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The Handbook of the Criminology of Terrorism, First Edition. Edited by Gary LaFree and Joshua D. Freilich. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Since the growth of terrorist movements and organizations in the Middle East during the 1980s and 1990s, and especially following the 9/11 attack, the term “terrorism” has become synonymous with Islamic radicalism. The conflation of terrorism and Islam has a number of serious consequences. Among these consequences is a type of amnesia or blind spot regarding other types of terrorism. This type of oversight prevents a more sophisticated theoretical understanding of terrorism and also undermines prevention and intervention strategies. Most importantly, ignoring other types of terrorism helps perpetuate anti‐Muslim stereotypes (Simi, 2010).

Despite the almost laser beam focus on jihadi extremists, right‐wing terrorism (RWT) represents the oldest and most persistent form of terrorism in the United States (Michael, 2014; Newton & Newton, 1991; Trelease, 1971). In this chapter, we discuss US RWT focusing on the history of this type of violence and the different sectors that constitute the Far Right. We define the Far Right as a network or constellation of groups (some formal and some informal) that espouse a combination of anti‐government, racist, anti‐Semitic, homophobic, anti‐abortion, and anti‐immigrant beliefs (LaFree & Dugan, 2007). The far or extreme right has been described as having a “belief in the intrinsic superiority of their own race or national group and the need to make their own race or national group superior over other groups … and a belief in the necessity and desirability of war as a means of real- ising national or racial destiny” (Wilkinson quoted in Smith, 1994, p. 35). Specific types of right‐wing extremist groups include the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), Christian Identity sects, neo‐Nazis, racist skinheads, anti‐government militias, and sovereign citizens. Right‐wing extremists utilize a variety of legal tactics—including forming political parties, organizing public marches and rallies, creating and distributing extremist literature, and developing separatist communities—and illegal activities, such as bombing abortion clinics, violent attacks on “out‐group” members, bank robbery, drug distribution, identity theft, counter- feiting, and tax evasion (see Berlet & Lyons, 2000; Diamond, 1995; Freilich & Chermak, 2009; Hamm 2001; McCurrie, 1998; Smith, 1994; Weinberg, 1998). Terrorism refers to a

Far Right Terrorism in the United States Pete Simi and Bryan F. Bubolz

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type of ideologically motivated violence that arises during asymmetrical conflict and is designed to have far‐reaching psychological repercussions beyond the immediate target (Hoffman, 2006). As noted elsewhere (Bjorgo, 1995), while most terrorists are extremists, most extremists never engage in terrorism. Extremism, however, typically generates the ideological and organizational potential for the execution of terror attacks. We begin by explaining the different types of right‐wing extremists and their core ideological tenets.

Types of Right‐Wing Extremists

This chapter focuses on US white supremacist groups (i.e., the extreme of the extreme). While there are militia groups that are primarily anti‐government and not necessarily racist or anti‐Semitic, there are also many organizational and ideological overlaps between anti‐ government militias and white supremacists (see Abanes, 1996). Because of the prominence of white supremacists in terms of their involvement in terrorism, we spend more time focusing on this sector of the Far Right. We consider white supremacists as constituting an overlapping web of movements that include various KKKs, neo‐Nazis, Christian Identity ideologists, racist neo‐Pagan believers, and racist skinheads.1 While some ideological and stylistic differences exist across these movement networks, members also agree on some basic doctrines. First and foremost, white supremacists imagine that they are part of an innately superior biogenetic race (i.e., “master race”) that is under attack by race‐mixing and intercultural exchange. White supremacists see themselves as victims of a world that both fails to acknowledge their natural superiority and also suppresses and destroys all things “Aryan” (Berbrier, 2000; Blee, 2002). White supremacists unite around genocidal fantasies against Jews, blacks, Hispanics, gays, and anyone else opposed to white power. They desire a racially exclusive world where non‐whites and other sub‐humans are vanquished, segregated, or at least subordinated to Aryan authority. They idealize conservative tradi- tional male‐dominant heterosexual families, loathe homosexuality; and detest inter‐racial sex, marriage, and procreation (Simi & Futrell, 2010).

