Domestic terrorism groups?Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front in particular?will continue to grow and cause havoc in the US. Their members are passionate about environmental and animal right issues but have no concern for the damaging results of their direct action campaigns.
According to the FBI, ELF is the largest domestic terrorist threat: an international underground network that carries out activities without a central organized core. The group has no official membership, no official initiation rites, no official pledge of loyalty. This network of entrepreneurialist radicals follows the al-Qaeda model in organizational structure and global reach. Elves, as sympathizers are called, are driven by their perceived dedication to environment preservation and coordinate with ALF supporters for the protection of animal rights.
The groups’ activities and adherents often overlap and are often linked in criminal prosecution. In June 2006, six people pleaded guilty to crimes covering a five state arson spree. The recommended prison terms by attorneys in Oregon range from 37 months to 15 years. The individuals’ pleas did not mean they were pleading guilty to all the crimes or were aware of all the acts, which allegedly involved 14 people. The cell leader, William C. Rodgers, committed suicide on December 22, 2005 before facing charges in Oregon. All of the defendants who entered pleas admitted to being members of the environmentalist movement.
The arson spree included a number of targeted sites: the US Department of Agriculture building (Terrorist Incident forthcoming), a horse farm in eastern Oregon , an SUV dealership in Eugene, Oregon (Terrorist Incident forthcoming), a ski lodge in Vail, Colorado , and the University of Washington Urban Horticulture Center in Seattle . The most damaging arson in US history, totaling $12 million, was the Vail ski facility. Only two people were charged in the Vail ski resort attack. A fire in 2001 at UWA was included in the indictment, but the six defendants were not involved in that incident. The individuals who were charged were not all involved in all of attacks
Proving guilt of the environmentalist movement in acts of sabotage, even when they claim responsibility, is difficult. For years, prosecutors pieced together evidence, but it never was enough to bring convictions. A task force refocused the investigation; they located a former cell member who gave investigators details of many of the crimes, including his former colleagues and secretly taped conversations.
Since the environmentalist movement migrated to the US in the mid-1990s, their direct action campaigns have caused over US$100 million in damages to car dealerships, university science laboratories, commercial entities, and luxury homes. The future for the eco-movement is solid and is likely to become emboldened to an uptick in direct action. Globalization will enhance single-issue threats (like environmental protection), and the eco-movement will remain the primary domestic US terrorist threat.
