Earth Liberation Front Essay

With over 600 criminal acts resulting to to a owing(p)er extent than $100 million in property damages, the realm kindling trend has been dubbed as the roughly active and destructive domestic panicist root word in the joined estates by the Federal role of Investigation (FBI). Unlike international terrorism, mostly carried out by Muslim radicals seeking Holy state of war with America, domestic terrorism falls under the category of special am do extremists according to the FBI, the lead agency in counterterrorism. special inte eternal sleep extremists manner acts of politically motivated emphasis to force segments of society, including the general public, to change attitudes just about thin outs considered important to their gos. These aggroups occupy the extreme fringes of animal rights, pro-life, environmental, antinuclear, and former(a) movements (FBI, 1999, p. 20). The brownie conducts stochastic economic sabotage by destroying facilities and industries involve i n logging, genetic engineering, capability production and railway car making to prevent the exploitation of the native environment.The group believes that in order to preserve the universes ecological counterbalance they pee-pee to tear down the U. S. capitalist economic system that continually ab recitations nature for profit. James F. Jarboe, FBIs domesticated terrorism Section Chief, testified in 2002 before the U. S. sexual relation describing the pyxie as the top domestic terror group which could become a serious threat to nuclear sites. In 2005, the U. S. part of Homeland Security branded hobgoblin as the most aggressive terrorist element among the radical environmental movement. Members, who call themselves Elves, engage in a mod brand of hostility named eco-terrorism.They argon committed to oblige their cause by all means necessary through engage actions and revolutionary violence. Due to the autonomous nature of the movement with no chunk chain of command, law enforcement agencies admitted that they have difficulty in infiltrating the group disdain several major arrests and indictments. The FBI alleged that William C. Rodgers was the leader of the group. He was arrested in celestial latitude 2005 but committed suicide while in jail utilize a shaping bag. elfs base of operation is in the main located in Canada, United Kingdom, and United States.Origin rascal originated in 1992 in Brighton, England devoted to protect and save the environment. It was established by a more radical group of activists known as Earth first base who thinks that criminal acts like economic sabotage would better advanced its cause rather than legal protests. The name was derived from an otherwise movement Animal spillage Front (ALF) who likewise use the same method in promoting their ideals of liberating the animals from abuse. The twain organizations forged alliance in 1997 and have claimed more than 1,200 criminal acts causing over $100 million in prope rty damages for the other(prenominal) 15 divisions.Members employ illegal direct actions by using incendiarism in confronting companies and pulls they see as abusive and immoral. With such tactic they intrust to impose economic loss or cripple business operations. ELF surfaced in America in 1996 by burning a U. S. woodwind Service truck in Oregons Willamette National woodwind and dust-painted the building with anti-logging slogans. Since then, ELF cover upd attacking big businesses year after year befitting the most wanted terrorist group. The movement is funded by rich benefactors and other allied organizations sympathetic to its cause like the People for honorable Treatment of Animals (PETA).Organization, Ideology and Tactics ELF is an underground movement with a decentralize structure. It is a loose network of small groups or individuals who sympathize with the movement. Anyone can be a member as long as he or she simply follows the ELFs guidelines to inflict maximal economic damage on those profiting from the destruction and exploitation of the inherent environment, to give notice (of) to, and to educate the public about the atrocities committed against the earth and all species that be it and to pee-pee all necessary precautions against harming life (Rosebraugh, 2004, p.18). The group is practically imperceptible with no official members, leaders or spokesperson. In this manner, they can continue to freely fight for their cause without the fear of being imprisoned and this practice has been proven to be very effective. The group is rooted in an political orientation that considers all living organisms on earth possess moral rights and deserve equal cargon as the humans. In addition, the ELF also believes in deep environmental science favoring the rollback of civilization and restoring the environment damaged by selfish interests brought about by the industrial age.This philosophy maintains that modernization has created eonian injustic es on the planet that will lead to the destruction of human creative activity on earth and the extinction of wildlife habitat. ELF recognizes that the environmental movement has failed to pot down the message across and brought about changes in preserving the environment. The legal protests did not transport the attention of the public and the government but instead laws have boost many big businesses to profit from the exploitation of the earths natural resources.Members of the group believe that it is inwardly their rights to protect the environment and enforce the natural law. They accomplish their mission in many innovative tactics or proficiencys. Their primary weapon is fire-raising burning various properties, search laboratories, fomites, equipment, and buildings. They would use crude incendiary devices like candles that be attached to a plastic jugs filled with