Early Terror in America

The KKK, one of the oldest terror groups in the United States, originated during the winter of 1865–1866 in Pulaski, in Tennessee (Chalmers, 1965). The Klan was formed by former confederate officers who were seeking to build a fraternal organization that would provide social ties and a sense of belonging. These types of social motivations are common among groups that eventually transition into terrorism. Shortly after forming, the Klan and dozens of other similar white supremacist vigilante groups (e.g., White Knights of Camellia; Constitutional Union Guard) began to rely on a variety of terror tactics, including political assassination, to wage a guerilla war to fight against Reconstruction Era policies aimed at altering the system of white supremacy that defined the confederacy. Prior to the 1868 presidential election, white supremacist groups assassinated nearly 2,000 potential Republican voters in Kansas and Georgia, while 1,000 individuals associated with Reconstruction policies were murdered in Louisiana to prevent black enfranchisement. The guerillas were partly successful as Reconstruction was prematurely ended in 1877 and replaced by a slightly altered system of slavery known as “sharecropping” and a severe system of racial segregation (Chalmers, 1965; Gage, 2011; Trelease, 1971).

LaFree, G., & Freilich, J. D. (Eds.). (2016). The handbook of the criminology of terrorism. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from apus on 2023-09-20 01:29:23.

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A variety of factors led to a major reduction in Klan activities, but by the 1920s a second era of Klan activity emerged. The 1920s Klan expanded their targets to include “non‐Anglo‐Saxon” immigrants, Catholics, and Jews. By 1925, the Klan’s membership soared to 3–5 million followers nationwide, with strongholds across the West, Midwest, and Northeast, as well as in the states of the former confederacy (Blee, 1991; McVeigh, 2009).

In the first two decades of the twentieth century, terroristic violence inspired by the white supremacist ideology grew rapidly. Early‐twentieth‐century postcards celebrated black lynch- ings with photos of hanged and sometime charred bodies of murdered African Americans. White‐supremacist‐inspired lynchings were justified as necessary to protect white women and rein in blacks with too much freedom (Newton & Newton, 1991). In fact, some Klan members such as Alma White, who was particularly influential during the 1920s and 1930s, argued that Catholics, Jews, and African Americans threatened existing standards of morality by promoting degeneracy and the subordination of women (Blee, 1991). During this period, communities known as “sundown towns” used violence or the threat of violence to keep African Americans out of town after sunset (Blee, 1991; Loewen, 2005). For instance, in Sullivan’s Hollow in Mississippi, residents caught an African American individual walking about town in violation of the curfew. His punishment for this offense was to crawl a mile on his hands and knees with a bundle of barbed wire tied to his back (Loewen, 2005). Other African Americans caught in violation of the sundown rule were beaten and murdered by mobs of angry white residents (Loewen, 2005). Although not exclusive to members of the KKK, individuals who belonged to the Klan had a particularly strong presence and influence in sundown towns across the United States (Loewen, 2005). A few notorious KKK leaders such as Wilbur Phelps, who in 1911 founded The Menace, an anti‐Catholic newspaper, lived in the sundown town of Aurora in Missouri. His messages against Catholicism were received by a broad audience as his newspaper had a circulation of 1,000,000 in 1914 (Loewen, 2005). Additionally, Klan leaders used these towns as recruiting centers for their organizations of terror because they found sympathizers who also desired an all‐white lifestyle (Loewen, 2005).

RWT in the mid‐twentieth century focused on maintaining America’s version of racial apartheid. This type of terroristic violence was especially prominent as the Civil Rights Movement began gaining momentum and threatened to unhinge the racial caste system in place across the south (Chalmers, 1965; Cunningham, 2005, 2014). During the 1950s and 1960s, various Klans waged active terror campaigns to enforce Jim Crow and resist the Civil Rights Movement. For example, in 1963, a terror cell comprised of members from the United Klans of America bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four children attending a Sunday service (Kushner, 2003). The 1963 bombing was the culmination of a terror campaign that lasted more than 20 years in Birmingham (the city was known as “Bombingham”). In the 20 years prior to the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist church, black Birmingham businesses and residences were targeted with more than 48 unresolved “racial bombings” (Kushner 2003).

