SSC 441: Foreign and Domestic Terrorism for First Responders

Prof. Gerald "Skip" Lawver

School of Staff and Command

Eastern Michigan University

Winter 2008, Gaylord, Michigan

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has identified the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) as the most dangerous domestic terrorist organization. By their own propaganda, ELF’s goal is to protect undeveloped lands and other environmental resources from human encroachment. This loose-knit, self-funded array of saboteurs and arsonists is responsible for hundreds of attacks on laboratories, logging operations, new home construction and car dealerships. Total damages over the past 30 years easily run into the tens of millions of dollars and may top $100 million.

ELF is most active in the Pacific Northwest and California. However, ELF has committed crimes here in Michigan. The Michigan State University campus twice was hit by arsonists: February 28, 1992; and December 31, 1999. ELF activist Rod Coronado pled guilty to the first act. Four ELF perpetrators were arrested and indicted recently for the second. On March 21, 2003, fire destroyed two homes under construction in Superior Township (Washtenaw County). On June 4, 2003, another blaze took two incomplete homes in Washington Township (Macomb County). In both instances, graffiti at the sites included "ELF" with "NO SPRAWL" or "STOP SPRAWL."

ELF is not an "organization" but rather an idea. Terrorist acts carried out in its name garner publicity which motivates others to perpetrate new crimes. While these individuals may (or may not) be sympathetic to other nominally "left wing" and putatively "anti-American" causes such as the Palestinians, Zapatistas, etc., the focus of ELF actions is a domestic American agenda. Their felonies are defined as terrorism specifically because they are intended to coerce the government and the people of the United States in favor of political goals. ELF cannot be stopped by the arrest (and conviction) of perpetrators after the fact. ELF is a social artifact of popular culture and might only be defeated by a paradigm shift, if at all.

Origin of ELF

The Earth Liberation Front was formed in 1992 in Brighton, England, by members of the Earth First! environmental action group. (Denson and Long 1999; Jarboe 2002; Carroll 2005) Earth First! was created by Dave Foreman, a former Eagle scout and at that time a registered Republican (Denson and Long 1999). Foreman was working for the Wilderness Society as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. when he read The Monkey Wrench Gang, a novel by Edward Abbey that advocated acts of sabotage to protect wilderness areas from development. (Connors 2006) These bare facts hide the mantle of respectability bestowed on ELF.

The New York Times and the Washington Post are not alone in glorifying these terrorists. When The Monkey Wrench Gang was published, the New York Times Book Review (January 28, 1968) called Abbey "a voice crying in the wilderness, for the wilderness." In its obituary for Abbey, the Washington Post called him "the Thoreau of the American West." The influential online magazine Salon.Com compared The Monkey Wrench Gang with Uncle Tom’s Cabin and The Jungle as a book that gave impetus to social change.

Earth First! announced itself with an action that was a non-violent and dramatic media event. Meeting at Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona, on March 21, 1981, Dave Foreman and several others, including Edward Abbey, unrolled a huge black plastic stripe, simulating a crack, down the face of the structure. (Connors 2006)

Over the years, the group extended its social network and engaged in minor acts of vandalism and hooliganism. It would be 20 years before the FBI came to see the pattern. "The FBI has traditionally applied a conservative interpretation of the U.S. Code when designating acts as either terrorist incidents or suspected terrorist incidents. While the uniform application of this standard has provided an accurate and consistent picture of the terrorist threat confronting the United States throughout the past several decades, it has also meant that some activities committed by extremists and investigated by the FBI have not been formally designated as terrorism." (FBI 1999: 20). The pattern was also teased out by two reporters for The Oregonian who conducted a 10-month investigation. Bryan Denson and James Long "evaluated hundreds of incidents … used the Federal Bureau of Investigation's definition of terrorism … and considered only those crimes in which damage totaled at least $50,000 or that potentially put human lives at risk." (Denson and Long 1999) Until then, the acts of sabotage were typically regarded as "vandalism" lacking any political agenda, or as labor-related, or having other causes unattached to the environmentalist cause.

