Operation Backfire

From the FBI today:

"We're using our growing intelligence abilities to combat the threat posed by eco-terrorists and animal rights extremists."

I was curious of course, since I write about "eco-terrorists" (eco-saboteurs here at the EW, thanks), to find out about the "growing intelligence" of the FBI.

So I followed their exciting link to their web page.

The press release, in its entirety, is below (italics and bold courtesy of the Feds).

I love the headline:

PUTTING INTEL TO WORK
Against ELF and ALF Terrorists

It creates a little confusion about the chip manufacturer but hell, I'm sure all the cool FBI kids say "intel" when they mean "spying."

I'm trying to figure out what spurred this press release: recent developments in the Seattle "Street of Dreams" fire from this spring or our own recent Homeland Security induced Tasering?

In early 2006, eco-terrorist Eric McDavid and two associates met in a secluded cabin in Dutch Flat, California to discuss making improvised explosive devices and to choose targets to bomb. Soon after, they began casing the targeted facilities and buying supplies to make bombs. But before they started mixing the ingredients, we swooped in and arrested them.
How did we know what McDavid was up to? How were we able to prevent attacks that could have caused thousands or millions of dollars in property damage and possibly harmed people?
In a word, intelligence.

Our intelligence—which included the use of an FBI source who was actually with McDavid and his associates inside that California cabin—allowed us to piece together the entire plot ahead of time.
Since 9/11, we have greatly strengthened our ability to identify, collect, analyze, and share intelligence across all of our national security and criminal priorities. And that has carried over into our investigations of violence and terror committed in the name of the environment—as well as of animal rights.
Together, eco-terrorists and animal rights extremists are one of the most serious domestic terrorism threats in the U.S. today…for several good reasons:

• The sheer volume of their crimes (over 2,000 since 1979);
• The huge economic impact (losses of more than $110 million since 1979);
• The wide range of victims (from international corporations to lumber companies to animal testing facilities to genetic research firms); and
• Their increasingly violent rhetoric and tactics (one recent communiqué sent to a California product testing company said: “You might be able to protect your buildings, but can you protect the homes of every employee?”).

ELF and ALF are probably the names you’re most familiar with. The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) are loosely-organized movements whose adherents engage in crimes like arson, fire bombings, vandalism, intimidation, assaults, stalking, etc. No membership dues are necessary—the only way to become a “member” is to engage in “direct action”…criminal activity designed to cause economic loss or destroy the victim company’s operations.
So what are we doing to counter the threat? For one, we’ve mapped our environmental and animal rights extremism cases in order to give our investigators around the country and our executive management a big-picture look at what’s happening and where. We’re also analyzing information from financial records, phone records, and mail…and working to increase our human source reporting. And we’re sharing intelligence with our partners through our Joint Terrorism Task Forces and other investigative endeavors. Sharing info with our partners, particularly at the local level, is crucial because many times they’re the first ones at the crime scene.
We’re also taking advantage of the 2006 revision to the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, which toughened penalties, created additional protections for people (the original law only covered property damage), and included secondary targets (often times companies that do business with primary targets are themselves targeted).
Our efforts have paid off—since 2005, our investigations have resulted in indictments against 30 individuals.
Of course, fully cognizant of the right to free speech, we investigate all animal rights and environmental extremism cases in strict accordance with the law and our guidelines.
So whatever happened to Eric McDavid? In May, he was sentenced to nearly 20 years in federal prison.

Read up on more cases:
- Operation Backfire
- Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty convictions
Headline Archives home

The last of the Operation Backfire sentences in Oregon was handed down on June 3 to Jacob Ferguson in Judge Ann Aiken's courtroom in Eugene.

Ferguson received no prison time and five year’s probation. He was given no fine, does not have to pay restitution and will pay $200 in court fees.

The sentence, Aiken said, was a result of extensive cooperation between Ferguson and federal prosecutors.

See the full story in Thursday's EW.

Jonathan Paul, who pled guilty to conspiracy and arson involving the Cavel West horse slaughter plant has been given a report date of Oct. 31 to serve his 51 month sentence.

Paul was designated to FCI Phoenix, a medium security facility. Paul was not given the terrorism enhancement for his participation in the arson.

At his sentencing Paul, a firefighter, said his arson was motivated by "horror and despair" over the suffering of the horses killed for human consumption at the slaughterhouse. He expressed regret at using arson as a tactic and a desire to make amends.

Not all defendants in the Operation Backfire investigation have been designated yet to prisons. Defendants who have been designated, including Nathan "Exile" Block, who was sentenced to 7 years 8 months and received the enhancement, and Daniel McGowan, who also received the enhancement is currently at FCI Sandstone to begin his 7 year sentence. Both defendants are at low security prisons.

It is unclear why Paul, with a shorter sentence and no terrorism enhancement, has been designated medium security.

A recent dispatch from the family and friends of Kevin Tubbs, the Operation Backfire defendant sentenced to almost 13 years in prison for his involvement in ecologically and animal-rights motivated arsons has possibly been designated to a high-security prison.

Earlier this week, Tubbs was transfered to USP Victorville in Adelanto, California which has multiple security levels, including medium and high, according to the update. His family and friends have not heard from him since his transfer, but write "at this time, it appears he is being held at the high security USP, which we believe is extraordinarily inappropriate for a man of his nature."

"Anyone who knows Kevin knows what a gentle, sweet person he is. He is NOT a terrorist" states the dispatch.

The last of the Oregon's Operation Backfire defendants was sentenced today to four years three months in prison -- and book report. Jonathan Paul's lawyer had challenged the prison sentence in June, when Aiken first imposed it. However, Aiken rebuffed all four of the legal challenges that were put forth.

Aiken had given recommended reading to previous defendants (See EW 7/5) but today she demanded a book report to be turned into her before Paul reports to prison on October 1.

Paul is to read New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Vision to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time which Time Magazine "called an astonishing tale of compassion."

When Aiken turned down defendant Daniel McGowan's request to delay reporting for prison, one of the reasons cited by the government was a children's book The Secret of Terjian, being sold via his prisoner support web site to raise money for those involved in what many call "the Green Scare."

EW still has not received information on when Jacob Ferguson, the defendant whose body-wired recordings with other defendants broke the case open for the government, will appear before Aiken.