Terror Cells in the 1980s

Compared with the 1950s and 1960s, when various Klan groups routinely initiated violent terrorist attacks against Civil Rights Movement targets (McAdam, 1982; Newton & Newton, 1991), the 1970s witnessed relatively little RWT (Ross & Gurr, 1989). By the late 1970s, however, that began to change as groups affiliated with various branches of the KKK

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reemerged, along with a larger growth of American paramilitary culture (Schlatter, 2009). According to Gibson (1994), losing the Vietnam War, along with changes in traditional gender and racial hierarchies, led to a “backlash” (see also Faludi, 1991) that, in the most extreme forms, manifested itself by a growth in racist, paramilitary groups trying to defend themselves from progressive, liberal changes to the status quo.

The wave of RWT that emerged during the 1980s can arguably be said to have started on November 3, 1979 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Known as the “Greensboro Massacre,” this incident involved a collection of Klansmen and other white supremacists who attacked an anti‐Klan demonstration (Cunningham, Nugent, & Slodden, 2010; The Public Eye Magazine, 2007; Smith, 1994). Members of the Klan drew their weapons and opened fire on the protestors, resulting in the death of five individuals and leaving eight others wounded (Cunningham et al., 2010). In the trial that followed, none of the Klansmen or other white supremacists were convicted.

RWT during the 1980s was, in particular, spurred by the death of Gordon Kahl (Smith, 1994). In 1983, Gordon Kahl, a North Dakota farmer, tax resister, and Christian Identity minister, shot and killed two US Marshal Officers when they attempted to arrest him for probation violations related to tax fraud (ADL, 2005a). A few months later, officers tracked him to a farmhouse in Smithville, Arkansas, where a shootout ensued, resulting in Kahl’s death after he shot and killed another police officer (ADL, 2005a). Kahl’s death galvanized right‐wing extremists across the country and inspired the declaration of “War in ’84,” a credo that involved a loose confederation of groups committed to implementing a multi‐ pronged strategy to overthrow the US government (Smith, 1994).

Although the contemporary image of terrorism in the United States is largely shaped by 9/11, the empirical reality is much different (Jenkins, 2003; LaFree, Dugan, & Miller, 2015; Smith, 1994). A general overview of American terrorism during the 1980s reveals that right‐wing extremists constituted two‐thirds of the individuals indicted for federal t errorism‐related charges. Two RWT groups in particular—(1) the Silent Brotherhood, and (2) The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord (CSA)—generated a substantial portion of these federal indictments (Smith, 1994).

The Silent Brotherhood

Robert Jay Mathews founded the Brüder Schweigen/Silent Brotherhood (also known as the Order), a terror cell that was formed in 1983 and was active for less than 2 years. At first, the group consisted of a small inner circle of members mostly recruited from a variety of existing right‐wing extremist groups (e.g., Aryan Nations, National Alliance, and KKK). Eventually, however, the group grew to more than 30 members and was in the process of forming multiple cells across the country when a federal investigation resulted in a series of arrests that led to the group’s downfall (Flynn & Gerhardt, 1995). While 28 members of the Silent Brotherhood were indicted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act, Mathews was unwilling to surrender, and was finally killed during a 2‐day standoff with federal authorities on Whidbey Island, Washington (Flynn & Gerhardt, 1995). Prior to the group’s demise, the Silent Brotherhood was responsible for multiple murders, bombings, weapons violations, and two armored truck robberies that generated approximately US$4 million for the group, which was distributed across various right‐wing extremist organizations (Flynn & Gerhardt, 1995; Smith, 1994).