Four years lapsed between the launch of ELF at an Earth First! festival in Brighton, England, and the first action attributable to them occurring in the United States. That was the burning of a U.S. Forest Service truck – the site marked by graffiti that read ELF and STOP RAPING OUR FOREST – in the Willamette National Forest in Oregon in October 1996 (Denson and Long 1999; Carroll 2005). On the heels of that, the Oakridge ranger district headquarters 75 miles south and also in the Willamette National Forest went up in flames. (Denson and Long 1999) In March 1997, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wild Horse Corral in Burns, Oregon was attacked by arson (Denson and Long 1999; Carroll 2005). However, it is important to understand that this region was long known for its confrontations. The "North Forest Tree Sit" was a series of protests and media events. From 1986 to 1989, the North Roaring Devil logging area was site of "protection efforts" at which sixty people had been arrested until a lawsuit stopped the logging. As a consequence, the Willamette National Forest became part of a 49,000 acre reserve. (Donnelly 2005)

There are several ways to understand these events, each of them reflective of some aspect of a complex set of interactions. In the first place, strong-arm tactics by the protesters achieved the goal of impeding the work of the loggers. It brought public awareness to the claim that the resources need to be preserved rather than harvested. It is also true that victory for the environmentalists came through the courts. No new law was written: existing law was applied as the environmentalists petitioned in their suit. In either case, the continued failure to win via force only attracted more activists with renewed will. (In his classic dissection of totalitarian causes, The True Believer, Eric Hoffer wrote that a mass movement can succeed without God, but no mass movement can succeed without a devil.) It is also true that whether attributed to the clashes or the courtroom, the victory reinforced the cause by showing that success was attainable. Finally, win or lose by violence or law, all of this generated publicity, nationally and locally.

ELF claims global awareness, but most of the news comes from the Pacific Northwest, the locus of a 20-year guerilla war. California is also a source of news, but notably, the well-developed southern half, not the northern. It is telling that a search of news databases for the site of the Washington Township, Michigan, blaze that destroyed two homes, revealed three choices: Sanilac County, Gratiot County, and Macomb County. The fire was in Macomb County, in general metropolitan Detroit. ELF is overwhelmingly composed of politically radical, college-educated suburbanites. Dave Foreman, the founder of Earth First! abandoned the cause for just that reason.

By statements of its own members as well as the mass media and law enforcement, ELF often associates with ALF, the Animal Liberation Front. Founded in 1976 by British anarchist Ronnie Lee, ALF stemmed from the Band of Mercy and the Hunt Saboteurs. It should be noted that Herbert Spencer’s 1874 work, The Study of Sociology, cited ad hoc interventions against fox hunting. So, as much else in Europe, this conflict is traditional. ALF’s first action in the United States came in 1979 when they claimed responsibility for the release of five animals from the New York University Medical Center. In 1987 this pattern of animal releases escalated to arson and explosives. (Carroll 2005; Martosko 2005)

The litany of destruction that follows is only a summation. It shows that ELF and ALF and Earth First! are connected by ideology and by the mutual associations of the individuals who act in their names. Any hiatus reflects only a lack of news stories or official reports. These crimes are continuous and continual. News of one sparks others. Most disturbing is that fact that awareness has been highest within the private sector and lacking in law enforcement. Of course, the FBI does not tell everything it knows. Also, testimony to Congressional committee, being verbal, is brief. Nonetheless, it was not until the $12 million fire at the Vail, Colorado, ski resort that the FBI took notice. Two reporters for The Oregonian conducted and published their own 10-month investigation in 1999. Therefore, what the FBI, BATF and others report to Congress or to the press often comes first from news reports. To some extent this is to be expected. A crime occurs; it is reported; it is investigated; it is solved.

