The Extremism Roundup

Islamist Extremism

Trevor Bickford, 19 - Facebook via DailyMail screenshot

Jihadi Teen Attacks Police Officer with Machete in Times Square

• Trevor Bickford, 19, from Wells, Maine, is being charged with attacking three police officers with a machete near Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
• Bickford allegedly wrote a manifesto in which he told family members to “repent to Allah” and describes his brother, Devon, as a traitor for serving in the U.S. Army. 
• The FBI in Boston has an open case on him. He is on a “guardian list” because of his radicalization. Read More
• How does a typical Maine boy who loved wrestling, made the honor roll, won awards for his artwork, played football, and dreamed of being an American soldier become an Islamic extremist? Click here to see Clarion Project's eye-opening short film, Avatar, documenting the process by which a normal North American teenager can get radicalized to become an Islamic extremist ready to kill and be killed in the name of Islam.

 Indiana University Apologizes for Hosting Terror Supporter

• Amir Pasic, dean of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University (IU), has admitted that IU’s School of Philanthropy “failed in our due diligence” when it invited Sami Al-Arian to participate in a program about the war on terrorism.

• In 2006, Al-Arian was sentenced to 57 months in prison and later deported to Turkey for his role in assisting Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a specially designated terrorist organization. Read More

Alt-Right & Alt-Left Extremism

Portland Bank of America arson via screenshot from journalist Andy Ngo’s Twitter account

Antifa Group Claims Responsibility for Bank Arson

• A far-left account on Twitter has posted a claim of responsibility for setting a Portland Bank of America branch on fire. 
• The account, Abolition Media, released a statement on its website stating, “I attack for revenge against capital for the hell it creates, to break the illusion of police control that usually protects it, and just because I can.”
• The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Portland Fire Investigations Unit, and police confirmed that the fire is being investigated as arson. Read More

Militia Members Sentenced in Michigan Governor Kidnapping Plot

• Barry Croft Jr., of Bear, Del., was sentenced to 19 years and seven months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for conspiracy to kidnap the Governor of Michigan.
• Co-defendant Adam Fox, 39, of Wyoming, Mich., was sentenced to 16 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his role in the conspiracy.
• The individuals were members of a Boogaloo Boi-affiliated militia group called The Wolverine Watchmen. Read More

School Threats

West Salem High School/Facebook via KGW8 screenshot

Oregon Teens Arrested in Connection to School Threat

• Marion County Sheriff’s Detectives, along with FBI officials, investigated a threat of violence directed at West Salem High School, which led them to a 16-year-old home-school student and a 15-year-old West Salem High School student.
• After investigating, both teens were arrested and face criminal charges. Read More

Police Investigate Pennsylvania School Threat

• Pennsylvania State police are investigating a claim from someone threatening to commit a school shooting in December.
• The name of the school was not disclosed, but the location was in Loyalsock Township. Read More

Hostile Foreign Influence Operations

Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Russian Hacker Group Targets FMCSA & FBI

• The Pro-Russian hacker group KillNet has targeted the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) computer systems.
• KillNet has also recently made claims that it has hacked the personal information of thousands of FBI agents. Read More

North Korean Hackers Pose as VC Firms

• The North Korean government-funded hacking operation Lazarus Group has started pretending to be venture capitalists to steal from cryptocurrency startups.
• A crew, designated as BlueNoroff, stole millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies by building more than 70 phony domains and mimicking financial firms and venture capital businesses. Read More

Research and Trends in Extremism

Americans Against Antisemitism screenshot

New Study Exposes Shocking Statistics on Anti-Jewish Hate Crime in NYC

• A new study exposes multiple alarming statistics about anti-Jewish Hate Crime in NYC from 2018-2022.
• Jews comprise 9 percent of the population in NYC but account for the majority of hate crime. 
• Jews are attacked on average in more than 70 percent of police precincts—twice the rate of the next most targeted group.
• 94 percent of the anti-Jewish assaults in NYC were against Orthodox Jews.
• The vast majority of perpetrators of anti-Jewish hate crimes are members of other
  minority groups, not white supremacists.
• Since 2018, there have been 118 potentially trackable individuals arrested for anti-Jewish hate crimes,  of which only one has been convicted and sentenced to a significant prison term.
• When it comes to anti-Jewish hate crimes in NYC,  the study demonstrates that there have been practically no serious consequences or severe punishments for the violent criminals who’ve caused significant physical, emotional, and psychological harm to their victims. Read More

QUOTABLE
"We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."

- Abraham Lincoln

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.