August 15, 2014
A leaked document from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis predicts increased “anti-government violence over the next year.” The document says the inspiration for violence is Cliven Bundy’s Bunkerville standoff with the Bureau of Land Management from earlier in the year.
DHS’s seven-page report entitled Domestic Violent Extremists Pose a Threat to Government Officials and Law Enforcement points to the recent murders of two Las Vegas law enforcement officers as evidence that there is a “growing trend of anti-government violence compared to the previous four years and inspired by perceived government overreach and oppression” and the “perceived victory at Bunkervile” will “likely prompt more violence.”
Bundy’s 20-year legal dispute with the BLM over grazing fees on federal land escalated when the agency attempted to seize his cattle in the beginning of April. An armed stand off between the BLM and supporters of Bundy ensued until the feds backed off before any serious violence erupted and left the 67-year-old rancher’s land.
Jerad and Amanda Miller, a husband and wife who were at the Bundy ranch, later killed three people in Las Vegas, including two police officers, before killing themselves. The twoleft an ominous note, swastika, and Gadsden flag by the bodies of both officers. Ammon Bundy, son of rancher Cliven Bundy, told the Associated Press the Millers were not welcome at the Ranch and were kicked out after a few days, calling them “very radical” and that they didn’t “align themselves” with the Bundy’s protest movement.
These incidents that took place in the south and the west since 2010 and that DHS counts as a “surge in militia and lone offender extremists events with anti-government motivations and targets” are: Alaska militia men, Waffle House plot in Georgia, FEAR militia, LAX shooting, XXX Militia Splinter Group, Bunkerville Ranch, Texas Militia plot, Las Vegas shootings.
From the report:
dhs-domestic-violent-extremists-pose-increasedAfter years of only sporadic violence from violent domestic extremists motivated by anti-government ideologies, I&A has seen a spike within the past year in violence committed by militia extremists and lone offenders who hold violent anti-government beliefs. These groups and individuals recognize government authority but facilitate or engage in acts of violence due to their perception that the United States Government is tyrannical and oppressive, coupled to their belief that the government needs to be violently resisted or overthrown.
