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Mati BlunlGovernot
"""*:;;ffi
Ma*
S. James
Direclot.
DPS
MIAC
BULLETIN
LeaderlessResistance
February
26,
zooa
Theconcepl of
"leaderless
resislance sudaces lrom time to lime
amongvarious
"resistance"groups
who
foreseea
futlre
periodol anarchy,
or
believe theyare at war with lhegovernmenloi
the
United Slates.
Al
iisessence,
it
consisls of eitherindividuals or smallgroupsacting in accordance
wiihthe
goals
ol
a
movemenl or organization, but wjth few ornoplausjble
or
exploitable
lres
with others who may also
be
particjpating
in
the
movement.
Ulius L.AmossThere
is nol
agrealdeal
ol
inJormation
available
on the man
generallycredited
with
crealingthe conceptol
Jeaderiess
resistance-
Uiius
Amoss served with
iniormalion
andintelligenceservices
for
the
U.S.
Army
in WorJd
War
ll,
and
aJter
the war
went
toworktor the Office
of
Stiategic Services
(O.S.S.),
the
U.S-entity
thai
was heavily
involved
with clandesline operaiions
during
the war and was
ihe
predecessor
oJ
the Central
ln'
lelligence Agency.During
his
years
withthe OSS and, Ialer,
lhe
ClA,
Amoss isrecognrzed
wilh creating an
alternative to traditional
hierarchical resrstance
movements, consisling
of resilienl
cellswjth
no
discernibie
outside chain
oi
commandand
known as"phanlom
cells."
Louis
BeamA Vjetnam Warveteran,Louis
Beamreiurned
to the United States
andioinedthe
UnitedKlansoiAmerica. During.lhe
1970s, Beam
joinedDavid Duke's
Knights ol
the
K!
KIux
Klan
(KKKK),and madealtempls
to
recruit Amerjcan
servicemen
irom
For-l
Hood,
Texas.
For
theremainder oi the decade,Beam moved up
the
ranks oi the KKKK,
teaching
feiiow Klansmen
gue(illa
wartacticsand
taking
panin anti-Vietnamese
activilies
as
a
resull oldisputes between nativetjshermen
and
Vielnamese retugees
who fished tbe samewaters.
Slarting in the
1
980s,
Beam
joinedtheAryan Nalions, working with thal organiza'tion'sleadership
in ldaho.
ln 1983,
Beam
wrote
an
article
on
Leaderjess
Besis-
tance thal sets out
gujdelines
ior a resistancemovemenl drastically ditlerenl
lromits
historicalpredecessors.Tenetsahd
Principles
of Leaderless BesistanceBuildjng on Beam's slatemenl thal"lhis
author
learsthe
ledera
governmenl,lhe
article
beginswilh
a
de-
scriptjonofhlsviewoiresistanceagainsllederaloppression.'ThecrackdownonilJegalactivitiesperpe_
irated by extremislgloups,
and
the resulianlimprjsonmenl
ol
many
high_ranking
leaders
ol
such organi-zalions,provides
evrdence
for
Beam
thal alyplcal
hierarchica
organizational slructure
is nol
only ineffi'cienl bul can be used
againsl
thegroup.Whether through coercionof
imprisoned
membersor deiection
ol
others
to
law enforcemenl, an entire
orqanization
s
membershipandconneclions can
be
quickly
ex'
posed.
W
lnBeam'sview,Amoss'sworkandtheoriesprovidethebasisiorasolllronlolhisproblem.
Caliinghis
meihod
the'cell
syslem,"
Beam
compares
i1
lo
ihe
"Committees
01
Correspondence"sel up by the colo'nies intheearly daysolAnerica'sbidfor independence. Also known
as
phaniomcells"
or
leaderlessresisiance,
!nder
ihis concepl
"al
individuals
andgroupsoperate independenlly oi
each
olher, andnever
report
to
a
cental
headquariers
or
s
nqleleader
ior
direction or instuction,
as
wo!ld
those
who belong
10
atypicalpyramidorganjzation."'zFesponsibilityfortraining,planning,andaclionisplacedontheindivid-
ual.
if
1983,Beam
called
for
inlormation
distributjon
via
newspapers,
leaflels
and
compulers. Ilodern
daypractitronersot /eaderless
resjstanoe rely
aimostexclusively on compulers
and
the
iniernet, as dem-onstated
by
tbe sheer volume
oiwebsites dedrcaled
10
exilemislgroups
andideology.Beam
staled again and
again
that
adhering
lohaditionalpyramidorganizational
sfuctures
only serves lo
assist
the federalgovernmenl
in
theirwork
oi
letreting out such organizations.
