We Protect Us: Cyber Persistent Digital Antifascism and Dual Use Knowledge

Abstract

Beginning in 2018, US cyber defense architects began promoting the doctrinal strategy of Persistent Engagement (PE), amending a 2015 cyber policy based on deterrence. The PE doctrine encourages cyber soldiers to be quick, nimble, and aggressive—not waiting for an attack to defend against, and instead, maintaining a posture of constant agitation, infiltration, presence, and persistence. Although unintentional (and highly contentions), this cyber approach mirrors the strategic logic of contemporary, digital, antifascists in their efforts to disrupt and deplatform far-right activists online. The proactive, ‘defend forward’ approach offered by PE shares notable similarities to antifascists’ efforts to ‘go where they go’, and to confront the enemy in all venues and on all platforms where they are present. Through interrogating digital antifascists’ online efforts through the lens of cyber persistence and a whole-of-nation-plus approach, the cooperative proximity between State prosecutors and anti-State leftists has fostered a palpable tension deserving of serious inquiry and consideration. The purpose of this intervention is to critically probe these parallel functions, and the interplay between the State and non-State. Although such a comparative analysis shines an unacknowledged and often undesirable light on activists’ efforts, the incorporation of their research in intelligence efforts and State prosecutions is undeniable, and begs the question: How can we critically interrogate the unintended role anti-carceral, abolitionist, antifascists’ dual use knowledge plays in intelligence gathering and law enforcement?

Keywords:

• Antifascism
• far-right
• deplatforming
• persistent engagement
• cyber policy

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Stuart Macdonald and Maura Conway for their curation of the Special Issue and to the anonymous reviewers for their feedback. Secondly, I would like to make transparent that I work directly with PE-architect Richard Harknett at the Center for Cyber Strategy and Policy, yet I have not been involved in the development of cyber persistence theory or other doctrinal cyber approaches. Third, links, channel names, and authors of extremist materials have been redacted from the article (indicated by …) but provided in clear-text to the reviewers and journal editors for audit. Finally, days after fishing the edits to this article (May 2023), a central thesis argued herein was demonstrated, when I was ‘called out’ in a libelous, falsehood-ridden ‘media watchdog’ report accusing me of simultaneously being ‘antifa’ (i.e., an antifascist), and working for the federal government, specifically the DHS. While I am an antifascist, I do not work for the DHS. This conflation of roles was weaponized, inviting threats and targeted harassment because of my falsely-alleged connection to the present Democratic administration, further demonstrating that whether one is an antifascist or law enforcement, we are conflated by an entire community who wishes to do us harm.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The term ‘far-right,’ ‘rightist,’ etc. are used in intentionally over-inclusive manners to encompass a wide variety of actors—from the so-called alt-right, chapter-based networks such as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, as well as a wide milieu of white supremacists, accelerationists, civic/white nationalists, neo-conservatives, National Socialists, unlawful paramilitaries, etc. While the term does not distinguish between those who break the law and those who do not, in general, antifascist activities target street active, militant, far-right mobilizations (e.g., Patriot Front, Proud Boys).

2 Throughout, the term antifascist is used as a collective label for a diverse milieu of counter-rightist activists who may self-identify under a variety of labels (e.g., anti-racist, social justice, etc.)

3 Stanislav Vysotsky, American Antifa: The Tactics, Culture, and Practice of Militant Antifascism, Fascism and the Far-Right (New York, NY: Routledge, 2020), 77.

4 The antifascist left similarly has a technical repertoire often using tools including Signal, Wire, Keybase, CryptPad, ProtonVPN, and reliance on collectives such as RiseUp.net.

5 Department of Defense, “Summary: Department of Defense Cyber Strategy” (Washington, DC: Department of Defense, 2018), https://media.defense.gov/2018/Sep/18/2002041658/-1/-1/1/CYBER_STRATEGY_SUMMARY_FINAL.PDF.

6 Nina Kollars and Jacquelyn Schneider, “Defending Forward: The 2018 Cyber Strategy Is Here,” War on the Rocks, September 20, 2018, sec. Commentary, https://warontherocks.com/2018/09/defending-forward-the-2018-cyber-strategy-is-here/.

7 United States Cyber Command, “Achieve and Maintain Cyberspace Superiority: Command Vision for US Cyber Command” (Augusta, GA: US Cyber Command, 2018), 2, https://www.cybercom.mil/Portals/56/Documents/USCYBERCOM%20Vision%20April%202018.pdf?ver=2018-06-14-152556-010.

