Three members of a Georgia militia have been arrested and charged in federal court regarding a conspiracy to attack federal agencies with explosive devices. On February 15th two of the men attempted to obtain pipe bombs and thermite devices in order to carry out their attack on the TSA and FEMA and other agencies, according to the US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. The three men allegedly chatted online from January 23rd to February 15th regarding their plans to attack the Federal government.
“This case is a stark reminder of the threat we face not just from abroad, but from within our own borders from our own citizens,” said United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “When plans turn violent, law enforcement must step in to protect our communities from harm. Fortunately, the FBI was able to stop these defendants before they were able to carry out their plans.” […]
Authorities say that between Jan. 23 and Feb. 15, [Brian] Cannon, [Cory] Williamson, and Terry Eugene Peace, the third defendant, participated in online chat discussions about carrying out an operation against the government that was to be launched in February.
Peace encouraged members of the militia to review guerrilla warfare tactics, small unit tactics, accumulate supplies, and prepare their families, authorities charge. Peace also identified targets such as “…TSA, DHS, non-emergency FEMA, road blocks, etc.” The discussions were reported to the FBI, and the FBI then began consensually monitoring the communications.
Fortunately, these idiots were stupid enough to use the internet to broadcast their conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack on our government. How much of a threat the three men actually posed, and how many other members of their group may have been involved in this operation is not known. But as acting FBI Special Agent in Charge, Rex Maxwell noted, the FBI can’t wait for such individuals bent on committing terrorist acts to acquire material for making bombs.
“The FBI can no longer wait to respond to the aftermath of a radicalized individual’s or group’s threats. Instead, we have to bring our investigative and analytical assets to bear in getting ahead of those threats and potential attacks and do so within the rule of law.”
The two men arrested in Cartersville drove there with the intent to purchase pipe bobs and thermite devices. What they did not know was that the person from whom they requested bomb material was cooperating with the FBI. When they arrived in Cartersville they were handed inert devices which this individual had been given by law enforcement authorities. I am going to take a wild guess that their attorney will raise the defense of entrapment. We’ll just have to wait and see how the case proceeds.
However, it again demonstrates that the threat posed by radicalized right wing militias and hate groups is at least as great a threat, if not greater than the threat posed by foreign terrorist organizations. Janet Napolitano should never have been forced by outraged Republican politicians to make any apology for the assessment that right wing terrorists are as much a threat as other terrorists. Indeed, after so many attempts by radicalized right-wing individuals and groups to commit acts of terrorism since that report was first issued, I think they owe her an apology, don’t you?
Not that I expect one to be forthcoming.
If these guys are actually white and right-wing, then obviously they can’t be terrorists. EQD.
The Wingnut sites that didn’t just ignore it claimed it was “false flag operation” by the government.
Just like all the others…
I’l like to know how these types get so damn stupid? It’s one thing to blow your piehole another altogether to attempt to follow thru.
I guess it’s like those militia assholes who never had the balls to join a military. They just don’t understand that Ramboesque abilities is the evidence of price that was paid … not the evidence of desire.
A three-person militia? If the FBI was really only brought into this one by a tip from a bomb-making supplier, have to ask why the NSA dragnet hadn’t picked up these three plotters. Not that they seemed to have formulated an actual plan as to what to blow up and when.
Difficult to assess based on such limited information. Could have been an FBI sting operation (all those Nat-Sec operations need a bit of good PR about now). Or violent idiots more likely to shoot themselves in the foot than blow up a government building. Least probable, but possible, is that they were a serious legitimate threat and the authorities lucked out when someone turned them in.
There really is no NSA dragnet, not necessarily because the NSA is innocent but because (a) the task is impossible and (b) their ability to break or ignore the law is much less than that of in particular CIA and FBI. All they have is a dead and incomplete though incredibly large list of phone numbers and their interconnections. They would not have been able to notice calls on the Georgia conspiracy because it has no out-of-US element (and it is unlikely that they will ever find any of the conspiracies they are supposed to find either). If you go back and look at the best writing on the subject, like Emptywheel’s, you will find that there truly is no evidence that the NSA listens to any Americans except by mistake.
The FBI on the other hand engages in continual entrapment exercises, but I don’t think they’re involved in the Georgia case because they don’t bother with white people or non-Muslims. The violent idiots hypothesis is the best, but remember Timothy McVeigh was a violent idiot too. I think the Feds just might be doing the right thing for once.
Yeah, the NSA reaction to finding “needles in a haystack” is “MOAR HAY”. Great for their budget, not so great for their mission.
I see a glimmer of the reason that the admin got all weaselly about whether they could use drone strikes against domestic terror targets.
Cartersville is in northwest Georgia, not that far from Rome, where the three militia guys were from. The set-up looks the same as that of most FBI cases involving Muslim “terrorists”, And the same as a case from a few years ago of two sixty-somethings discussing attacks a a restaurant in Tallulah Falls GA (if my memory is correct) in northeast Georgia. That case was a little improbable and after the big national news, it sorta quietly died. Anyone know the outcome? A plea bargain and settlement?
The problem is not that there are not militia types in North Georgia. It’s that they are not likely to be reeled in trying to buy pipe bombs and thermite (why the heck thermite?) is a place smaller than the one where they live? What industry is in Cartersville that especially uses thermite? The supposed story of their intentions just doesn’t make sense. It seems like the FBI PR person had a Chinese menu of motives, targets, and means and randomly selected each of them whether they made sense when put together or not.
This is Nathan Deal’s stomping ground. He needs to apologize to the President of the University of California for not being aware of the homegrown terrorism that was threatening Georgia’s state law enforcement officials as well as federal officials. (If you believe the US Attorney’s story.)
It would be interesting to know how the FBI handled this and if they got a scoop from NSA and then created a parallel investigation to legitimize a request for NSA data.
I also would not be surprised if the rush to the press was an attempt to create a case that proved the worth of NSA monitoring of social networks. Or does the FBI have its own monitoring operation?
None of this diminishes the fact that there are serious right-wing gun-toters in North Georgia being agitated by GOP propaganda. And they have been economically hurting for a couple of decades. (There have also been a series of drug-dealing sheriffs in parts of North Georgia.)
But three is a mite small to consider a major militia threat especially given their gullibility in this enterprise. And there is more than a little whiff of PR in the air.
Bull’s Eye! Does this have more merit than the Chicago case? A miniscule amount, maybe. Is this case manufactured to justify more spying and create more FUD? That’s how I’m betting. And heavily.
Having read the update on Steven D’s post on Daily Kos, it looks like FBI informants looking to close a case with little involvement of IT surveillance. But the testimony of informants could provide cover for the FBI to seek an NSA data search, which could pull in other people in the personal networks of these guys. Depending on what the FBI sought, it could also set an alert for when certain search terms appear in the future with regard to the captured network.
It could also be the case that the alleged informants are just legal cover for the fact that the FBI found these guys with an illegal search.
We’ll see if there’s any there there when they bring these guys to trial, if they do. Could be just a case of making more informants.