Radiological-weapons threats: case studies from the extreme right

ABSTRACT

Violence by far-right extremists has risen globally and domestically in recent years. While most media and academic attention has focused on mass shootings and other deadly conventional attacks, far-right non-state actors have also considered developing chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. Some far-right extremists have suggested using radiological devices, often referred to as “weapons of mass disruption,” as one means to achieve their ideological goals. Although radiological plots and successful attacks have rarely occurred, the presence of unsecured radioactive sources across the United States augments the danger of this type of terrorism. To explore dimensions of the radiological-weapons threat posed by domestic far-right extremists, this paper studies three illustrative cases of possible radiological-weapons pursuit since 2008, aiming to identify lessons from these incidents. An in-depth examination of the cases reveals foremost that some actors successfully acquired materials needed for a radiological weapon without triggering intervention by authorities. Additionally, although the individuals did not plot in large, hierarchical groups, they had links to other people and organizations that shared their far-right views and allegedly discussed their plans with others. While broad generalizations cannot be made from three cases, these incidents provide concrete examples of the far-right radiological-weapons threat and context for understanding how far-right extremists view the role of CBRN weapons.

KEYWORDS:

• terrorism
• radiological weapons
• dirty bombs
• far-right extremism

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank supervisor Sam Meyer of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies for providing thoughtful guidance during the writing of this article. The author would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the Nonproliferation Review editors for their helpful suggestions.

Notes

1 Institute for Economics & Peace, “Global Terrorism Index 2019: Measuring the Impact of Terrorism,” Sydney, November 2019, p. 46, <http://visionofhumanity.org/app/uploads/2019/11/GTI-2019web.pdf>.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid., p. 44.

4 Seth G. Jones, “The Rise of Far-Right Extremism in the United States,” Center for International and Strategic Studies, November 7, 2018, <www.csis.org/analysis/rise-far-right-extremism-united-states>.

5 Kathleen Belew, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2018); Jones, “The Rise of Far-Right Extremism in the United States.”

6 Peter Baker and Michael D. Shear, “El Paso Shooting Suspect’s Manifesto Echoes Trump’s Language,” New York Times, August 4, 2019, <www.nytimes.com/2019/08/04/us/politics/trump-mass-shootings.html?module=inline>. The death toll of the shooting has been updated to twenty-three.

7 Institute for Economics & Peace, “Global Terrorism Index 2019,” pp. 49–50.

8 Weiyi Cai, Troy Griggs, Jason Kao, Juliette Love, and Joe Ward, “White Extremist Ideology Drives Many Deadly Shootings,” New York Times, August 4, 2019, <www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/04/us/white-extremist-active-shooter.html>.

9 United States v. Christopher Paul Hasson, GLS-19-63 at 1-4 (US District Court for the District of Maryland), Motion for Detention Pending Trial, Robert K. Hur, February 19, 2019, <www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mdd.445784/gov.uscourts.mdd.445784.9.0_9.pdf>.

10 Noémie Bouhana, Emily Corner, Paul Gill, and Bart Schuurman, “Background and Preparatory Behaviours of Right-Wing Extremist Lone Actors: A Comparative Study,” Perspectives on Terrorism, Vol. 12, No. 6 (2018), pp. 151, 153–54, <www.universiteitleiden.nl/binaries/content/assets/customsites/perspectives-on-terrorism/2018/issue-6/a10-bouhana-et-al.pdf>.

11 James M. Acton, M. Brooke Rogers, and Peter D. Zimmerman, “Beyond the Dirty Bomb: Re-thinking Radiological Terror,” Survival, Vol. 49, No. 3 (2007), p. 154, <www.doi.org/10.1080/00396330701564760>; National Research Council, Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism, “Nuclear and Radiological Threats,” in Making the Nation Safer: The Role of Science and Technology in Countering Terrorism (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2002), pp. 48, 51, <www.nap.edu/read/10415/chapter/4>.

12 Jonathan B. Tucker, ed., Toxic Terror: Assessing Terrorist Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000); Transportation Research Board and National Research Council, Terrorism and the Chemical Infrastructure: Protecting People and Reducing Vulnerabilities (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2006), <www.doi.org/10.17226/11597>; Dana A. Shea, Linda-Jo Schierow, and Scott D. Szymendera, “Regulation of Fertilizers: Ammonium Nitrate and Anhydrous Ammonia,” Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, July 31, 2013, <https://fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43070.pdf >.