gasoline. They use booby trapped letters with poisoned razor blades and issue death threats to exploiters. Members also engage in vandalism by spray painting their orchestrates as well as break windows and glue locks.In addition, the ELF advocates monkeywrenching, a euphemism for acts of sabotage and property destruction against industries and other entities perceived to be damaging to the natural environment. Monkeywrenching includes tree spiking, arson, sabotage of logging or construction equipment, and other types of property destruction (FBI, 2002, 10). Their main goal is still to channel public attention to their cause and not kill people. So far of all the criminal acts the group committed there has been no single human casualty reported.The group has become effective in their campaign while eluding authorities because of its leaderless metro. Leaderless resistance is a technique by which terrorist groups can carry out violent acts while bring down the risk of infiltration by law enforcement elements. The basic principle of leaderless resistance is that there is no centralized authority or chain-of-command. The various cells are linked by shared ideology but otherwise are autonomous, for the most part unconnected and unknown to each other (Leader & Probst, 2004, p. 2). in the first place an attack is executed, the group plans carefully its any move.Members would thoroughly study the target with video and photo surveillance, conduct comprehension gathering, and research the industry. In 2001, the ELF came out with a handbook entitled Setting Fires with Electrical cartridge holderkeepers An Earth firing off Front Guide. The 37-page manual details how to assemble an Old-Fashioned Kitchen Timer and a SCR Digital Timer complete with instructions, tips, diagrams, materials, and tools inquireed. It advises members on the rules of a prospering arson, where to place incendiary devices, and fuel requirements to burn down a building.Currently, ELF has launched a nationwide campaign of arson against genetic engineering and genetically modified organism activi ties. The group believes that these actions, genetically alternating life forms, are types of oppression and destruction. In its Illegal Incidents Report A 25 class History of Illegal Activities by Eco and Animal Extremists, the Foundation for Medical explore in cap, D. C. noted that both ELF and its partner ALF were responsible for 529 attacks against research facilities, universities, drug discovery companies, and various organizations from 1981 to 2005.The assaults were do up of vandalism (45%), stealth (23%), harassment (15%), arson (10%), and bombing (7%). According to U. S. law enforcement, radical environmentalism shortly poses the most visible homegrown threat to the national security of the United States. As recently as June 2004, the FBI designated eco-terrorismthe use of or threat to use violence in protest of harm inflicted on animals and the worlds biosphereas the countrys number one militant scrap emanating from inside its own borders (Chalk, Hoffman, Reville, & Kasupski, 2006, p. 47).Criminal Activities This shadowy movement has unprecedented enter of criminal activities that continuously threaten American society and democracy. Their history of violence expands across the U. S. hitting various institutions such as government, private citizens, education, and other forms of development. In 1997, ELF burned down the Bureau of Land way horse corral in Oregon and on the following year set fire on a ski resort in Vail, Colorado that resulted in $12 million in damages. The group set seven separate fires destroying three buildings and damaging four chairlifts.The FBI considered this event as the most destructive act of eco-terrorism in U. S. history. In 1999, ELF radicals were relate in the burning of an 8,000 square-foot structure of the Boise Cascade logging caller-up in Monmouth, Oregon and the destruction of the Agricultural Hall of the Michigan State University. In September 8, 2001, the group burned a McDonald outlet in Tucson causing $500,000 in damages. In 2003, this extremist set fire on a housing complex that was under construction in San Diego smash down a five-storey building and a 100-foot crane.The damage was estimated at $50 million. Six weeks later, they burned three other houses that were being built inwardly the area. In addition, the ELF assaulted three car dealers in Southern atomic number 20 setting ablaze 40 Hummers and SUVs amounting to $2 million in damages. The group vandalized the cars by painting the words Fat Lazy Americans. They did the same in Los Angeles where 125 sport utility vehicles were also vandalized and burned inside auto dealer shops and along the neighborhood.According to FBI investigations the ELF were responsible for attacking vehicle dealerships and construction sites. In February 2005, the group burned down a new Pinewoods apartment complex in Sutter Creek, California with an incendiary device leaving a graffiti that said We Will Win ELF. quin months after, the same gr oup torched two homes that were under construction in Whatcom County, Washington causing $100,000 in damages to the other house while the other one was destroyed. They also vandalized and damaged a number of construction equipment.The arson campaign went on in 2006 with the burning of more houses. In Camano Island, Washington, the ELF set fire on a 9,600 square foot loot house worth $3 million. In its official communication made in 1997, the ELF declared their struggle to free all species in the planet. We are the burning rage of this dying planet. The war of greed ravages the earth and species die out every day. ELF works to speed up the collapse of industry, to scare the rich, and to undermine the foundations of the state. We embrace social and deep ecology as a