The Extremism Roundup

Islamist & Anti-Muslim Extremism 

• There has been a recent trend among neo-Nazi groups to express admiration for and seek to forge relationships with Jihadist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
• This trend surfaced in the wake of the most recent conflict in Gaza in May of last year and gathered steam in the wake of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
• A founding member of a white supremacist organization with connections to the 2017 Unite the Right rally, was spurred by hatred for Jews to address the Arab world, in perfect Arabic, in a video, arguing that Arabs, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists in the West must join hands.

• A federal court order says Horn Lake, Miss. must allow construction of a mosque, following a discrimination lawsuit against the city.
• The Horn Lake planning commission recommended that the site plan for the mosque be denied and the Board of Aldermen agreed, citing concerns about insufficient water supply for fire sprinklers.
• The lawsuit noted that then-Alderman John E. Jones Jr. made anti-Muslim comments to the local newspaper when speaking about the construction project.

Alt-Right & Alt-Left Extremism

• Multiple members of the Boogaloo Boi Militia Movement have been identified by Clarion Intelligence Network and reported to our law enforcement partners. 
• One of the suspects is an EMT who has expressed support for killing individuals within his care.
• Help us identify and track more extremists on American soil by donating here.

• In May 2020, Dave Patrick Underwood, a Department of Homeland Security contractor, was killed in a drive-by shooting while guarding a federal building and courthouse in Oakland during protests over the police killing of George Floyd.
• Steven Carrillo, who had ties to the anti-government extremist Boogaloo movement, is being charged with Underwood’s murder, and Robert Alvin Justus Jr. was charged with aiding and abetting Carrillo.
• Underwood’s sister filed suit against Facebook in a California Superior Court, accusing the social network of bearing responsibility for her brother's killing because the platform recommended that Justus join Boogaloo-related groups, which led him to meet Carrillo. 

• Garrett James Smith, 22, of Oldsmar, Fla. was arrested after running away from a protest in support of a Jan. 6 rioter.
• Police found on Smith a pipe explosive device, along with a "Direct Action Checklist," a gas mask and filters, pepper spray, smoke rockets, and flammable rags. 
• The helmet that Smith was allegedly wearing contains the "iron front" logo, which has been used by Antifa groups.
• Smith is being held on a $300,250 bond and was charged with three counts of possession or discharge of a destructive device as well as one count of loitering and prowling.

• Northampton, Mass. Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra condemned a recent string of antisemitic statements and symbols appearing in the city. 
• Sciarra specifically referenced a Dec. 28 Board of Health meeting, where officials heard public comment on a proposed vaccine mandate and multiple participants made anti-Jewish statements or displayed offensive images on Zoom.  
• One participant in the meeting using the name “JEWS WILL NOT REPLACE US” displayed three swastikas in his Zoom meeting photo.

Hostile Foreign Influence Operations

• A joint advisory of the FBI, NSA, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CSIA) warns operators of critical infrastructure to immediately implement a set of recommendations to improve their functional resilience.
• The Advisory goes on to detail the common techniques used by Russian state-sponsored actors to harm and gain control of accounts and networks and provides a list of such incidents.

• Xiang Haitao, 44, a Chinese national formerly residing in Chesterfield, Mo. pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to commit economic espionage.  
• Xiang conspired to steal a trade secret from Monsanto, an international company based in St. Louis, for the purpose of benefitting China.
• Xiang pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit economic espionage and is scheduled to be sentenced on April 7. He faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, a potential fine of $5 million and a term of supervised release of not more than three years. 

• Pierre Girgis, 39, of Manhattan was arrested on criminal charges related to his alleged acting and conspiring to act as an agent of the Egyptian government, without notifying the U.S. Attorney General as required by law.
• According to the criminal complaint, Girgis spied on critics of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
• The two sentences Girgis is facing carry maximum sentences of five and 10 years in prison, respectively.