13 National Research Council, Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism, “Nuclear and Radiological Threats,” p. 48.

14 Ibid., p. 48.

15 Sam Meyer, Jakob Lengacher, and Jaewon Oh, “CNS Global Incidents and Trafficking Database: 2019 Annual Report,” James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, forthcoming.

16 Ibid., p. 8.

17 Acton et al., “Beyond the Dirty Bomb,” p. 151; New York Times, “Key Findings from the Litvinenko Report,” January 21, 2016, <www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/21/world/europe/22litvinenko-report-findings.html>.

18 Charles D. Ferguson and William C. Potter, with Amy Sands, Leonard S. Spector, and Fred L. Wheling, The Four Faces of Nuclear Terorrism (New York: Routledge, 2004), pp. 31, 260.

19 Will Cathcart and Joseph A. Epstein, “White Supremacists Want a Dirty Bomb,” Foreign Policy, August 16, 2019, <https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/08/16/white-supremacists-want-a-nuclear-weapon/>.

20 Ferguson and Potter, The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism, p. 259.

21 Ibid., p. 3.

22 National Research Council, Committee on Science and Technology for Countering Terrorism, “Nuclear and Radiological Threats,” pp. 41–48.

23 Daniel Koehler and Peter Popella, “Mapping Far-Right Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism Efforts in the West: Characteristics of Plots and Perpetrators for Future Threat Assessment,” Terrorism and Political Violence (2018), p. 3, <https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2018.1500365>.

24 Ibid.

25 Anti-Defamation League, “Defining Extremism: A Glossary of White Supremacist Terms, Movements and Philosophies,” ADL Center on Extremism, <www.adl.org/education/resources/glossary-terms/defining-extremism-white-supremacy>; Pete Simi, Steven Windisch, and Karyn Sporer, “Recruitment and Radicalization among US Far-Right Terrorists,” National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, College Park, MD, November 2016, pp. 6–7, <www.start.umd.edu/pubs/START_RecruitmentRadicalizationAmongUSFarRightTerrorists_Nov2016.pdf>.

26 Simi et al., “Recruitment and Radicalization among US Far-Right Terrorists,” p. 128.

27 Ferguson and Potter, The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism, p. 269.

28 Miles A. Pomper and Gabrielle Tarini, “Nuclear Terrorism—Threat or Not?” AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1898, No. 1 (2017), p. 10, <https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5009230>.

29 CNN, “Norway Terror Attacks Fast Facts,” July 3, 2019, <www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/world/europe/norway-terror-attacks/index.html>; Charles P. Blair, Kelsey Gregg, and Jonathan Garbose, “Norway’s Anders Brevik: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Politics of Cultural Despair,” Federation of American Scientists, July 27, 2011, <https://fas.org/blogs/security/2011/07/norways-anders-breivik-weapons-of-mass-destruction-and-politics-of-cultural-despair/#_ftn1>.

30 Pomper and Tarini, “Nuclear Terrorism,” p. 2.

31 Blair et al., “Norway’s Anders Brevik: Weapons of Mass Destruction and the Politics of Cultural Despair.”

32 Koehler and Popella, “Mapping Far-Right Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism Efforts in the West: Characteristics of Plots and Perpetrators for Future Threat Assessment,” p. 14.

33 Ibid.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid., pp. 2, 15–18.

36 Koehler and Popella, “Mapping Far-Right Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism Efforts in the West.”

37 Gary Ackerman, Charles Blair, and Maranda Sorrells, Radiological and Nuclear Non-state Adversaries Database (RANNSAD) (College Park, MD: National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, 2009), <https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SCGOJE>.

38 Monterey Terrorism Research and Education Program, “Monterey WMD Terrorism Database,” <http://wmddb.miis.edu>.

39 US Department of Justice, “Neo-Nazi Leader Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Explosives Charges,” January 9, 2018, <www.justice.gov/opa/pr/neo-nazi-leader-sentenced-five-years-federal-prison-explosives-charges>.