LaFree, G., & Freilich, J. D. (Eds.). (2016). The handbook of the criminology of terrorism. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. Created from apus on 2023-09-20 01:29:23.

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Several years later, the Silent Brotherhood inspired the founding of the Order II, which drew members exclusively from Aryan Nations, and was interested in carrying on the work of the original Order (Smith, 1994). The Order II was entirely different from the original Order, and was comprised of a small seven‐person terror cell that committed five bombings in 1986 alone. The group’s leader, David Dorr, was responsible for at least six of the bombings and at least two murders (Smith, 1994). By 1988, the group’s remaining members were convicted for various crimes. In addition to the Order and Order II, the CSA was also responsible for a significant amount of RWT committed in the United States.

CSA

Minister James Ellison formed CSA in 1971 as a Christian evangelical retreatist commune, but the group grew increasingly radical by the late‐1970s, after Ellison claimed to have had a vision of a coming race war (Noble, 1998). CSA members also created paramilitary training areas that included a mock village called “Silhouette City … complete with pop‐up targets of blacks, Jews, and police officers wearing Star of David badges” (Wright, 2007, p. 84). In 1982, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suspected that CSA had over 100 active members living on or in close proximity to their compound on the Arkansas–Missouri border (Noble, 1998), while others estimated the number at closer to 200 (Wright, 2007). CSA members prepared for the coming race war by attending gun shows where they formed alliances with members of other radical groups including Aryan Nations, Silent Brotherhood, Posse Comitatus, local KKK chapters, Elohim City, and the Christian Patriot Defense League (Wright, 2007).

By the early 1980s, CSA declared the compound “an arms depot and paramilitary training ground for Aryan warriors” (Smith, 1994, p. 64). Following their declaration, CSA planned the assassinations of a local FBI agent and a US district judge, and plotted arsons, bombings, and the poisoning of municipal water supplies. The original plan to destroy the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was hatched by CSA members nearly 12 years before Timothy McVeigh and his accomplices completed the act (Noble, 1998). Although CSA failed to execute most of their terrorist plans, community members and their associates did bomb a Missouri community church known to support homosexuality and an Indiana Jewish community center. CSA members also detonated explosives near a natural gas pipeline in Arkansas; robbed and murdered a pawnshop owner they thought was Jewish; and murdered an African American Arkansas state trooper (Smith, 1994).

CSA’s spree of violence ended in April 1985 after Ellison and others surrendered at their compound following a 4‐day standoff with federal agents (Noble, 1998). The FBI’s search of the CSA compound uncovered land mines, a large supply of cyanide, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and nearly 200 firearms including machine guns, assault rifles, and anti‐ tank rockets (Noble, 1998). The raid led to the federal indictment of 17 CSA members, and in September 1985 CSA leaders James Ellison and Kerry Noble and four other CSA activists were sentenced to lengthy federal prison terms on racketeering and weapons charges, which effectively destroyed the group and the settlement.2

No Lack of Effort: Foiled Plots in the 1990s

During the 1990s, 44% of terrorism‐related federal indictments involved right‐wing extremists (Simi & Futrell, 2010). Aside from 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing is the most deadly act of terrorism to occur on American soil. But RWT during the 1990s neither began

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nor ended with McVeigh and his conspirators. The Southern Poverty Law Center reports that, in the 5 years following the Oklahoma City bombing, more than 36 terrorist plots were planned or carried out by right‐wing extremists (Blejwas, Griggs, & Potok, 2005). The list includes plans to: bomb or burn government buildings, banks, refineries, utilities, clinics, synagogues, mosques, memorials, and bridges; to assassinate police officers, judges, politi- cians, Civil Rights Movement figures, and others; to rob banks, armored cars, and other criminals; and to amass illegal machine guns, missiles, explosives, and biological and chemical weapons (Blejwas et al., 2005, p. 1). In addition, the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) has documented over 160 Far Right–ideologically motivated homicide incidents since 1990, with the largest number driven by antipathy toward racial/ethnic minorities (Freilich, Chermak, Belli, Gruenewald, & Parkin, 2014).