8 United States Cyber Command, 6.

9 Benjamin C. Leitzel and Gregory D. Hillebrand, “Strategic Cyberspace Operations Guide” (Carlisle, PA: United States Army War College/Center for Strategic Leadership, 28 September 2022), 109, https://csl.armywarcollege.edu/USACSL/Publications/Strategic_Cyberspace_Operations_Guide.pdf.

10 Anna Feigenbaum, Fabian Frenzel, and Patrick McCurdy, Protest Camps (London, UK: Zed Books, 2013).

11 Vysotsky, American Antifa: The Tactics, Culture, and Practice of Militant Antifascism, 148–49.

12 Kollars and Schneider, “Defending Forward.”

13 Kate Conger and David E. Sanger, “U.S. Says It Secretly Removed Malware Worldwide, Pre-Empting Russian Cyberattacks,” The New York Times, 6 April 2022, Online edition, sec. U.S., https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/06/us/politics/us-russia-malware-cyberattacks.html.

14 Richard J. Harknett, Michael P. Fischerkeller, and Emily Goldman, Cyber Persistence: Redefining National Security in Cyberspace (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2022), chap. 3, pgs. 77–78 [Note: Page numbers associated with this source reflect pre-print manuscript proofs and may not coincide with the final book layout. When possible, both chapter and page numbers are provided.].

15 Max Smeets, “U.S. Cyber Strategy of Persistent Engagement & Defend Forward: Implications for the Alliance and Intelligence Collection,” Intelligence and National Security, Perspectives on Intelligence, 2020, 3.

16 Richard J. Harknett, “Research Note for National Security Archive ‘Cyber Vault’ Project,” National Security Archive: Cyberspace as a Strategic Environment, 16 May 2019, https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/news/cyber-vault/2019-11-26/cyberspace-strategic-environment.

17 Talia Lavin, Culture Warlords (New York, NY: Hachette Books, 2020), 224.

18 It is worth noting that far-right actors have also pursued PE-style strategies to destabilizing the efforts of their opponents. Far-right cyber defensive strategies, while outside the scope of the present inquiry, are largely defensive in nature and less focused on gaining initiative persistence within the networks of their opponents.

19 David Vergun, “‘Persistent Engagement’ Strategy Paying Dividends, Cybercom General Says,” Defense Department News, U.S. Department of Defense, 10 November 2021, https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2840284/persistent-engagement-strategy-paying-dividends-cybercom-general-says/.

20 e.g., Kathleen M. Blee, Understanding Racist Activism: Theory, Methods, and Research, Studies in Fascism and the Far Right (New York, NY: Routledge, 2018); Maik Fielitz and Nick Thurston, eds., Post-Digital Cultures of the Far Right: Online Actions and Offline Consequences in Europe and the US (Wetzlar, Germany: Transcript-Verlag, 2019); James Bacigalupo, Kevin Borgeson, and Robin Maria Valeri, eds., Cyber Hate: The Far Right in the Digital Age (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).

21 e.g., Val Burris, Emery Smith, and Ann Strahm, “White Supremacist Networks on the Internet,” Sociological Focus 33, no. 2 (May 2000): 215–35; Phyllis B. Gerstenfeld, Diana R. Grant, and Chau-Pu Chiang, “Hate Online: A Content Analysis of Extremist Internet Sites,” Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy 3, no. 1 (2003): 29–44; Karen M. Douglas et al., “Understanding Cyberhate: Social Competition and Social Creativity in Online White Supremacist Groups,” Social Science Computer Review 23, no. 1 (Spring 2005): 68–76; Jessie Daniels, Cyber Racism: White Supremacy Online and the New Attack on Civil Rights (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2009).

22 e.g., Jonathan A Greenblatt, “Stepping Up to Stop Hate Online (SSIR),” Stanford Social Innovation Review, 22 December 2020, https://ssir.org/articles/entry/stepping_up_to_stop_hate_online; Gavan Titley, Ellie Keen, and László Földi, “Starting Points for Combating Hate Speech Online” (Council of Europe, October 2014), https://rm.coe.int/starting-points-for-combating-hate-speech-online/16809c85ea.

23 e.g., Peter J. Breckheimer, “A Haven for Hate: The Foreign and Domestic Implications of Protecting Internet Hate Speech Under the First Amendment - Note by Peter J. Breckheimer,” Southern California Law Review 75, no. 6 (September 2002): 1493–1528.

24 Susan Zickmund, “Approaching the Radical Other: The Discursive Culture of Cyberhate,” in Virtual Culture: Identity and Communication in Cybersociety (London, UK: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2002), 185–205.

