export control violations, smuggling, wire fraud, and money laundering offenses for his alleged role in procuring U.S.-sourced microelectronics for a Russia-based supplier of critical electronics components to the Russian military. Petrov was arrested in Cyprus at the request of the U.S. He and two co-conspirators fraudulently procured large quantities of U.S. microelectronics subject to export controls for their Russian-based supplier, using shell companies and deceptive means to conceal the destination, which was Russia. The technology they acquired had significant military applications and was used in Russian guided missiles, drones, and electronic warfare devices in Ukraine. Petrov faces multiple charges, each carrying a maximum sentence ranging from five to 20 years in prison. Read More Meta Disrupts Disinformation Ops From China and Russia Meta has disrupted two major covert influence operations from China and Russia, blocking thousands of accounts and pages across its platform, including Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and more. The Chinese disinformation network targeted a wide range of topics, including China, Xinjiang, criticism of the U.S. and Western foreign policies, and critics of the Chinese government. It involved thousands of accounts and pages, some of which were connected to Chinese law enforcement. The Russian operation, known as Doppelganger, mimicked websites of mainstream news outlets and government entities to post fake articles aimed at weakening support for Ukraine. It expanded its targets to include the U.S. and Israel, and used “typosquatting” techniques in domain names to appear legitimate. Read More | | | | Research and Trends in Extremism |  | Facebook, X and Instagram icons - Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images | Social Media Firms Failed to Stop Russian Disinformation Campaigns Says EU Report The EU Commission's report highlights that social media companies have failed to stop "large-scale" Russian disinformation campaigns following the invasion of Ukraine, and the influence of Kremlin-backed accounts has grown in 2023. The report singles out X (formerly Twitter), stating that Russian disinformation has increased on the platform since Elon Musk bought the company. The study also notes that the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) has introduced tougher rules for online platforms, and had it been operational earlier, social media companies would have breached their legal duties, potentially resulting in fines. Read More New Study: The Role of Social Media Algorithms in the Radicalization Process A recent study finds that exposure to alternative and extremist YouTube videos happens among users who already hold resentful attitudes about race and gender and seek out this content via channel subscriptions and referrals from other sites, rather than through algorithmic recommendations. Social media's role in extremist radicalization is complex, with algorithms rarely recommending extremist content, but the platforms remain tools for those who hold extremist beliefs. YouTube's recommendation algorithms have been criticized for surfacing hate speech, misinformation, hoaxes, and conspiracies, leading to concerns about radicalization. Read More Big-City Hate Crimes Skyrocket in 2022 An unpublished report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino, indicates the largest U.S. cities saw significant increases in hate crimes last year, with an average jump of 22 percent to a record 1,889 cases. This marks the second consecutive year of increases in the average number of hate crimes in these cities, with a 22-year national trend of rising hate crimes, coinciding with the increase in white nationalism and attacks on Asian Americans during the pandemic. Los Angeles reported the most hate crimes among these cities, with 609 cases, while Chicago experienced the largest increase at 84.6 percent, followed by Austin, Texas, at 58.6 percent. Some smaller cities also saw substantial rises in hate crimes. 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 “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
- George Orwell, 1984
| | | 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. | | | | |