Prior to the Oklahoma City bombing, the Aryan Republican Army (ARA) began a spree of 22 successful bank robberies across the Midwest, lasting from 1994 until 1996. According to some reports (Hamm, 2001; Wright, 2007), the ARA was linked to Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing. In the months following the Oklahoma City bombing, the “Sons of Gestapo” derailed an Amtrak train near Hyder, Arizona, killing one passenger and injuring scores of others. The perpetrators were never apprehended (SPLC, 2012). In November 1995, four members of the Oklahoma Constitutional Militia were indicted on federal charges related to plans of bombing abortion clinics, gay bars, and the Southern Poverty Law Center office in Montgomery, Alabama (SPLC, 2012).

Aside from the Oklahoma City bombing, the Olympic Park bombing was arguably the most substantial act of Far Right terrorism during the 1990s. After a lengthy multi‐year “manhunt,” Eric Rudolph was arrested for the 1996 Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia, and additional bombings that targeted abortion clinics in Atlanta and Birmingham, Alabama, and an Atlanta lesbian nightclub. Rudolph’s attacks killed two and injured 119 people. Although his exact motivations and links to other extremists remain somewhat mysterious, what is clear is that at the time of the offense, Rudolph was vehemently anti- abortion, antigay, antifeminism, racist, anti‐Semitic, and felt that American culture was rapidly deteriorating (Vollers, 2007). In addition, Rudolph had a long history of associa- tions with Christian Identity adherents and other right‐wing extremists. When Rudolph was 18, he lived for 6 months at Pastor Dan Gayman’s Christian Identity community, the Church of Israel, in Schell City, Missouri, where Gayman served as his mentor and considered Rudolph a potential husband for one of his daughters (Vollers, 2007).

Other violent RWT plots that involved explosives were also prevented in other parts of the United States. For instance, three members of the True Knights of the KKK were arrested in 1997 and convicted of conspiring to use explosive devices on a natural gas refinery in Fort Worth, Texas (Akins, 2006; SPLC, 2012). The plot involved planting bombs under gas storage tanks, which, when exploded, would release a toxic gas, hydrogen sulfide, into the atmosphere, poisoning the local community (Hafez & Rasmussen, 2012; Johnson, 2012). When speaking of harm that would have been imposed on the victims, one Klan member and co‐conspirator, Catherine Dee Adams, noticed a child near the refinery and stated “I hate to be that way but if it has to be…” (Akins, 2006, p. 134). The explosion of the natural gas refinery was intended to cause mass casualties, but was also meant to divert the attention of law enforcement, which would allow members of the group to rob an armored car (Akins, 2006). Although members of the group detonated two “practice” bombs in preparation for the attack on the natural gas refinery (Johnson, 2012), the bombing was ultimately pre- vented because Robert Spence, the team leader and KKK imperial wizard, had second thoughts and decided to report the plan to the FBI (Hafez & Rasmussen, 2012). If successful,

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the attack might have killed somewhere around 10,000–30,000 people (including a school full of children) (Hafez & Rasmussen, 2012; SPLC, 2012). All individuals involved in the incident pled guilty to charges of conspiracy, and Spence was entered into the witness protection program (SPLC, 2012).

Other attacks organized by RWT were also designed to inflict mass casualties. On February 23, 1998, three individuals with connections to the Christian Knights of the KKK, as well as three additional individuals who were members of The New Order, were arrested for plots to poison water supplies and plant bombs (ADL, 2001). Part of the plan included blowing up the Southern Poverty Law Center building and assassinating a federal judge as well as Morris Dees, civil rights attorney, and co‐founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC, 2012). All six individuals were convicted of weapons charges and received prison sentences of up to 7 years (SPLC, 2012).