25 e.g., Richard Rogers, “Deplatforming: Following Extreme Internet Celebrities to Telegram and Alternative Social Media,” European Journal of Communication 35, no. 3 (1 June 2020): 213–29; Aleksandra Urman and Stefan Katz, “What They Do in the Shadows: Examining the Far-Right Networks on Telegram,” Information, Communication & Society 0, no. 0 (20 August 2020): 1–20; José Van Dijck, Tim de Winkel, and Mirko Tobias Schäfer, “Deplatformization and the Governance of the Platform Ecosystem,” New Media & Society, 23 September 2021; Jing Zeng and Mike S. Schäfer, “Conceptualizing ‘Dark Platforms’. Covid-19-Related Conspiracy Theories on 8kun and Gab,” Digital Journalism 9, no. 9 (21 October 2021): 1321–43; Kayla McMinimy et al., “Censoring Extremism: Influence of Online Restriction on Official Media Products of ISIS,” Terrorism and Political Violence 0, no. 0 (10 November 2021): 1–17.

26 e.g., Eduardo Moncada, “Varieties of Vigilantism: Conceptual Discord, Meaning and Strategies,” Global Crime 18, no. 4 (2 October 2017): 403–23; Daniel Trottier, “Denunciation and Doxing: Towards a Conceptual Model of Digital Vigilantism,” Global Crime 21, no. 3–4 (1 October 2020): 196–212; Danny Klinenberg, “Does Deplatforming Work? Unintended Consequences of Banning Far-Rigfht Content Creators,” ESOC Working Papers (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, October 2022).

27 e.g., David M. Douglas, “Doxing: A Conceptual Analysis,” Ethics and Information Technology 18, no. 3 (1 September 2016): 199–210; Rebecca Hawkes, “Local Nazis in Your Area : Public Shaming and Communal Disgust in the Doxing of White Nationalists at Charlottesville,” Journal of Undergraduate Research in the Creative Arts and Industries 1, no. 1 (21 December 2017): 57–69.

28 e.g., Mark Bray, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook (Brooklyn, NY: Melville House, 2017), chap. 6; Alexander Reid Ross, Against the Fascist Creep (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2017), chap. 10; Patrick Strickland, Alerta! Alerta!: Snapshots of Europe’s Anti-Fascist Struggle (Chico, CA: AK Press, 2018), 75–78, 80.

29 Bray, Antifa.

30 Vysotsky, American Antifa: The Tactics, Culture, and Practice of Militant Antifascism.

31 Devin Zane Shaw, Philosophy of Antifascism: Punching Nazis and Fighting White Supremacy (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2020).

32 Strickland, Alerta! Alerta!

33 M. Testa, ed., Militant Anti-Fascism: A Hundred Years of Resistance (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2015); Bill V. Mullen and Christopher Vials, eds., The U.S. Anti-Fascism Reader (London, UK: Verso, 2020).

34 Lavin, Culture Warlords.

35 Joe Mulhall, Drums in the Distance: Journeys Into the Global Far Right (London, UK: Icon Books, 2021).

36 Vegas Tenold, Everything You Love Will Burn: Inside the Rebirth of White Nationalism in America (New York, NY: Bold Type Books, 2018).

37 Kathleen Belew, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018).

38 Julia Ebner, The Rage: The Vicious Circle of Islamist and Far-Right Extremism (London, UK: I.B. Tauris, 2020).

39 Laura Bates, Men Who Hate Women: From Incels to Pickup Artists, the Truth about Extreme Misogyny and How It Affects Us All (London, UK: Simon & Schuster UK, 2021).

40 Andy Ngo, Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy (New York, NY: Center Street, 2021).

41 Jack Posobiec, The Antifa: Stories From Inside the Black Bloc (New York, NY: Calamo Press, 2021).

42 Kyle Shideler, ed., Unmasking Antifa: Five Perspectives on a Growing Threat (Washington, DC: The Center for Security Policy, 2020).

43 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Center for Security Policy,” Southern Poverty Law Center, n.d., https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/center-security-policy.