Of all the arsons committed in the name of ELF (or ALF), the burning of Two Elks Lodge at Vail, Colorado, on October 19, 1998, proved pivotal for the radical environmentalists – and for the law enforcement agents who had been pursuing them. (Denson and Long 1999; FBI 1999; Jarboe 2002; Grigoriadis 2006; Sullivan 2006) Craig Rosebraugh, the unofficial spokesman for ELF, called local and national media to relay the claim of responsibility. He had received a message that gave as the purpose of the $12 million blaze the protection of lynx habitat. (Denson and Long 1999) At first, Rosebraugh dodged the question of whether the message came by telephone or email, but we know now that it was an email, sent from Denver by Chelsea Gerlach and William "Avalon" Rodgers after the fire. (Sullivan 2006; Stoner 2007)

The conflagration consumed four buildings including the 33,000 square-foot Two Elks Lodge and the security station, and four ski lifts. The $12 million blaze still stands as the most destructive act of eco-terrorism in U.S. history. "Some federal agents who had kept tabs on the mounting crimes joked privately that it took an upscale target like Vail to take the problem into the mainstream. And they wondered where the public had been for the last quarter-century." (Denson and Long 1999) The FBI and BATF finally got the message.

The incident at Vail only writes large the combination of factors that make ELF especially dangerous. The potential for injury to innocents is real. The perpetrators are intelligent and careful, showing what sociologists call "planful competence." This makes them hard to catch. They fund their own operations from their own pockets. They can explain the reasons for their lawless acts in statements that are at once glib and cogent. They use cheap, available resources, a tactic familiar to those engaged in "asymmetrical warfare." The simple, effective materials and devices generally function as intended. They are domestic, in and of American culture, often educated and middle class. They are relatively sophisticated and often intelligent. In part, this is a reflection of their social class. One crime scene was marked with Euler’s Equation, e^iπ + 1 = 0. They are loose-knit, affiliated only by a common ideology, spontaneously regenerated by their own propaganda as well as news stories about their crimes. Finally, their targets are generally economic, often academic, typically genetic research laboratories, car dealerships, real estate developments and forestry enterprises. In themselves, as isolated incidents, even the attacks on academic research facilities would be individually damaging, but not broadly threatening. However, the entire fabric of activity strikes at a range of targets. Damages often run into the millions of dollars at each crime scene.

As William Rodgers was igniting his emplaced cans of gasoline and diesel (which he called "vegan jello") he opened a door on a cabin to check its contents and found two hunters sleeping. He passed on, not igniting the incendiary. (Stoner 2007) ELF and ALF are careful not to bring harm to living things, certainly not to people. However, the potential for death is always present; and there have been close calls. In April 1989, an ALF firebomb went off at a meat company in Monterey, California, when the butchers were working inside. They fled. The night watchman at a Utah store for trapping gear was inside when it was firebombed. (Denson and Long 1999)

David Martosko is the director of research for the Center for Consumer Freedom. The CCF stands by your right to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol and wear fur. Not surprisingly, he and his organization feel threatened by radical environmentalists. In testimony before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Martosko singled out as especially dangerous Dr. Steven Best of the University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. Best’s own website (http://www.drstevebest.org) likens animal liberation to the anti-slavery abolitionists of the 19^th century. Professor Best himself says that he "seeks to emancipate animals from slavery to humans and from the ideology of human supremacy." His books include Animal Liberation Front: Terrorists or Freedom Fighters? Reflections on the Liberation of Animals (Lantern Books, 2004) and Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth (AK Press, 2006). So, it is no surprise that Martosko perceives a shadow of threat – if not the Sword of Damocles – over him. He told the Senate committee:

At the same hearing, Martosko also drew attention to Dr. Jerry Vlasak who has said that killing researchers in order to stop animal cruelty is justifiable. The Senate committee held another hearing on October 26, 2005 and Dr. Vlasak was invited to speak. After his prepared statement, Vlasak answered questions from committee chair Sen. James N. Inhofe (D.-OK). Vlasak equated animal life with human life. He equated the cause of animal liberation with that of the Underground Railroad.