Lone‐Offender Terrorism

“Lone‐wolf terrorism” is one of the most recent types of terrorism to gain widespread attention (Gruenewald, Chermak, & Freilich, 2013; McCauley, Moskalenko, & Van Son, 2013). The definition of what constitutes lone‐wolf terrorism remains unclear, although recent efforts distinguish between “lone wolves,” “loners,” and “wolf packs” (Gruenewald et al., 2013). Lone‐wolf terrorism refers to crimes or violence committed by individuals who operate independently but maintain extremist group memberships or affiliations to other active extremists who belong to extremist groups. These individuals differ from loner terrorists who self‐radicalize and maintain no direct contact or membership with an extremist group. Finally, wolf packs refer to individuals who commit acts of terrorism in groups while also maintaining extremist group membership or affiliations (Gruenewald et al., 2013).

Interestingly, the contemporary genesis of the term lone‐wolf terrorism is neither law enforcement nor academia but rather the US white supremacist movement. In the 1990s, white supremacist propagandists Alex Curtis and Tom Metzger popularized the term, while Louis Beam, a leading Klan and Aryan Nations representative, proposed, in the early 1980s, a “point system” that awarded scores to would‐be assassins based on the importance of their targets (ADL, 2005b). Beam encouraged “leaderless resistance” efforts where single individ- uals or small cells engaged in crime because such activities occur outside of the group and reduce visibility from law enforcement (Beam, 1992). Additionally, individuals acting on their own diminish the threat of civil liability that can be used to bankrupt an entire orga- nization (Beam, 1992). Other prominent white supremacist leaders such as William Pierce (now deceased), founder of the National Alliance and author of Hunter (a depiction of a fictional lone wolf that was dedicated to Joseph Paul Franklin, a real white supremacist lone‐wolf assassin who killed at least 13 people across the United States), have also advo- cated this type of violence as a useful strategy at a time when white supremacists are greatly outnumbered and do not have the resources to wage open warfare. Because of this history, we prefer to use the term “lone‐offender terrorism” in order to avoid perpetuating the very sensationalism that propagandists such as those mentioned in the preceding text were seeking by using the term “lone wolf.”

The strategy of lone‐offender violence in the name of a political cause has a long history. In recent decades, the US Far Right has been especially prolific in producing this type of violence. In fact, a majority (54%) of Far Right attacks that occurred in the United States between the years of 1990 and 2012 involved a single perpetrator (Perliger, 2012, p. 121).

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For example, in 2009, Far Right lone offenders killed at least 10 people in incidents that ranged from the neo‐Nazi James von Brunn’s attempted massacre at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, to Scott Roeder’s shooting and killing of a Kansas doctor known for performing late‐term abortions, to neo‐Nazi Richard Poplawski who shot and killed three Pittsburgh police officers, in part, because he feared losing his gun rights, to Keith Luke of Brockton, Massachusetts, who shot and killed two African immigrants, then raped and tried to murder a third. After police apprehended him, Luke confessed that the slayings were part of his plot to kill as many non‐whites and Jews as possible. He  had planned to continue his killings at a synagogue bingo hall later that  night (ADL, 2013).

Luke’s violent attack, in particular, highlights some important aspects of lone‐offender terrorism. Unlike other lone offenders with known direct ties to organized extremist groups, Luke apparently radicalized completely online, where he spent most of his free time on white power websites, such as Podblanc, which celebrates racially motivated murder, along with “lone‐wolf ” domestic terrorism, and features videos of skinheads in several countries beating non‐white immigrants to death (SPLC, 2009). According to the Anti‐Defamation League, Luke was especially active online in the weeks leading up to his killing spree, surfing racist websites, posting racist commentary, and watching more than 2,300 white power videos on YouTube (ADL, 2013; JTA, 2014). Most of the videos that he tagged as favorites “were anti‐Semitic or white supremacist in nature, with titles such as “Aryans Rise—They Seek Your Death” (ADL, 2013).