44 Gabriel Nadales, Behind the Black Mask: My Time as an Antifa Activist (Brentwood, TN: Bombardier Books, 2020).

45 e.g., Samuel C. Lindsey and Michael J. Williams, “State-Sponsored Social Control of Illegitimate Social Movements: Strategies Used to Financially Damage Radical Islamic, Terrorist-Labeled Organizations,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 36, no. 6 (1 June 2013): 460–76; Jasper L. De Bie, “Studying Police Files with Grounded Theory Methods to Understand Jihadist Networks,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 39, no. 7–8 (2016): 580–601; Andrew Barr and Alexandra Herfroy-Mischler, “ISIL’s Execution Videos: Audience Segmentation and Terrorist Communication in the Digital Age,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 41, no. 12 (2 December 2018): 946–67; Stuart Macdonald and Nuria Lorenzo-Dus, “Visual Jihad: Constructing the ‘Good Muslim’ in Online Jihadist Magazines,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 44, no. 5 (4 May 2021): 363–86; Elizabeth M. Jenaway and Steven Windisch, “And the Last Straw Falls: The Cumulative Influence of Disillusionment among Former Viet Cong Insurgents,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 6 July 2022, 1–23.

46 Judith A. Holton and Isabelle Walsh, Classic Grounded Theory (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 2021), 12, 47–48.

47 Lindsey and Williams, “State-Sponsored Social Control of Illegitimate Social Movements: Strategies Used to Financially Damage Radical Islamic, Terrorist-Labeled Organizations,” 462.

48 Kathy Charmaz, “Constructionist and the Grounded Theory Method,” in Handbook of Constructionist Research, ed. James A. Holstein and Jaber F. Gubrium (New York, NY: Guilford Press, 2007).

49 Alice Mattoni, “The Potentials of Grounded Theory in the Study of Social Movements,” in Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research, by Donatella Della Porta (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014), 25.

50 e.g., Mattoni, “The Potentials of Grounded Theory in the Study of Social Movements”; Ina Peters, “Too Abstract to Be Feasible? Applying the Grounded Theory Method in Social Movement Research” (GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, Germany: Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien, 2014), 1–28.

51 e.g., Michael Loadenthal, “Evolving Digital OPSEC Practices Amongst Far-Right Networks,” Insights, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (London, UK: Global Network on Extremism and Technology, 4 June 2020), https://gnet-research.org/2020/06/04/evolving-digital-opsec-practices-amongst-far-right-networks/; Michael Loadenthal, “Digital Resiliency and OPSEC Strategies Amongst Clandestine Networks,” Insights, Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (London, UK: Global Network on Extremism and Technology, 10 September 2020), https://gnet-research.org/2020/09/10/digital-resiliency-and-opsec-strategies-amongst-clandestine-networks/.; Michael Loadenthal, “End-to-End Encryption Technology and Digital-Operational Security Amongst January 6 Capitol Defendants.” Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. Washington, DC: U.S. House of Representatives, May 20, 2022.; John Hendry, Michael Loadenthal, Rebecca Wilson, and Anthony Lemieux, “Recruiting and Vetting Candidates for Membership in The Base: Operational Security Concerns.” VOX-Pol Network of Excellence. May 3, 2023.; Michael Loadenthal and Rebecca Wilson, “‘He’s an Antifa Fed’: Far-Right Vetting Practices and a Culture of Distrustful Snitchjacketing.” In Far-Right Culture: The Art, Music, and Everyday Practice of Violent Extremists, edited by Marc-Andre Argentino and Amarnath Amarasingam. Forthcoming 2023.

52 At the time of writing, I am concurrently collecting data for several other studies focused on far-right security and vetting procedures based around interviews with antifascist infiltrators. As a result, while interviews were not conducted for the present study, these conversations echo as I researched and write this engagement.

53 Gayle Letherby, Feminist Research in Theory and Practice (Open University Press, 2003), 2, 3, 160.

54 Harknett, Fischerkeller, and Goldman, Cyber Persistence: Redefining National Security in Cyberspace.

55 Julie McLeod and Rachel Thomson, Researching Social Change: Qualitative Approaches (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2009), 84.

56 Feigenbaum, Frenzel, and McCurdy, Protest Camps, 25.

57 David Naguib Pellow, Total Liberation: The Power and Promise of Animal Rights and the Radical Earth Movement (Minneapolis, MN: University Of Minnesota Press, 2014), xiii; Jennifer D. Grubbs, Ecoliberation: Reimagining Resistance and the Green Scare, Outspoken (Montréal, QC: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021), esp. 197.

58 Vysotsky, American Antifa: The Tactics, Culture, and Practice of Militant Antifascism, 175–83.

59 Feigenbaum, Frenzel, and McCurdy, Protest Camps, 25.

60 Sarah Thornton, Club Cultures: Music, Media, and Subcultural Capital (Hanover, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1996).