40 A.C. Thompson, “An Atomwaffen Member Sketched a Map to Take the Neo-Nazis Down. What Path Officials Took Is a Mystery,” ProPublica, November 20, 2018, <www.propublica.org/article/an-atomwaffen-member-sketched-a-map-to-take-the-neo-nazis-down-what-path-officials-took-is-a-mystery>; United States v. Brandon Russell, 8:17-mj-1362-TBM at 3-4 (US District Court for the Middle District of Florida), Criminal Complaint and Affidavit, Timothy A. Swanson, May 20, 2017, <www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/press-release/file/968111/download>.

41 A.C. Thompson, Ali Winston, and Jake Hanrahan, “Ranks of Notorious Hate Group Include Active-Duty Military,” ProPublica, May 3, 2018, <www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-hate-group-active-duty-military>.

42 Russell, 8:17-mj-1362-TBM at 2–3.

43 Ibid., p. 3.

44 Thompson, “An Atomwaffen Member Sketched a Map to Take the Neo-Nazis Down.”

45 Russell, 8:17-mj-1362-TBM at 3.

46 Thompson, “An Atomwaffen Member Sketched a Map to Take the Neo-Nazis Down.”

47 Russell, 8:17-mj-1362-TBM at 5.

48 Thompson, “An Atomwaffen Member Sketched a Map to Take the Neo-Nazis Down.”

49 A.C. Thompson, Ali Winston, and Jake Hanrahan, “Inside Atomwaffen as It Celebrates a Member for Allegedly Killing a Gay Jewish College Student,” ProPublica, February 23, 2018, <www.propublica.org/article/atomwaffen-division-inside-white-hate-group>.

50 Thompson et al., “Ranks of Notorious Hate Group Include Active-Duty Military”; Ben Makuch and Mack Lamoureux, “Neo-Nazis Want Canadian Military Training,” VICE, October 22, 2018, <www.vice.com/en_ca/article/a3pppz/neo-nazis-want-canadian-military-training>.

51 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Atomwaffen Division,” <www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/atomwaffen-division>.

52 Thompson, “An Atomwaffen Member Sketched a Map to Take the Neo-Nazis Down.”

53 Thompson et al., “Ranks of Notorious Hate Group Include Active-Duty Military.”

54 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Atomwaffen Division”; Thompson et al., “Inside Atomwaffen as It Celebrates a Member for Allegedly Killing a Gay Jewish College Student.”

55 Southern Poverty Law Center, “Atomwaffen Division.”

56 Bridge Initiative, “Factsheet: Atomwaffen Division,” October 10, 2019, Georgetown University, <https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-atomwaffen-division-awd/>.

57 Russell, 8:17-mj-1362-TBM at 4.

58 International Atomic Energy Agency, “IAEA Safeguards Glossary,” International Nuclear Verification Series, No. 3 (2001), p. 23, <www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/iaea_safeguards_glossary.pdf>.

59 US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “The 2010 Radiation Source Protection and Security Task Force Report, Report to the President and the U.S. Congress under Public Law 109-58, the Energy Policy Act of 2005,” US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, August 11, 2010, pp. 9, 11, <www.nrc.gov/security/byproduct/2010-task-force-report.pdf>.

60 Since these materials are commonly found in small trace amounts in consumer products—thorium, for instance, is often used in cat litter, and americium in smoke detectors—it can be assumed that the amounts detected in Russell’s apartment were probably of insignificant quantities so as not to warrant a charge of illegal possession of radioactive materials.

61 Koehler and Popella, “Mapping Far-Right Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism Efforts in the West.”

62 Ibid., p. 18.

63 Ferguson and Potter, The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism, p. 267.

64 US Department of Justice, “New York Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Plot to Kill Muslims,” December 19, 2016, <www.justice.gov/opa/pr/new-york-man-sentenced-30-years-plot-kill-muslims>; United States v. Glendon Scott Crawford and Eric J. Feight, 1:13-mj-312-CFH at 7 (US District Court for the Northern District of New York), Criminal Complaint and Affidavit, Geoffrey Kent, June 17, 2013, <www.courtlistener.com/docket/4612830/1/united-states-v-feight/>.

65 US Department of Justice, “New York Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Plot to Kill Muslims”; Crawford and Feight, 1:13-mj-312-CFH.