More recently, on August 5, 2012, Wade Michael Page opened fire at a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, just outside of Milwaukee, killing six temple members and wound- ing four others. In the decade before his shooting rampage, Page, a neo‐Nazi Hammerskin, made a name for himself among white supremacists as a member of several well‐known white power bands with names like Youngland, Intimidation One, End Apathy, and Definite Hate.

Less than 2 years later, in suburban Kansas City on Passover eve 2014, Frazier Glenn Miller3 gunned down a 14‐year‐old boy and his grandfather outside a Jewish Community Center. He then murdered another woman outside a nearby Jewish retirement community. As television cameras documented his arrest, Miller, one of the Klan leaders in the Greensboro Massacre 35 years earlier, shouted “Heil Hitler!” (CBS News, 2014).

Two of the most recent Far Right lone‐offender attacks involved violence directed toward law enforcement—a common target among Far Right terrorists (Freilich & Chermak, n.d.). On June 8, 2014, right‐wing extremists Jerad and Amanda Miller fatally shot two police officers while they were eating lunch at a Las Vegas strip mall (ADL, 2014). The officers were ambushed; shot at point blank range; and their badges, weapons, and ammunition were taken from their bodies (The Washington Post, 2014a). The Millers covered their bodies with a Gadsden flag, a common symbol adopted by a variety of Far Right extremists (The Washington Post, 2014a). The two individuals then fled to Wal‐Mart, where they shot and killed a civilian before engaging in a shootout with law enforcement and eventually committing suicide (ADL, 2014). The day prior to the killings, Jerad Miller posted on the social media website Facebook, “The dawn of a new day. May all of our coming sacrifices be worth it” (ADL, 2014).

Shortly after the attacks in Las Vegas, another ambush occurred on a state police barracks in Blooming Grove, Pennsylvania (The Washington Post, 2014b). Anti‐government surviv- alist Eric Frein shot two police officers, resulting in serious injury to Alex Douglass and the death of Bryon Dickson (Alaska Dispatch News, 2014). Frein was reportedly upset with

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government officials and expressed a desire to kill law enforcement officers and engage in mass acts of violence (Alaska Dispatch News, 2014). After the shooting incident, Frein escaped to the woods of the Pocono Mountains and remained at large for more than 6 weeks (Pradelli, 2015; SPLC, 2014). The manhunt involved over 1,000 officers and cost approximately US$10 million, until Frein was apprehended in a field near an airport hangar where he sought refuge (SPLC, 2014). While searching the hangar, law enforcement found a handgun, computer, and two rifles (Pradelli, 2015). Authorities also found pipe bombs that belonged to Frein, which resulted in charges of possessing weapons of mass destruction (SPLC, 2014). In addition to being charged with possession of weapons of mass destruction, Frein was also charged with murder, homicide of a law enforcement officer, and attempted murder (SPLC, 2014). The prosecutor assigned to the case is seeking the death penalty (Pradelli, 2015).

Recent studies provide much needed empirical evidence about the characteristics of lone‐offender terrorism. According to a recent study that examined incidents of Far Right acts of terrorism that resulted in murder between the years of 1990 and 2008, the average age of the lone offender was 32 years, 57% of lone offenders had a prior arrest, and the most prevalent type of weapon used in these incidents was a firearm (44%) (Grunewald et al., 2013). In comparison, over 80% of “loners” and approximately 23% of “wolf pack” members were found to use firearms (Grunewald et al., 2013). Additionally, it was determined that, contrary to popular belief, the frequency of Far Right lone‐offender attacks have not increased in the past decade. Specifically, the frequency of lone‐offender attacks was highest in the 1990s, and these types of incidents have actually decreased in frequency since 2001 (Grunewald et al., 2013).

Lone‐offender terrorism has both strengths and limitations in terms of its effectiveness as a terrorism tactic. Compared with group‐based terror plots, lone offenders pose substan- tial challenges in terms of pre‐attack detection and infiltration. A single individual who does not share his/her plans is very difficult to interdict. In addition, a single individual may act more spontaneously, making advance warning even less likely. At the same time, lone offenders rarely possess the necessary capacity to inflict mass casualties, and thus these attacks tend to be far less lethal (Perliger, 2012).