61 A model showcasing these various roles within a continuum of involvement and risk is included at the conclusion of this article as Appendix A.

62 Mark Bray, For Antifa, No Platform for Fascism, WNYC Radio interview, 14 February 2017, https://abolitionjournal.org/for-antifa-no-platform-for-fascism/.

63 Hanna Kozlowska, “The Facebook Vigilantes Who Hunt Pedophiles,” Quartz, 24 July 2019, sec. Big Tech, https://qz.com/1671916/the-global-movement-of-facebook-vigilantes-who-hunt-pedophiles/.

64 Bray, Antifa, 150.

65 Bray, 150.

66 Richard J. Harknett, “Progress Is the Promise in National Cybersecurity Strategy,” Lawfare, 23 March 2020, 3, https://www.lawfareblog.com/progress-promise-national-cybersecurity-strategy.

67 Spencer Sunshine, “40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists,” Spencer Sunshine (blog), 27 August 2020, https://spencersunshine.com/2020/08/27/fortyways/.

68 Eyes on the Right, “Stefan Molyneux Mourns The Loss Of His Audience After YouTube And Twitter Bans,” Angry White Men (blog), 29 March 2021, https://angrywhitemen.org/2021/03/29/stefan-molyneux-mourns-the-loss-of-his-audience-after-youtube-and-twitter-bans/.

69 Kevin Collier, “This Twitter Account Is Trying To Identify People Who Marched In The Charlottesville White Supremacist Rally,” BuzzFeed News, 13 August 2017, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kevincollier/anti-racists-are-trying-to-dox-charlottesville-racists-and.

70 Michael P. Fischerkeller and Richard J. Harknett, “Persistent Engagement and Cost Imposition: Distinguishing Between Cause and Effect,” Lawfare, 6 February 2020, 2, https://www.lawfareblog.com/persistent-engagement-and-cost-imposition-distinguishing-between-cause-and-effect.

71 Smeets, “U.S. Cyber Strategy of Persistent Engagement & Defend Forward: Implications for the Alliance and Intelligence Collection,” 4.

72 Harknett, Fischerkeller, and Goldman, Cyber Persistence: Redefining National Security in Cyberspace, chap. 7, esp. pgs. 292-301.

73 Paul M. Nakasone, “A Cyber Force for Persistent Operation,” Joint Force Quarterly 1st Quarter, no. 92 (2019): 13.

74 Greg Myre, “‘Persistent Engagement’: The Phrase Driving A More Assertive U.S. Spy Agency,” NPR, 26 August 2019, Online edition, sec. National Security, https://www.npr.org/2019/08/26/747248636/persistent-engagement-the-phrase-driving-a-more-assertive-u-s-spy-agency.

75 Department of Defense, “Summary: Department of Defense Cyber Strategy,” 4.

76 Michael P. Fischerkeller, Richard J. Harknett, and Jelena Vicic, “The Limits of Deterrence and the Need for Persistence,” in The Cyber Deterrence Problem, ed. Aaron F. Brantly (New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2020), 31, https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781786615640/The-Cyber-Deterrence-Problem; Michael P. Fischerkeller and Richard J. Harknett, “Persistent Engagement, Agreed Competition, and Cyberspace Interaction Dynamics and Escalation,” The Cyber Defense Review (Atlanta, GA: U.S. Army, 9 December 2019), 269.

77 S…, “Surely All of the Lurking…,” TamTam, N…, 28 November 2022.

78 Michael P. Fischerkeller and Richard J. Harknett, “Policy Roundtable: Cyber Conflict as an Intelligence Contest,” Texas National Security Review Intelligence, no. Cyber Competition (17 September 2020): 41.

79 Richard J. Harknett and Max Smeets, “Cyber Campaigns and Strategic Outcomes,” Journal of Strategic Studies, 2020, 7.

80 Harknett and Smeets, 9.

81 Vergun, “‘Persistent Engagement’ Strategy Paying Dividends, Cybercom General Says.”

82 United States Cyber Command, “Achieve and Maintain Cyberspace Superiority: Command Vision for US Cyber Command,” 6.

83 United States Cyber Command, 6.

84 Mark Manantan, “The Missing Pieces of the US Cyber Strategy of ‘Persistent Engagement,’” The Diplomat, 28 April 2021, https://thediplomat.com/2021/04/the-missing-pieces-of-the-us-cyber-strategy-of-persistent-engagement/.

85 Harknett, Fischerkeller, and Goldman, Cyber Persistence: Redefining National Security in Cyberspace, chap. 2, pgs. 31–32.