As
Beam
makes only too
ciear,
[a]singlepenetialion
01
apyramidtype
ol
organization can lead tothe destruction
ol
the whole.Whereas
LeaderlessResistancepresenlsnosingleopporiunilyiortheFederalstodesiroyaslgnilicant
porlionol
lhe
Resrstance.""
Dahger
ofLeaderless
ResistanceLeaderless Resistance is, in many ways, dangerous
lor the
very reasons thal
peoplelike
Louis
Beam
promote
il.
lt
providesa
high
degree
01
inherenl operationalsecurity
for
those who
striclly
follow its
ien'ets-
One document, wrillen
by White Aryan
Besistance
Jounder
Tom
Metzger and
provldingthe"Lawsofthe
Lone
Woll," calls
foradherents to
"lnl
ever
utlermore lhan the
5
Words
to any
agent orrepresentativeot ZOG
lzionisl
OccupalionGovernmentl:IHave Nolhing
To
Say.'
There are no exceptions. Anyonewho doestalk must be shlnned irom themovemenl
Jorever.'
Metzgergoes
of
to
call
for even harshermeasures:"Former
associates oi the
talker
may
considermuch harshetpunishnent."4Transnalional
tetrorisl
groups
slch
as
al-Qaeda have,
since lhe
9-'11
altacks,had
difticllty
placingoperatives in the Uniied
States. As
most
ol
these
opera-
tives were not born and raised in the
United
States,ihey
lend
to work
coopera_
lively with others with the sameplans,making
it
easier
tor
law enforcemett
to
find
ihem.
Anotherdanger
ol
LeaderJess
Resistance
isthe
abil:ty
of
extremjst
groups
to'remotely'
inspire
disaffecled
or
radjcalized individuals alreadyiiving
in
rne
Ulireo Sraies.
A.read)
possessing
alegrlrnaleplace
ir
lhe
socrety.lhese
r'_
dvouars
areless
p'one
lo d.scovery,tTneg.oupspreaorng Ine
nessagp
seesits
cause
Jorwarded
al
ljttle
or
noexpenseor
dangerio itsell and can even
main_
tainplausibledeniability
of
the
motivated agent,
as there islittieornodirect
cof-
lacl between the
two.
ln some
instances there
is
no contacl al
all.
Ailer
a
Jew_
&
ish
Amencan murdered29
Musljmsin
the Wesl Bankin February
1
994,Rashid
Haand
Palestinlan descent,
killed one andinjured
several
Timothy Mcveigh
olner
Orr'odo)
Jews as
rhey
raveled
acrosslhp
B'oohlyl
Bnoge.6
A
weer
ano
a
halfafter
the
shooting,
HAlv4AS
issued a stalementpraising
Bazs
actions.'
in this
case
there
was
no
contact
at all
between
the
lerorisl
groupandone
whoacledin
a way
thal
turthered
the
terorists'
cause.Examples of
Leaderless
Resistance
Two
ol themosl noted
recenl
exampies
of the
"lonewolf" are Timothyl\lcvejgh
and
Tefiy Nichols, architecls oi ihe
bomblng
ol the Mutrah FederalBuilding
jn
Oklahoma Ciiy,Oklahoma
on
April
19,
1995.Bolh hadpreviousconneciions
10
miljt a
groups,but their
speci{ic actionswere
disconnectedfrom
any
particuiar
group
allowing for
a higher
degree ol
secrecyin
iheirplannjngandpreparaiion.
