Sovereign Citizen Movement Seen By US Law Enforcement As Top Terrorist Threat: Study

[Purveyor]

In a new study conducted by researchers tasked with studying of the root causes and consequences of terrorism in the U.S. and abroad, the sovereign citizen movement was perceived to be the gravest terrorist threat, rivaling Islamist extremists and militia/patriot groups.

According to National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism —better known as START— sovereign citizens were the top concern of law enforcement, even as a belief that some domestic groups including the KKK, Christian Identity, and neo-Nazis represent less of an actual terrorist threat when compared to a previous study.

The report, complied by START researchers David Carter, Steven Chermak, Jeremy Carter and Jack Drew, is drawn from surveys with more than 364 officers representing 175 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies. Those surveys asked respondents to to gauge their perception on the threat of terrorism, the nature of information-sharing, and their belief as to whether their agencies are prepared to deal with terrorist attacks.

In the report, found here (.pdf), researchers write: “…there is wide variation about what groups are perceived to be a serious terrorist threat. Law enforcement is much more concerned about sovereign citizens, Islamic extremists, and militia/patriot group members compared to the fringe groups of the far right, including Christian Identity believers, reconstructed traditionalists (i.e., Odinists), idiosyncratic sectarians (i.e.,survivalists), and members of doomsday cults.”

Noting that, in the 2006-07 survey, law enforcement’s top concern was Islamic extremists, the report goes on, “The change is interesting as there was significant concern about the resurgence of the radical far right (as evidenced by the 2006 – 07 survey, as well as additional concerns raised after the 2008 election of President Barack Obama), but it appears as though law enforcement is, at present, less concerned about these groups.”

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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/02/sovereign-citizen-movement-seen-by-us-law-enforcement-as-top-terrorist-threat-study/

[libodem]

1. Good

Because they are out there. They are armed to the teeth and dangerous.

[phantom power]

2. that sounds fairly reality-based to me

[riqster]

3. A couple have been caught in Ohio over the past few years.

Scary motherfuckers.

[underpants]

4. Marking

I have to look up a couple of those groups.

[Paladin]

5. Glad to hear it.

I see far more of a threat from domestic terrorists than anything that's likely to come out of the Middle East.

[malthaussen]

7. But emphasising those Middle Eastern terrorists provides cover for the domestic ones.

Simple process: we are under threat, so we must be armed to the teeth and ready to deal with it.

-- Mal

[calimary]

6. Hah. Watch the yowlings and whinings of the radical wrong/teabaggers start to muzzle this.

They screamed bloody murder at the start of the Obama years, when Janet Napolitano's Homeland Security Dept issued its report on the rise of "right"-wing terrorism in this country. They HOWLED!!!! And she retracted. But that report was SPOT-ON. And it should have been jammed down their throats and hung around their necks like the millstone THEY are, around all of our necks.

[Gothmog]

8. Cliven Bundy is a part of this movement

Budy's comments about sheriffs being the only constitutional law enforcement official is a part of the SC mythology