Islamist Extremism |  | ANWAR AMRO/AFP via Getty Images | Hezbollah “Sleeper Agent” On Trial Alexei Saab, 45, of Morristown, N.J. was accused of being a sleeper agent for the terrorist group Hezbollah. Prosecutors allege Saab was scoping out potential terrorism targets in New York, Boston, Washington D.C., and abroad in France, Turkey, and the Czech Republic. Charges against Saab include providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to receive military-type training from a designated terrorist organization. Saab may face between 25 to 100 years in prison if convicted. Read More ISIS ‘Beatle’ Receives Life Sentence for Terror Beheadings Former British citizen El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, who was convicted last month on eight charges relating to his participation in a brutal hostage-taking scheme that resulted in the deaths of four American citizens, was sentenced to life in prison. Elsheikh and two other ISIS members supervised the terrorist organization’s jails and detention facilities where the hostages were held. Read More Iran Official Admits to Non-Peaceful Intent of Nuclear Program | | | | | Alt-Right & Alt-Left Extremism |  | US Attorney’s Office District of Alaska via DailyMail.com | White Supremacist Gang Convicted of Murder and Racketeering - Five members of the violent white supremacist gang “The 1488s” were convicted in Alaska by a federal jury of RICO conspiracy, murder in aid of racketeering, kidnapping, and assault.
- The group’s leader, Timothy Lobdell, 45, founded and led The 1488 gang from inside Alaska’s maximum-security prison, where he is serving a 19-year sentence for the attempted murder of an Alaska State Trooper. Lobdell ordered members of the gang to commit violent kidnappings and assaults in the “free world” outside of prison.
- All five defendants face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole for the murder. Read More
Antifa Members Attack Portland GOP Rally - A group of black-clad Antifa demonstrators launched smoke bombs, paint, fireworks and rocks near a GOP rally for gubernatorial candidate Stan Pulliam in Portland, Ore.
- Portland police took over 20 minutes to respond to the demonstrators, who already dispersed by the time police were able to show up. Read More
More News From the Alt-Right - Proud Boy member Enrique Colon of Missouri pleaded guilty to obstructing law enforcement officers during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, where he used a chair to stop a Capitol gate from lowering. Read More
- Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Ga. pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding in connection with the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Read More
More News From the Alt-Left - BLM activist Melina Abdullah was forcibly removed from a mayoral debate at California State University, Los Angeles. Abdullah, who did not have a ticket to the event, bypassed security and refused to leave when asked. Read More
| | | | | Hate Crimes |  | Regina Simon via NBCNews.com | Man Charged for Threatening BLM Supporters - Kenneth Pilon, 61, from Michigan was charged with hate crimes after allegedly leaving handwritten notes and nooses around his community to intimidate people engaging in support of Black Lives Matter. Read More
Chinatown Feeling Threatened by Anti-Asian Hate Wave - Residents of Manhattan's Chinatown are feeling increasingly threatened by Anti-Asian hate crimes, particularly against the elderly. Read More
| | | | | Hostile Foreign Influence Operations |  | Win McNamee/Getty Images | Former U.S. Ambassador Illegally Lobbying for Qatar - Richard Olson, a former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, has been criminally charged for his alleged role in an undisclosed lobbying campaign for the Qatari government. Read More
Iran Expands Military Cooperation With China - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi expressed his government’s desire for closer cooperation with China to confront what the Iranian president described as U.S. unilateralism. Read More
| | | | | Research and Trends in Extremism |  | Merrrittt, CC BY-SA 4.0 | The Growing Threat of Sovereign Citizen Extremism - The number and activities of "Sovereign Citizens," people who deny the legitimacy of their governments, is growing both in their number and in their activities.
- A 2020 analysis found 94 instances in which sovereign citizens attempted to harm, did harm or killed law enforcement officers . Read More
| | | | | QUOTABLE
“The winds that blow through the wide sky in these mounts, the winds that sweep from Canada to Mexico, from the Pacific to the Atlantic - have always blown on free men. ”
--Franklin D. Roosevelt
| | | 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. | | | | |