An
additional case
is
thal ol EricB!dolph, bomber
of
abortion clinlcs and the
1
99bAr.anta
Olynpics.
wro
nao
lormer
assoc,arions
wrlf
lhe Chnsltanldenlil\movemetroAqain, TanyqroLps
wiln
tl_'e
sane
ideologyoeneriledIom
lhese
alrachs. whi,e ar
l-e
same
Iine
oerlo
able
Io
'JlhiLlly
mailtal
lhel
own
ilno
Extremisl
anima
rights advocales
andradical
environmenlalistsare someol the
more
outspoken advocales
of
leaderlessresislance. Arsoncommitled
a1
building
sjtesand
animalresearch laboraiodes,
asweilas
improvisedincendiary
device
Eric Rudolph
attacks
againslluxury SUVs,
are
oltenperpelraledbypersonswilh
a
hjgh degree
0lafllnity
lor the
beJiels
ol
radical organizattons, bui
with litlle ornoaclualconnection
lmplications for Missouri
Leaderless resjstanceposes
anumbeT ofissues
for
N4isso!rl.
Those whochoose
lo
ac1
aslone wolvesmake theworkol
law
entorcement morechallenging.
A
limilednumber ol con'spirators
and
iew,
ji
any, linkslo
larger
organizalions
lessens
thelikelihood
of an
inveslrgalor iinding oulinlormation
on
a
plot.
Both Timolhy
N,4cveigh
and Eric Budolph
had
ties
toglolps
wjth white supremacisljdeologiesin
Missouriprior
lo their
in
tamous
aclions.The
additlonal dangerposed
by
those
in-
spired byleaderless resistanceis therisk olfudher
radicali_
zatjon. Asstrangeasilmaysound,departingiromestablishedradicalorganizalionscanleadtoaneven
grealer polarjzationof beliefs,
as thereis
no
group
toperiormthe role ofmoderaling views
or
policies.Remote,sparselypopulatedareas ofMissouri attractthose seeking isolation andprivacy,arguably
in-
cludingthosewho would usethatisoialion andprivacy
lor
theplanningandpreparation
ol
ione
woll
attacks.
lo
them.
According to
an
assessmeni
writtentor
the Depaftment ol Homeland
Seclrity,
'[tiheELF
JEarth
Liberalion Fronll websile
instucls
indrvid!als
who
areinteresled
in
joining
to avoid
existing cells,
eslab'
ijsh
their own cells, andproclaim
membershrp
rn
ELF
ailer allackingthe
property
01
an appropriate largel.Thisprocess
serves
to resisl inlillrallor
and atres1.
'o
The
Anima/ Liberation
Fronlhas
similarguidelines,allowing'anygroup
of
people
who arevegelarians
oIvegansandwhocatry
oul
actions accordingtoALFguideli;es
hav;
the
rigirt
to
regard
thems;lves asparl
of the ALF."1r
it is interesting
to
note
thal
a,though
Beam's
trealise onLeaderless Resistance calis
tor
the
iormation
olcells independent
01
any structuredparentgroup,in most,
if
not
all
cases,human nature
wilJ
interveneandaleader will emerge within
a
cell.
Without
fail,withjnanyextremisvsubversive organizalion,there
isa
core of ultra-extremistslinked by
several
lactors, themost imponant of whjch
is
the desire
and
need totake some sort ol
action.
lvlany times,
lhis
core
ol ultra-exiremists
is
not
known to
the
general
membership.
lnalmosi allcases however,
this smalicellis known 10'the
leadership
01
the
parentorganizatjonnotnecessarily becausetheysanction
the cells,
bul beca!se theyare a threat to the overallwell beingof theparent
Oroup
andpose
a
threat
to
iheallhority
and
leadership
oJ
the larger
group
A
number of other
1ac_
torsmay iniluence
the
viability
of
lnderground
ceJls:
The"BetterHaif"lactor has been
observedin
a
nunber
oi
cell
groups.
Individuaily, the
"leadership"
lacks eitherpsychologicaltraitsor technicalskill thalwouidprovidetheimpetus
Jor
the
celi to
take
action.
A complimentaryfigure
may
emergewhoprovidesthat companionship,psychologjcaltrait,skiil,
or
ambition
that makes the
two individuals
become
oneslrong entity,
and
the cell becones
capable and
more
active.
Sheerphysical
energy
andgenuinemilitaryprowess/experiencewill alsogela
unit.
lnmosl cases,these lalents are immediatelyrecognizedby oth-
ers
and
like it
or
not,
thatindivjduai
becomes a
deJactoleader, in some cases
an
objeci
of
worshjp
for
the
others.
With
these facisjnmind,
how doeslaw
enforcemenl detect,monilor,
and
disrupl theplanned
ac'
tiviliesof
a cell
group
or lone
woll?
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