Islamist Extremism |  | Rondell Henry, 32 - Montgomery County Police Department, via WJLA News | Judge Orders Release of Man Accused of ISIS-Inspired Truck Attack A federal judge ordered the release of Rondell Henry, 32, of Germantown, Md., who pleaded guilty in August to attempting to perform an act of violence at Dulles International Airport in Virginia. According to prosecutors, Henry abandoned his plan to plow a stolen U-Haul van into pedestrians at the airport because he didn’t think the early morning crowd was large enough. Accepting terms recommended by both prosecutors and defense attorneys, the judge also sentenced Henry to lifetime supervised release with mandatory participation in a mental health treatment program. Henry was charged in 2019 with attempting to provide material support to ISIS. Read More Chants Calling for the Murder of Jews Shouted at Cooper Union Pro-Palestine protesters attempted to enter Cooper Union (N.Y.) college's library after a rally, leading to the barricading of students inside. Students reported that protesters chanted slogans calling for the murder of Jews; however, the NYPD mentioned that there was no direct threat to Jewish students during the incident. The incident has raised concerns about safety on campus and the need for universities to address such issues. University officials emphasized their commitment to condemning discrimination and threatening behavior of any kind. Read More Jews Face Threats at Cornell Jewish students at Cornell University experienced violent death threats on a university discussion forum, including disturbing messages advocating sexual violence against Jewish women and a threat to "shoot up" a building with Jewish resources. Cornell's Hillel organization issued a statement addressing the situation, and a police presence was deployed on campus due to the severity of the threats. The incident occurred amid a tense climate on campus related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with reports of vandalism and marches, leaving Jewish students feeling unsafe and abandoned. Read More Man Invades Jewish Family Home An early morning home invasion occurred in Studio City, Los Angeles, when a man, identified as Daniel Garcia, allegedly attempted to break into a residence and threatened the Jewish occupants. The incident involved Garcia trying to kick in a door in the home's backyard while shouting slogans like "Free Palestine" and "Kill Jews." The victims were identified as being "of Jewish descent." Garcia has been charged with making criminal threats, first-degree residential burglary, vandalism, and hate crimes. The incident is being investigated as a possible hate crime, and the suspect may have had previous contacts with the victims. Read More Teen Threatens Jews at NYC Playground At a playground at KIPP AMP Middle School and MS 354 in Crown Heights, N.Y., a man spewed antisemitic slurs, including "Heil Hitler," and targeted a boy and his family, with an added mention of "Allah Akbar." The mother, Chaya Sundroy, and her six children were present during the attack, where some of the suspects reportedly flashed a knife. While the group fled the scene after the police were called, no arrests have been made yet, and the investigation is ongoing. New York City has experienced a rise in hate crimes, with a significant portion targeting the Jewish community. Read More | | | | | Militant-Right & Militant-Left Extremism |  | Police restrain shooter at dueling pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian rallies in Skokie, Ill. - via CBS News Chicago screenshot
| Violence Outside Competing Chicago Rallies A man who fired a gun into the air during dueling rallies for Israel and the Palestinian territories in Skokie, Ill., will not face criminal charges. The pro-Israel rally aimed to encourage peaceful coexistence among faith-based groups, promoting a message of peace and unity. Skokie and Lincolnwood Police were present at the event to maintain peace and security. Despite the gun being fired into the air, no felony charges were filed, as the individual was found to have a valid concealed carry license. A separate skirmish resulted in a Chicago police officer and two protesters being pepper-sprayed, leading to a second arrest. Read More Neo-Nazis Disrupt DSA Meeting - Far-right activists from groups like the Patriot Youth and the Tennessee Active Club disrupted a student meeting hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU). The groups claimed responsibility for the disruption in a video posted on Telegram.
- The disruptors had been monitoring the DSA for weeks, particularly focusing on its student book clubs. The video showed evidence of online DSA materials being vandalized and deleted.