practical resistance movement.We have to show the foeman that we are serious about defending what is sacred. Together we have dentition and claws to match our dreams. Our greatest weapons are imagination and the ability to strike when to the lowest degree expected (Pickering, 2007, p. 10). consummation Backfire In response to the attacks, the FBI initiated in 2004 Operation Backfire intended to investigate acts of terrorism by the ELF. It put unitedly several independent investigation bodies from the agencys Portland, Oregon celestial orbit office and rounded up suspected eco-terrorists. Seven people were arrested in four different states.They were Stanislas Meyerhoff, Chelsea Gerlach, Daniel McGowan, Darren Thurston, Kevin Tubbs, William Rodgers, and Kendall Tankersley. In addition, five others were taken into custody videlicet Jonathan capital of Minnesota, Josephine Overaker, Rebecca Rubin, Suzanne Savoie and Joseph Dibee. Federal prosecutors together with U. S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales indicted in 2006 11 suspects with 65 counts of conspiracy charges to commit arson in Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Colorado and California. Many of those compass turned informants for the governmen t.The arrests and indictments were the outcome of a nine-year old investigation on the serial of arsons in America where the ELF claimed responsibility. The operation is on going roughly the country. Those participating in the investigation besides the FBI are the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Eugene patrol Department, the Portland Police Bureau, the Oregon State Police, the U. S. Forest Service, the U. S. Bureau of Land Management, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, the Oregon Department of Justice and the Lane County Sheriffs Office.Some of those arrested have been convicted of the crime in U. S. Federal Courts. They are as follows Stanislas Meyerhoff 13 old age, Kevin Tubbs 12 years 7 months, Chelsea Gerlach 9 years, Kendall Tankersley 3 years 10 months, Suzanne Savoie 4 years 3 months, Darren Thurston 3 years 1 month, Daniel McGowan 7 years, Jonathan Paul Sentencing in abeyance, Joyanna Zacher 7 years 8 months and Nathan Block 7 y ears 8 months (DOJ, 2007, 4). former(a) suspects were released on bails while some were placed on restrictions pending their trial.A few decided to cooperate while the rest remain imprisoned. Operation backfire was highly criticized because of coercion and paid informants. Other sectors called the bold move unconstitutional but Atty. General Gonzales argued that such acts however constitute violent criminal activity, which may violate the right of every U. S. citizen. Conclusion Terrorist groups like the ELF are anti-progress and as long as development continues they will not stop their modus operandi in terrorizing the public and businesses, which already have incurred heavy losses.The scenario is extremely precarious and alarming. It is imperative that authorities and intelligence organizations have to assess the threat and study the behavior of these terrorists who are becoming more advanced and knowledgeable in their strategies. on that point is a need for effective counterst rategies to detect and prevent acts of terror at the same time proper allocation of resources in order to efficiently combat these adversaries. As a loose organization, ELF could become even more dangerous because its members do not follow any rules.The group constantly poses great risk to the countrys democracy, endangers American lives and undermines the constitution that guarantees protection to the citizens. There is also possibility that such group could turn violence as a way of life and spread its corrupt ideals to the younger generation, which is already affected by media violence. For the government to combat this kind of domestic terrorism, it has to take more proactive actions in preventing further destructions to the economy. While doing so, its programs should remain within the framework of freedom without violating ones constitutional rights.Authorities must(prenominal) strengthen their intelligence network to prevent arson attacks. Though the ELF has its right to voi ce their concerns, they must be contained and stopped immediately. References FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). (1999). Terrorism in the United States 1999. Counterterrorism. 30 Years of Terrorism A Special Retrospective Edition. Threat Assessment and Warning Unit Counterterrorism Division. Report. Federal Bureau of Investigation Rosebraugh, C. (2004). Burning Rage of a Dying Planet (P) public speaking for the Earth Liberation.Lantern Books, New York. Leader, S. H. & Probst, P. (2004). The Earth Liberation Front and Environmental Terrorism. Retrieved celestial latitude 2, 2007, from http//cjc. delaware. gov/PDF/ELF%20ALF%20article. pdf Chalk, P. (2006). Trends in Terrorism Threats to the United States and the Future of the Terrorism lay on the line Insurance Act. RAND monograph series. RAND Center for Terrorism Risk Management Policy. RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA. ISBN 0833038222 Pickering, L. J. (2007). Earth Liberation Front 1997-2002. Arissa Media Group 2nd ed. , New York.FBI. (2002). Testimony of James F. Jarboe, Domestic Terrorism Section Chief, Counterterrorism Division, FBI Before the House Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health. http//www. fbi. gov/congress/congress02/jarboe021202. htm DOJ (Department of Justice). (2007). Final Sentencing Hearing Held in Case of Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Animal Liberation Front for Acts of Eco-Terrorism in Five westerly States. Press Release. Retrieved December 2, 2007, from http//portland. fbi. gov/dojpressrel/2007/elfsentencing080307. htm