86 Patriot Front, “Message from Jason NY - RocketChat ID: OfRgpoPrEF42NmiPy,” DiscordLeaks, 14 December 2021, https://discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja/rocket-chat/message/da6b9967-004f-4123-9315-6b5bdcf501e8.

87 Chicago ARA, “ARA Research Bulletin,” Fall 2001, 2. Emphasis in original.

88 Rory McGowan, Claim No Easy Victories: A History and Analysis of Anti-Rascist Action (The Northeastern Anarchist (#7), 2003), 7.

89 Atlanta Antifascists (@afainatl), “Thanks, This Question Is a Great Opportunity…,” Tweet, 26 November 2022, https://twitter.com/afainatl/status/1596497033892089856?s=20&t=qlnCo_zrElD5LyCvFc158A.

90 Kollars and Schneider, “Defending Forward.”

91 TORCH Antifa Network and South Side Chicago ARA, “South Side Chicago ARA,” Spring 2014, 4.

92 e.g., “∫∫∫ The Base Is A Honeypot ∫∫∫,” Telegram channel, ∫∫∫ The Base Is A Honeypot ∫∫∫, 4 December 2019, https://t.me/T…; Tess Owen, “Leaked Chats Show ‘White Lives Matter’ Movement in Shambles After Antifa Infiltration,” 9 April 2021, https://www.vice.com/en/article/88n48z/leaked-chats-show-white-lives-matter-movement-in-shambles-after-antifa-infiltration.

93 LT GEN Ed Cardon, NPR: How The U.S. Hacked ISIS, interview by Dina Temple-Raston, Radio/online, 26 September 2019, https://www.npr.org/2019/09/26/763545811/how-the-u-s-hacked-isis; Harknett, Fischerkeller, and Goldman, Cyber Persistence: Redefining National Security in Cyberspace, chap. 4, pgs. 147–148.

94 Cardon, NPR: How The U.S. Hacked ISIS Emphasis added.

95 Cardon.

96 Deborah Haynes, “Into the Grey Zone: The ‘offensive Cyber’ Used to Confuse Islamic State Militants and Prevent Drone Attacks,” Sky News, 8 February 2021, https://news.sky.com/story/into-the-grey-zone-the-offensive-cyber-used-to-confuse-islamic-state-militants-and-prevent-drone-attacks-12211740.

97 Daniel Cunningham, Sean Everton, and Philip Murphy, Understanding Dark Networks: A Strategic Framework for the Use of Social Network Analysis, Reprint edition (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2016), 29.

98 Cardon, NPR: How The U.S. Hacked ISIS.

99 For an example of a far-right activist doxed via an antifascist honey pot, see: Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists, “Danny Taylor – Salida Flag Waver, Nazi, & Wannabe Proud Boy (CO),” Colorado Springs Anti-Fascists (blog), 19 September 2021, https://cospringsantifa.noblogs.org/post/2021/09/19/danny-taylor-salida-flag-waver-nazi-wannabe-proud-boy-co/.

100 Thomas Hegghammer, “Interpersonal Trust on Jihadi Internet Forums,” ed. Diego Gambetta, Mimic: Identity Signaling in Armed Conflicts (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014), https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/vyeuz.

101 Ellie Silverman, “A White Supremacist March in D.C. Was Pushed by a Fake Twitter Account, Experts Say,” Washington Post, 6 December 2021, Online edition, sec. Local, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/06/white-supremacist-dc-march-patriot-front/.

102 Brian Stanton et al., “Security Fatigue,” IT Professional 18, no. 5 (1 September 2016): 26–32.

103 Atlanta Antifascists (@afainatl), “Weird Claim in an Otherwise Good…,” Tweet, 8 December 2021, https://twitter.com/afainatl/status/1468660524116320260?s=20.

104 Bray, Antifa, 86.

105 Vysotsky, American Antifa: The Tactics, Culture, and Practice of Militant Antifascism, 149.

106 As qtd. in: Vysotsky, 89.

107 As qtd. in Bray, Antifa, 87.

108 Vysotsky, American Antifa: The Tactics, Culture, and Practice of Militant Antifascism, 87.

109 Because such activity is so central to antifascist PE, a historical breakdown of key recent incidents is included as Appendix B.

110 Vysotsky, American Antifa: The Tactics, Culture, and Practice of Militant Antifascism, 87.

111 Lavin, Culture Warlords, 234.

112 Lavin, 225.

113 This premise—the corrosive role of paranoia—is the central focus of a book chapter included as part of the forthcoming volume, Far-Right Culture: the Art, Music, and Everyday Practices of Violent Extremists, edited by Amarnath Amarasingam and Marc-André Argentino.