Conclusion

In recent years, the term “terrorism” has become synonymous with Islamic radicalism and others sources of foreign threats; however, right‐wing domestic terrorism represents the oldest form of terrorism in the United States (Chalmers, 1965; Michael, 2014; Newton & Newton, 1991; Trelease, 1971), and accounts for a significant number of domestic fatalities in the past fifteen years (New America Foundation, 2014). While the terms “Far Right” or “right‐wing extremist” covers a broad constellation of movements, ideologies, groups, and individuals, there are certain common and overlapping characteristics that cut across this constellation.

This chapter focused primarily on white supremacists who belong to many different local, national, and international networks but have a shared belief in uniting against Jews, African Americans, Hispanics, homosexuals, and anyone else opposed to the supremacy of the white race. Many of these groups have a long history of terrorism in the United States; however, the KKK has the longest history of RWT, and continues to remain active today in various forms.

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Throughout the twentieth century, Klan groups initiated violent attacks across the country. By the end of the 1970s, white supremacists were increasingly adopting neo‐ Nazism and Christian Identity. Two Far Right terror groups active in the 1980s best e xemplify these trends: the Bruder Schweigen and the CSA. Specific acts of terrorism c ommitted by these groups included multiple murders, bombings, weapons violations, and armored truck robberies (Flynn & Gerhardt, 1995; Smith, 1994). The 1990s witnessed another surge of Far Right terrorism, including the highly lethal attack on the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City that resulted in the deaths of 168 individuals.

More recently, lone‐offender terrorism has gained a significant amount of attention and refers to individuals who commit acts of terrorism individually but maintain membership in an extremist group or affiliations to other active extremists who belong to extremist groups (Grunewald et al., 2013). Lone‐offender terrorists include James von Brunn, Scott Roeder, Keith Luke, Wade Michael Page, Frazier Glenn Miller, and others who have c ommitted murder for reasons associated with the ideological and political beliefs of the Far Right.

It is unlikely that acts of Far Right terrorism will ever end completely; however, scholars and practitioners should continue researching the behavior of such groups with the goal of furthering our understanding of extremist groups and informing policies aimed at preven- tion and intervention. Future research on Far Right terrorism should place additional emphasis on the trajectory of individuals as they radicalize into movement participation. Specifically, research should consider studying individuals as they transition from one group to another (paying close attention to the degree of extremist beliefs and violent behavior associated with each group), as well as those individuals who maintain simulta- neous memberships in multiple extremist groups. This information would help scholars and practitioners understand the complexity of extremist involvement, the progression of radicalization or de‐radicalization, and the degree to which adherence to ideological beliefs corresponds with group membership. Triggering events and social and psychological processes associated with de‐radicalization and disengagement from groups on the Far Right should also be examined further with the intent of developing programs to influence group exit and violence reduction. Future research might uncover previously unidentified sources of de‐radicalization and disengagement that may be used by programs to help pre- vent future acts of terrorism among members of the Far Right. Finally, research should further investigate specific law enforcement responses to Far Right terrorism, such as the effectiveness of terrorist threat assessment models and agent provocateur tactics through the use of undercover agents and confidential informants. Specifically, research should investigate the effectiveness of threat assessment models in detecting the occurrence of Far Right terrorism and whether infiltration has the unintended consequence of further alien- ating and solidifying distrust and anger among members of the Far Right. Although con- ducting future research in this area presents numerous challenges, the information gleaned may prevent future victimization and acts of terror.

Notes

1 While Christian Identity adherents are by definition white supremacists, most neo‐Pagans are not associated with the white supremacist movement.

2 Kerry Noble, James Ellison’s right‐hand man, testified against Ellison, rejected Aryan ideology, and now writes and speaks publicly about the threat of domestic terrorism from extremist white power groups.

3 He also used the name “Frazier Glenn Cross.”

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