66 US Department of Justice, “New York Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Plot to Kill Muslims.”

67 Crawford and Feight, 1:13-mj-312-CFH at 2, 9.

68 Ibid., p. 3; US Department of Justice, “New York Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Plot to Kill Muslims.”

69 Crawford and Feight, 1:13-mj-312-CFH at 2–3.

70 Ibid.

71 Ibid., p. 3.

72 US Department of Justice, “New York Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Plot to Kill Muslims.”

73 Ibid.; Robert Gavin, “Judge Gives 30-Year Sentence to Crawford in Death-Ray Case,” Times Union, December 19, 2016, <www.timesunion.com/local/article/Life-sentence-possible-in-X-ray-terror-case-10805529.php>; Crawford and Feight, 1:13-mj-312-CFH at 4.

74 Reuters, “White Supremacist Gets 30 Years Prison for His Plot to Kill Muslims and Obama,” December 19, 2016, <www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/dec/19/death-ray-plot-muslims-obama-glendon-scott-crawford-new-york>.

75 Gavin, “Judge Gives 30-Year Sentence to Crawford in Death-Ray Case”; United States v. Eric J. Feight, 1:14-cr-00012-GLS (GLS) at 7 (US District Court for the Northern District of New York), Plea Agreement, Richard S. Hartunian, January 22, 2014, <www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.97017.24.0.pdf>; United States v. Eric J. Feight, 1:14 cr-00012-GLS at 3 (US District Court for the Northern District of New York), Sentencing Memorandum, Peter J. Moschetti, Jr., November 23, 2015, <www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nynd.97017/gov.uscourts.nynd.97017.47.0.pdf>.

76 Koehler and Popella, “Mapping Far-Right Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism Efforts in the West,” p. 18; Crawford and Feight, 1:13-mj-312-CFH at 4.

77 David Holthouse, “Slain Neo-Nazi, Angry over Obama Victory, Reportedly Prepared ‘Dirty Bomb’ Components,” Southern Poverty Law Center, February 11, 2009, <www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2009/02/11/slain-neo-nazi-angry-over-obama-victory-reportedly-prepared-‘dirty-bomb’-components>.

78 US Federal Bureau of Investigations, “9 December 2008 Discovery of Radiological Dispersal Device Components, Literature, and Radioactive Material at the Maine Residence of an Identified Deceased U.S. Person,” FBI Intelligence Information Report 4 218 1563 09, December 9, 2008, <www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/fbi_maine021109.pdf>.

79 Ibid.

80 Ibid.

81 Abigail Curtis, “Cummings Had Violent History,” Bangor Daily News, February 12, 2009, <https://bangordailynews.com/2009/02/12/news/cummings-had-violent-history/>; Walter Griffin, “Report: ‘Dirty Bomb’ Parts Found in Slain Man’s Home,” Bangor Daily News, February 10, 2009, <https://bangordailynews.com/2009/02/10/politics/report-dirty-bomb-parts-found-in-slain-mans-home/>.

82 Griffin, “Report: ‘Dirty Bomb’ Parts Found in Slain Man’s Home”; FBI, “9 December 2008 Discovery of Radiological Dispersal Device Components, Literature, and Radioactive Material at the Maine Residence of an Identified Deceased U.S. Person.”

83 Griffin, “Report: ‘Dirty Bomb’ Parts Found in Slain Man’s Home.”

84 FBI, “9 December 2008 Discovery of Radiological Dispersal Device Components, Literature, and Radioactive Material at the Maine Residence of an Identified Deceased U.S. Person.”

85 Ibid.; Holthouse, “Slain Neo-Nazi, Angry over Obama Victory, Reportedly Prepared ‘Dirty Bomb’ Components.”

86 Walter Griffin, “Belfast Woman Accused of Shooting Husband Changes Plea,” Bangor Daily News, March 26, 2009, <https://bangordailynews.com/2009/03/26/news/belfast-woman-accused-of-shooting-husband-changes-plea/>.

87 Southern Poverty Law Center, “National Socialist Movement,” <www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/national-socialist-movement>.

88 Ibid.

89 Ibid.

90 Katie Mettler, “How a Black Man Says He ‘Outsmarted’ a Neo-Nazi Group and Became Their New Leader,” Washington Post, March 2, 2019, <www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2019/03/01/how-black-man-outsmarted-neo-nazi-group-became-their-new-leader/?noredirect=on>.