- The Tennessee Active Club, which outwardly identifies as Nazis, has close ties to the Lewis Country Store, where members post about training for physical violence. They supported a far-right alderman, Gabrielle Hanson, in Franklin's city elections, but she was ultimately defeated. This incident is part of a broader trend of increased white supremacist and far-right violence in the U.S. Read More
| | |  | Hate Crime |  | Mark Wheeler, 73 - Walton County Sherriff’s Office via WSB-TV screenshot
| Georgia Man Charged for Shooting at His Black Neighbor A 73-year-old Georgia man, Mark Wheeler, has been arrested for racially motivated threats and shooting at his Black neighbor in violation of the Fair Housing Act's criminal provision. Wheeler allegedly fired a .22 caliber revolver in the direction of the victim and the victim's residence while shouting racial slurs. If convicted, Wheeler could face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for both the civil rights and firearm charges. Read More South Carolina Man Pleads Guilty to Obstructing Justice in Murder of Transgender Individual Xavier Pinckney, of South Carolina, pleaded guilty to obstructing an investigation into the 2019 murder of a transgender individual named Dime Doe. Pinckney provided false information to state authorities regarding his phone calls and texts to Dime Doe on the day of her murder, and he lied about seeing the alleged murderer, Daqua Ritter, on the morning of the crime. Pinckney faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the obstruction of justice offense. A sentencing date has not been scheduled yet. Read More Ohio Man Pleads Guilty to Attempted Church Arson Aimenn D. Penny, a 20-year-old Ohio man, pleaded guilty to violating the Church Arson Prevention Act and using fire and explosives to commit a felony in connection with his attempt to burn down a church that supported the LGBT community. On March 25, Penny made Molotov cocktails and threw them at the Community Church of Chesterland in Chesterland, Ohio, due to his anger over the church's plan to host drag events. His actions aimed to obstruct the church's congregants from expressing their religious beliefs. Penny faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for violating the Church Arson Prevention Act and a mandatory 10-year prison sentence, which will run consecutively with any other prison term, for using fire to commit a federal felony. His sentencing will be determined by a federal district court judge. Read More | | School Threats |  | Henry W. Owen School, Chelsea, Mass. - via WBZ CBS News Boston screenshot | Massachusetts Teen Charged With School Shooting Threat A 14-year-old boy has been charged with making threats to shoot up a Chelsea, Mass., school following a physical fight with another student at the Shore Educational Collaborative. After the altercation, the boy threatened to return to the school with a gun and "shoot everyone up." Concerns escalated when the suspect posted a picture of himself with guns on social media and further threatened to carry out a shooting at the school. Students who saw the post chose not to attend school that day. The accused teenager was arraigned in Boston Juvenile Court, where he was held on $750 bail and placed under home confinement with GPS monitoring. Read More 12-Year-Old Identified in Bomb Threats to Maryland Schools A 12-year-old has been identified as the individual responsible for seven recent bomb threats targeting schools in Montgomery County, Md. The youth admitted to being responsible for the threats, which were considered reckless and dangerous, posing a direct threat to the safety and well-being of schools and students. Due to Maryland law, which only allows children under the age of 13 to be charged with offenses constituting a "crime of violence," the child cannot be charged for the bomb threats, highlighting legal limitations concerning the age of the offender. Read More | | Hostile Foreign Influence Operations |  | A laptop with the logo of the US National Security Agency (NSA) - Federico Gambarini/picture alliance via Getty Images | Former NSA Employee Pleads Guilty to Attempted Espionage Jareh Sebastian Dalke, a former NSA employee, pleaded guilty to six counts of attempting to transmit classified National Defense Information (NDI) to a person he believed was a Russian agent but was, in fact, an FBI covert employee. Dalke, while working for the NSA, used an encrypted email account to send excerpts from three classified documents, all containing Top Secret//Sensitive Compartmented Information, to the supposed Russian agent. He requested $85,000 in exchange for the classified information and arranged to transfer additional classified data to the purported Russian agent before being arrested by the FBI. Dalke could face a maximum penalty of life in prison. Read More Russian Hackers Breached 632,000 DOJ and Pentagon Email Addresses According to a new report by the Office of Personnel Management, approximately 632,000 email addresses of employees from the Justice and Defense departments were accessed in a hack earlier this year, adding to the series of data breaches attributed to a Russian-speaking criminal group. The breach included email addresses, links to government employee surveys administered by the agency, and internal tracking codes. The hackers exploited a file transfer program, MOVEit, used by data firm Westat, which administers employee surveys for OPM. The hack was considered a "major incident" by OPM but involved data of low sensitivity and was not classified. The breach has impacted various Defense Department officials and employees. Read More | | | | Research and Trends in Extremism |  | A pro-Palestine protester gestures to a person holding the flags of the U.S. and Israel during the "Flood Brooklyn For Gaza" march held Oct. 28, 2023, in N.Y. - Michael Nigro/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
| Calls for Violence Against Jews Rose By 1,200 Percent A new report by the Antisemitism Cyber Security Monitoring System found antisemitic online posts increased by 1,200 percent since Hamas initiated a terror attack on Israel in early October, with New York City being a significant hub for this hate. Reports indicate that posts calling for violence against Israel, Zionists, and Jews surged during this period, with increases of 450 percent compared to the previous four days, and 360 percent compared to the same period the previous month. The threat of violence, both online and potentially on U.S. soil, remains a concern, according to FBI Director Chris Wray, with Jews and Muslims and their institutions being targeted. 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 “Above all, we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have. It is a weapon that we as Americans do have. Let that be understood by those who practice terrorism and prey upon their neighbors.”
- Ronald Reagan
| | | 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. | | | | |