114 Hegghammer, “Interpersonal Trust on Jihadi Internet Forums,” 5.

115 Manuel R. Torres-Soriano, “The Role of Honeypots and Sabotage in State-Based Operations Against Online Jihadism, 2001-2020,” Terrorism and Political Violence TBD, no. TBD (13 April 2022): 4.

116 Harknett, “Progress Is the Promise in National Cybersecurity Strategy.”

117 See https://www.virustotal.com/gui/home/upload

118 Stefania Milan, “The Ethics of Social Movement Research,” in Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research, by Donatella Della Porta (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2014), 446.

119 Beyond the recurrent chorus from antifascists, “we don’t rely on the cops and the courts,” and an avowed anti-carceral logic, one can look at the 2013 appearance of NSA/USCC Director General Keith Alexander at DEFCON, a hacker conference whose culture resembles that of the left—pro-privacy/anonymity, suspicions of law enforcement, embracing a ‘DIY outlaw’ culture, etc. While Alexander and the NSA attempted to use this engagement as a recruiting mechanism, most reporting agrees that the ‘casual, dressed down’ performance rang insincere, shallow, and awkward, failing to forge the State-hacker alliance the NSA intended.

120 Spencer Ackerman and Amanda Holpuch, “NSA Director Keith Alexander to Speak at Hacker Conference in Las Vegas,” The Guardian, 11 July 2013, Online edition, sec. US news, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/11/nsa-director-black-hat-hackers-defcon.

121 R…, “R… Manifesto” (Self-published (Distributed by R…), 2020), 4, http://t.me/R….

122 S…, “Activism among the Modern-Day Ruins of Society…,” Telegram post, S…, 20 September 2022, https://t.me/s….

123 T…, “The FBI Works Directly with ADL Every Day.” Telegram post, T…, 25 March 2023. https://t.me/t….

124 B…, “The ADL Is the FBI.” Telegram post, B…, 25 March 2023. https://t.me/b….

125 T…, “The SPLC and Antifa Whining about Us Doxing Special Agent Christopher Leckinger of the FBI…” Telegram post. T…, 23 February 2023. https://t.me/n….

126 This can be seen plainly in the Points of Unity published by ARA (point #2) and its successor network, TORCH (point #2), which both include the phrase, “We don’t rely on copy or courts to do our work for us.”

127 Stanislav Vysotsky, “The Anarchy Police: Militant Anti-Fascism as Alternative Policing Practice,” Critical Criminology 23, no. 3 (2015): 7.

128 e.g., Ben Norton and Max Blumenthal·, “Alexander Reid Ross, Disgraced Author of Several Retracted Articles, Works with Ex-Cops, CIA Spies, and DHS Agents,” The Grayzone, 14 March 2021, http://thegrayzone.com/2021/03/14/anarchist-alexander-reid-ross-cops-cia-dhs/; Rhyd Wildermuth, “Mission Creep: Exorcising the ‘Antifascism’ of Alexander Reid Ross,” GODS & RADICALS PRESS (blog), 16 March 2021, https://abeautifulresistance.org/site/2021/3/16/mission-creep; nothingiseverlost, “Is Alexander Reid Ross the CEO/Dad of Antifa?: On Contagion, Shades of Grey, and the Three-Way Fight,” Cautiously Pessimistic (blog), 28 March 2021, https://nothingiseverlost.wordpress.com/2021/03/28/is-alexander-reid-ross-the-ceo-dad-of-antifa-on-contagion-shades-of-grey-and-the-three-way-fight/.

129 Joel Finkelstein et al., “Network-Enabled Anarchy: How Militant Anarcho-Socialist Networks Use Social Media to Instigate Widespread Violence Against Political Opponents and Law Enforcement” (Network Contagion Research Institute/Rutgers University, Miller Center for Community Protection and Resilience, 14 September 2020), https://networkcontagion.us/reports/network-enabled-anarchy/.

130 e.g., Emily Gorcenski, “The Algorithm That Killed Nobody,” EmilyGorcenski.Com (blog), 13 September 2020, https://www.emilygorcenski.com/post/the-algorithm-that-killed-nobody/.

131 e.g., Torch Antifa Network, “Concerning Antifash Gordon: A Torch Statement In Solidarity With Victims Of Abuse,” TORCH NETWORK (blog), 9 April 2021, https://torchantifa.org/concerning-antifash-gordon-a-torch-statement-in-solidarity-with-victims-of-abuse/.