At the previous hearing in May (S. HRG. 109–947), Sen. James M. Jeffords (I-VT) read into the record a statement from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). In his personal preface to that document, Sen. Jeffords said: "Timothy McVeigh’s membership in the National Rifle Association did not make the NRA responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing." It is a hallmark of our legal system that enforcement is always against individuals, not groups. Even in a case of conspiracy, the individuals are pursued for the conspiracy as individuals. So, it is important first to note that the public statements of high profile hotheads do not necessarily carry any wider sanction from any other individuals. That said, it is equally consequential that these are, indeed, public figures who speak to audiences and classrooms. What they advocate today may well happen tomorrow.

Rodney Adam Coronado is a Yaqui who grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has said that he became an activist at 12 as a result of a television show about seal harvests in Canada. He identified the fight to save wild nature with the attacks on laboratories that use animals. In 1990, he joined the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. As a result, he sank whaling boats and learned to make firebombs. For about a decade, he was the focus of much ELF action and their ad hoc spokesman. (Denson and Long 1999) The former ELF arsonist now advocates peace.

Coronado’s enlightenment came after a lifetime of conflict. His nine-month "Operation Bite Back" in 1991 and 1992, following which he lived underground for three years while being pursued by authorities, is among the bullet-pointed items above. In 2003, Coronado told the Earth First! Journal "Pray to the powers of Earth for guidance – stealth of Cougar, night sight of Owl, like lightning, the power to strike your enemies suddenly and return home safely. I love you all, and I'm praying for you to make it count. Maximum destruction! Not minimum damage." (Sprig 2003) In 2004, he was indicted in Arizona for attempting to disrupt the Arizona Game and Fish Department as it tried to capture and kill mountain lions at Sabino Canyon, southwest of Tucson. That was a new charge on top of three existing misdemeanors from the engagement. (ADL 2004) When Coronado made his plea for peace, he was in prison for demonstrating to a San Diego audience in 2003 how he made the simple firebomb that destroyed the MSU facility during his "Operation Biteback." (Kuiper 2007)

Craig Rosenbraugh is connected to Rod Coronado through Jonathan Paul. Paul was convicted of contempt of court for refusing to testify against Coronado. Paul then shared a jail cell with Craig Rosebraugh. Both the ALF activists who destroyed $1.3 million in property at a slaughterhouse in 1997, and the ALF guerillas who attacked a mink ranch on June 5, 1997, sent their communiqués to Rosebraugh, who disseminated specific details. Rosebraugh (representing ALF) and Paul (speaking for ELF) shared a stage in 1998 to declare their mutual solidarity. When Bill Rodgers and Chelsea Gerlach set fire to four buildings at the Vail ski resort in 1998, they sent their claim of responsibility to the press via an email to Craig Rosebraugh. (Denson and Long 1999)

His activism began in the early 1990s. He associated with a spectrum of causes. Rosebraugh said he came to believe that "animal rights issues, environmental issues, social justice, are all related." Rosebraugh has been explicit in denouncing capitalism and the government. (ADL 2005) The Arissa website (www. arissa.org) which he co-founded with Leslie James Pickering, sells his book, The Logical of Political Violence. The advertising blurb says: "Within Westernized societies, particularly the United States, there has been a near universal acceptance that nonviolent action has been the foundation on which the progress and/or success of political and social justice movements has been built. Contrary to popular beliefs held by many in the United States, political violence has played a crucial role in advancing historical justice struggles."

As in the case of the Dr. Steven Best and Dr. Jerry Vlasak, Rosenbaugh speaks for more people than himself. With his website and books, he is more than just a person expressing an opinion. That ELF and ALF communiqués came to him indicates his importance. He reflects and shapes the opinions of other terrorists.