91 FBI, “9 December 2008 Discovery of Radiological Dispersal Device Components, Literature, and Radioactive Material at the Maine Residence of an Identified Deceased U.S. Person.”

92 Ibid.

93 Ackerman et al., “Radiological and Nuclear Non-State Adversaries Database (RANNSAD).”

94 Bangor Daily News, “Officials Say ‘Dirty Bomb’ Materials No Threat,” February 11, 2009, <https://bangordailynews.com/2009/02/11/news/officials-say-dirty-bomb-materials-no-threat/>.

95 US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, “The 2010 Radiation Source Protection and Security Task Force Report, Report to the President and the U.S. Congress under Public Law 109-58, the Energy Policy Act of 2005,” p. 11.

96 International Atomic Energy Agency, “IAEA Safeguards Glossary,” p. 23.

97 Koehler and Popella, “Mapping Far-Right Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism Efforts in the West.”

98 Curtis, “Cummings Had Violent History.”

99 Russell, 8:17-mj-1362-TBM at 4.

100 Thompson, “An Atomwaffen Member Sketched a Map to Take the Neo-Nazis Down”; US Department of Justice, “Neo-Nazi Leader Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Explosives Charges.”

101 Griffin, “Report: ‘Dirty Bomb’ Parts Found in Slain Man’s Home.”

102 Kealan Oliver, “Amber Cummings Avoids Prison for Killing Nazi Husband While He Slept,” CBS News, January 11, 2010, <www.cbsnews.com/news/amber-cummings-avoids-prison-for-killing-nazi-husband-while-he-slept/>.

103 Feight, 1:14 cr-00012-GLS Sentencing Memorandum at 5.

104 Jones, “The Rise of Far-Right Extremism in the United States.”

105 Ibid.

106 Crawford and Feight, 1:13-mj-312-CFH at 23-24.

107 Ferguson and Potter, The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism, p. 27.

108 Cathcart and Epstein, “White Supremacists Want a Dirty Bomb.”

109 Gary A. Ackerman and Lauren E. Pinson, “An Army of One: Assessing CBRN Pursuit and Use by Lone Wolves and Autonomous Cells,” Terrorism and Political Violence, Vol. 26, No. 1 (2014), p. 240, <https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2014.849945>.

110 Bouhana et al., “Background and Preparatory Behaviours of Right-Wing Extremist Lone Actors,” pp. 158, 160.

111 Victor H. Asal, Gary A. Ackerman, and R. Karl Rethemeyer, “Connections Can Be Toxic: Terrorist Organizational Factors and the Pursuit of CBRN Weapons,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Vol. 35, No. 3 (2012), pp. 236, 243, 245, <https://doi.org/10.1080/1057610X.2012.648156>.

112 Pomper and Tarini, “Nuclear Terrorism,” p. 11; Koehler and Popella, “Mapping Far-Right Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism Efforts in the West,” p. 6.

113 Nicole A. Tishler, “Fake Terrorism: Examining Terrorist Groups’ Resort to Hoaxing as a Mode of Attack,” Perspectives on Terrorism, Vol. 12, No. 4 (2018), pp. 3–4, <www.jstor.org/stable/26482975>.

114 Monterey Terrorism Research and Education Program, “Monterey WMD Terrorism Database,” Incident No. 817; Der Spiegel, “Gefährliche Giftmischer” [Dangerous poisoners], No. 27 (1995), <www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-9200358.html>.

115 Oliver Carroll, “Ukraine Turns off Reactor at Its Most Powerful Nuclear Plant after ‘Accident,’” The Independent, December 28, 2014, <www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/ukraine-turns-off-reactor-at-nuclear-plant-after-accident-9947540.html>; Arthur Neslen, “Nuclear Waste Stored in ‘Shocking’ Way 120 Miles from Ukrainian Front Line,” The Guardian, May 13, 2015, <www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/06/nuclear-waste-stored-in-shocking-way-120-miles-from-ukraine-front-line>.

116 Jones, “The Rise of Far-Right Extremism in the United States”; Koehler and Popella, “Mapping Far-Right Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) Terrorism Efforts in the West.”

117 Ferguson and Potter, The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism, pp. 268–69.