132 Patriot Front (John WA, Walter ID), “(DM) ND - John WA & Walter ID,” DiscordLeaks, 6 December 2021, https://discordleaks.unicornriot.ninja/rocket-chat/room/614b6b1c-0b5c-4999-b923-96929b96e708.

133 Interestingly, I located this exchange and the one between Patriot Front members two months after writing this paper, and the members’ conversation was not instrumental in developing the arguments contained herein, but have provided a welcomed confirmation of these discursive through lines.

134 P…, “When They Release Doxxes of People at Rallies…,” Telegram post, P…, 22 December 2022, https://t.me/A….

135 Vysotsky, American Antifa: The Tactics, Culture, and Practice of Militant Antifascism, 148.

136 Vysotsky, 153.

137 Vysotsky, 148, 156.

138 e.g., United States District Court for the District of Columbia, “United States of America v. Marc Bru (Statement of Facts)” (Department of Justice, 8 March 2021); United States District Court for the District of Columbia, “United States of America v. Grady Douglas Owens (Statement of Facts)” (Department of Justice, 20 March 2021); Maxine Bernstein, “Man Arrested in Vancouver Accused of Storming U.S. Capitol and Entering Senate Gallery on Jan. 6,” The Oregonian, 31 March 2021, Online edition, sec. Crime, https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2021/03/man-arrested-in-vancouver-accused-of-storming-us-capitol-and-entering-senate-gallery-on-jan-6.html; United States District Court for the District of Columbia, “United States of America v. Uliyahu Hayah (Statement of Facts)” (Department of Justice, 25 August 2021).

139 e.g., BBC News, “Met PC Found Guilty of Neo-Nazi Group Membership,” BBC News, 1 April 2021, Online edition, sec. London, https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-56604470.

140 United States District Court for the District of Columbia, “District of Columbia v. Proud Boys International, L.L.C., Oath Keepers, et. Al.” (Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, 14 December 2021), https://oag.dc.gov/sites/default/files/2021-12/Final-Complaint-.pdf.

141 United States District Court for the District of Columbia, esp. 18, 26.

142 Garfield but Anti-Fascist. “This Is a Friendly Reminder…” Tweet. Twitter, 5 February 2023. https://twitter.com/AntifaGarfield/status/1489840736405184515.

143 Gorcenski, Emily. “I Hope All @C4ARR Fellows out There Realize…” Tweet. Twitter, 3 February 2023. https://twitter.com/EmilyGorcenski/status/1489407738492846084.

144 P…, “In the Wake of the J6 Trials, Let This Be Noted!,” Telegram post, P…, 22 December 2022, https://t.me/A….

145 Phillip Martin, “It Is Happening Here: Massachusetts Has a Growing Neo-Nazi Movement,” GBH News, 18 May 2022, https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2022/05/18/it-is-happening-here-massachusetts-has-a-growing-neo-nazi-movement.

146 R…, “The Degree of Collusion Between…,” Telegram post, R…, 17 December 2022, https://t.me/n….

147 Max Taylor and John Horgan, “Primum Non Nocere – First Do No Harm,” Terrorism and Political Violence 33, no. 2 (17 February 2021): 223.

148 Tom Nomad, “As a Former Academic Myself…,” Mastodon, Kolektiva: Franklin López, 18 March 2021, https://kolektiva.social/@tom_nomad/105945311218611019.

149 Vysotsky, American Antifa: The Tactics, Culture, and Practice of Militant Antifascism, 91, 146.

150 James Pogue, “This Is Not How Civil Wars Start,” UnHerd, 14 January 2022, https://unherd.com/2022/01/this-is-not-how-civil-wars-start/.

151 e.g., Anonymous (employee of Research, Information and Communications Unit, UK Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism). “Atomwaffen and the Base,” 8 February 2022. Personal correspondence via email.

152 Harknett, Fischerkeller, and Goldman, Cyber Persistence: Redefining National Security in Cyberspace, chap. 7, pg. 299.

153 Dagmar Rychnovská, “Governing Dual-Use Knowledge: From the Politics of Responsible Science to the Ethicalization of Security,” Security Dialogue 47, no. 4 (1 August 2016): 310–28.

154 Richard J. Harknett and James A. Stever, “The Cybersecurity Triad: Government, Private Sector Partners, and the Engaged Cybersecurity Citizen,” Journal of Homeland Security and Emergency Management 6, no. 1 (30 November 2009).