Occam’s Razor

Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity. Aristotle, Moses Maimonides, Thomas Aquinas, and, of course, William of Ockham, all cautioned against making special cases when a wider abstraction will encompass all elements. The history of American politics, with its swings between toleration and paranoia, has made the FBI hesitant to ascribe political or philosophical motives to crimes. Sociologists may argue that the poor steal because they are oppressed by those who own the tools of production, but few purse snatchers offer that as a justification. When over 20 commercial hunting guides received letters with razor blades inside – sent by Canadian ALF guerilla David Barbarash (Denson and Long 1999) – the FBI considered that an act of "special interest terrorism." This "differs from traditional left-wing and right-wing terrorism since specific interest resolutions are sought, rather than widespread political changes." (FBI 1996: 18) The FBI parceled out environmentalists from animal rights activists.

Even after the Vail fires, they adhered to "a conservative interpretation of the U.S. Code when designating acts as either terrorist incidents or suspected terrorist incidents." (FBI 1999: 21) While clearly "extremists," these people had not yet earned the label "terrorists." As a consequence, investigation often remained with local authorities.

For a comparison to highlight the problem, consider the equal and opposite case of right-wing extremists. A visit to the white nationalist website Stormfront (www.stormfront.org) will show that those people discuss (or argue) what their true religion should be: Germanic or Celtic gods, atheism, or an Aryan Christianity. Those ancient gods are also the folk heroes of Wiccan religionists who themselves tend to be liberals and not racists. Therefore, if a right-wing terrorist attacks a synagogue and leaves a Celtic symbol, the FBI does not pursue Fiona Ritchie for her Thistle and Shamrock radio show – nor do we want them to. The problem is not hypothetical. "Early on the morning of November 1, 1999, the front window of a Gap clothing store in Seattle, Washington, was broken and three incendiary devices were thrown into the store. Little damage occurred due to the quick response of fire and police units. An encircled ‘A’ (a symbol known to be used by anarchists and occasionally by ALF) was found spray painted on the outside of the store and on both sides of the front door. Literature also was found at the crime scene expressing opposition to the Gap and to the World Trade Organization…" (FBI 1999: 7) That circle-A logo is also used by right-wing "libertarian" anarchists who generally support global capitalism and argue for merchants such as the Gap, touting the concept of shopping malls as privately-owned public spaces.

The FBI is clearly between a rock and hard place. Keeping them there is how we prevent a police state. That becomes part of the price that we pay for our liberties because it leaves law enforcement one step behind the perpetrators.

It is a fact of human action that war is not productive. For all the silver and gold extracted from Spain’s American colonies, Spain only got poorer. When a bomb explodes, not only is the target destroyed, but all the material and labor that went into the ordinance is lost. This makes bombs different from can openers and computers. There is no profit in terrorism – and never has any terrorist group from the IRA to the PLO – ever claimed to be in the business of terror for the money. Therefore, terrorist groups consume cash.

Terrorist groups need money for recruitment, training camps, housing and food, equipment, explosives and weapons, forged identity and travel documents, intelligence, communications, bribery, and simple day-to-day maintenance and living expenses for their soldiers between or before actions. They get this money from friendly governments, charities, legitimate businesses and front businesses, smuggling and black market trade (cigarettes, antiquities, drugs, guns, prostitution) as well as kidnapping and extortion. They counterfeit money and consumer goods from name brand sports clothes to entertainment media and software. (Ehrenfeld 2003)

ELF activists are generally self-funding. They are white, middle class and educated. Their weapons are cheap and commonly available. Being young, they are also allowed some mobility. If an ELF arsonist needs to hide, it is not difficult to move to another city and find one or more entry-level, part-time jobs. All you need to work is a driver’s license and social security card or a passport.

