Ammon Bundy–the Idaho anti-government actor– was convicted a week ago by a jury of his peers. He was convicted for occupying the Idaho Statehouse in August 2020. If you will recall, he led a group of maskless protestors upset over the stay-at-home orders.
The Bundy family is an interesting group. Cliven Bundy, Ammon’s father and a cattle rancher, was involved in a 2014 standoff with federal officers. Among those who showed up at this standoff were Jared and Amanda Miller, who later that year targeted and killed law enforcement in one of the first pre-planned sovereign citizen attacks.
A recent blog post by Sheeraz Raza identified how Facebook is taking a more active step in identifying extremism. The social media platform has apparently developed an algorithm to identify people who have viewed “extremist” content. They receive a message, and their friends receive a message:
Twitter and other users are not happy with this, as it insinuates that Facebook is judging what is or isn’t extremist content (and, what is or isn’t “extremist”). Also, the question goes to what the social media platform may be doing with this information–passing it off to law enforcement?
While the July 3rd standoff between Moorish Nationals and Massachusetts law enforcement ended peacefully, the repercussions of the event may not be fully realized.
While the July 3rd standoff between Moorish Nationals and Massachusetts law enforcement ended peacefully, the repercussions of the event may not be fully realized. The incident does serve to refocus the spotlight on sovereign activity in the USA.
Initial reports of the incident appeared to make it out that these individuals were blocking the road on purpose. However, further reports described how two vehicles of individuals were pulled over on the road after running out of gas at 2am just outside of Wakefield, MA. The individuals were armed with long guns, and a standoff between them and law enforcement ensued after they refused to comply with law enforcement’s instructions.
11 people were arrested: Jamhal Tavon Sanders Latimer (also known as Jamhal Talib Abdullah Bey), 29, of Providence; Robert Rodriguez, 21, of the Bronx; Wilfredo Hernandez (also known as Will Musa), 23, of the Bronx; Alban El Curraugh, 27, of the Bronx; Aaron Lamont Johnson (also known as Tarrif Sharif Bey), 29, of Detroit; Quinn Cumberlander, 40, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island; Lamar Dow, 34, of the Bronx; Conrad Pierre, 29, of Baldwin, New York; a male teenager, 17; and two men who refused to self-identify.
Moorish Nationals are part of the sovereign citizen movement and were an offshoot that started in the 1990s. Interestingly, the sovereign citizen movement was originally thought of as being a white-only movement until the Moorish National movement began. Now, there seems to be just as many people who are part of the Moors than others sovereign flavors.
So, what are the implications:
Visibility. This incident sheds light into Moorish Nationals (specifically) and sovereign citizens (generally). It also reinforces the us-vs.-them mentality when it comes to sovereigns not recognizing the rules.
Bravado. It is possible that the brashness of such a group may cause other similar groups to be more obstinate to law enforcement or government regulation.
Understanding. This incident may show the marriage between traditional sovereign activity and militia activity. The group was on their way to train, were heavily armed, and appeared to operated like a militia.
Only time will tell what this incident means for the sovereign movmement.
During my initial posting in the Midwest, I became involved in several investigations regarding outlaw motorcycle gangs or OMGs. OMGs are organizations that use their members to conduct criminal activity. The DOJ recently put out a warning saying “There are more than 300 active OMGs within the United States, ranging in size from single chapters with five or six members to hundreds of chapters with thousands of members worldwide. The Hells Angels, Mongols, Bandidos, Outlaws, and Sons of Silence pose a serious national domestic threat and conduct the majority of criminal activity linked to OMGs, especially activity relating to drug-trafficking and, more specifically, to cross-border drug smuggling.”
Interestingly, I saw a recent post on The State via Yahoo News about an Indiana-based club who went out to “punish” an imposter. The imposter had tats and other markings that resembled “The Warlocks” and “The Pagans”. The imposter died.
In November 2008, I made an analytical judgement that a specific OMG would be able to start bringing in narcotics from Canada into the Midwest. These OMGs’ collateral damage was comparable to damage by street gangs like MS-13. OMGs are involved in and bring to communities murders, extortion, prostitution, and racketeering. For example:
In August 2006, two members of an OMG allegedly opened fire on a crowd filled with members of a rival gang in Custer State Park, South Dakota. Five members of the rival gang were shot in what appeared to be a planned attack.
The April 2002 River Run Riot between the Hells Angels and the Mongols motorcycle club resulted in three deaths, 36 indictments, and two convictions.
These examples may be dated, but the analysis was strong. And, the bottom line is to be mindful of where you are and what you are doing.
In my previous life, I worked alongside several incredible intelligence professionals. We ran a few confidential informants or sources together. Most of our collection was obtaining human intelligence (HUMINT) to satisfy national security intelligence gaps.
What is a “national security intelligence gap”? First, national security, from a US perspective, is information relating to protecting America, her secrets, and her national assets. An intelligence gap, on the other hand, is a set of topics decided by the executive branch. For instance, a possible intelligence gap that exists now might be information about the Proud Boys. Intelligence collectors would then ask their sources for any information relating to Proud Boys. This information is collected, analyzed, and used to inform decision makers on policies and operations. Make sense?
When running sources, my colleagues and I used a direct approach to collect HUMINT. We would typically ask our sources for information. We did not usually utilize deception or special techniques.
There is a technique known as the Scharff technique, named after World War II interrogator Hanns Scharff (1907-1992). Scharff was known for being friendly in his interrogation.
During his work, he identified three counterinterrogation strategies: 1) ‘I will not tell very much during the interrogation’; 2) ‘I will try to figure out what they are after, and then make sure not to give them what they want’; and, 3) ‘It is meaningless to withhold or deny what they already know.’ He then sought to counteract these strategies.
In a 2014 study, researchers (Oleszkiewicz, Granhag, & Kleinman) applied the direct approach and two variants of the Scharff techniques to obtain HUMINT in an empirical research setting. The researchers used the Scharff confirmation and disconfirmation/confirmation technique as the variants. The former is where potentially accurate information is provided to the source, and the source is given a few moments to comment (confirm or deny whether it is accurate). The latter is where a known incorrect claim is provided in order for the source to negate or disconfirm.
Ultimately, the researchers found that the participants in the confirmation condition provided more information than participants in other conditions. This was interesting, especially given my former experience. And, this goes to show that no matter how secretive or classified a process may be, science can make it better.
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