Dedicated arsonists have more requirements. When authorities searched Rod Coronado’s storage locker in Talent, Oregon, they found a typewriter ribbon from which they reconstructed a letter seeking funds for his arson campaign against the fur industry.

(Denson and Long 1999; Dettmer and Verhey 1995)

After the 1992 MSU blaze, Coronado, (alias "Leonard Robideau") sent FedEx packages to PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk and PETA activist Maria Blanton. Newkirk had asked Blanton to accept the package. ("Significantly, Newkirk had arranged to have the package delivered to her days before the MSU arson occurred.") However, the FedEx account number for the package to Blanton had expired. FedEx did not deliver it, but turned it over to authorities. This resulted in the execution of a search warrant for Blanton’s home. (Dettmer and Verhey 1995)

Much has been made of a grant of $1500 from PETA to ELF. That came in 2001, after Vail and after the second MSU blaze and after the declaration by the FBI that ELF is a domestic terrorism organization. The Center for Consumer Freedom has tracked PETA’s filings with the IRS and other public documents and found inconsistencies in the line items and ledger entries. This money may have been intended to pay Craig Rosenbraugh’s legal fees, but may have been spent to bring two activists to a Congressional hearing, or might have paid for a publication, or perhaps was actually to the North American Earth Liberation Front for educational materials or was disbursed for habitat protection. Whatever that money was for, in all, over the last ten years, PETA has raised $70,000 for ELF/ALF activities. (CCF 2003; Martoskso 2005)

ELF earned money from the sale of books via Amazon (www.amazon.com), until government pressure severed that link. These were not necessarily ELF publications. The commercial arrangement allowed that any sale of any book from Amazon which originated from a "click through" via the ELF website would result in a 30% commission on the sale. (Imhofe 2005)

As noted, the FBI has been cautious in not pursuing ELF as a political group. Arson cannot be tolerated, but environmental activists have been successful in court. They have tables at Earth Day events and other community fairs. As part of their campaigns of awareness, fur clothing has fallen from the pinnacle of fashion. While ecology activists are decidedly anti-capitalist, that, too, is within the law. We must avoid the un-American (perhaps anti-American) excesses of the past when lawfully elected representatives were denied their seats in the legislature and dissent was defined as disloyalty.

Ecology activists claim that the government is using "green scare" tactics analogous to the "Red scare" of the 1920s and the McCarthy era of the 1950s. They assert that Ron Arnold of the Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise helped to popularize the word "eco-terrorism" ahead of its adoption by law enforcement. "He has pushed the concept of the eco-terrorist threat in his published writings, media appearances and congressional testimony." (ELF 2006)

Activists claim, further, that the March 3, 2008, "McMansion" fires in Seattle’s Street of Dreams district benefited the builder more than their own cause. "Follow the money," say the ecologists. (Vidal 2008) It is true that anyone can leave ELF graffiti, regardless of their true motives. In the current real estate market, it would seem that a purely positivist criminal investigation requires a close inspection of the owner’s financial records.

Environmental activists claim that they have been specially targeted to make up for the lack of success against Al Qaida, the Taliban and the Iraqi insurgents. They assert that they are being pursued not for their acts, but for their ideologies, which are opposed to corporate globalism. (Vidal 2008)

Despite the risks attendant with arson – certainly to firefighters – no lives have been lost to ELF/ALF actions. In 2001, Michael James Scarpitti (alias "Tre Arrow") held off police and forest rangers for 48 hours by leaping from one 100-foot high perch to another (Sullivan 2006). However, direct confrontation with law enforcement is just not their style. On the other hand, right-wing extremists have confronted law enforcement. Christian activists have killed and wounded doctors who worked for abortion clinics. Militias have been arrested with large quantities of poisons intended for the public water supply, as well as with fake ID to allow them to pass for law enforcement officers. Sentences for right-wing extremists are surprisingly light. Typical are these two cases.

Just because one criminal gets a putatively lighter sentence than another who committed a worse crime does not invalidate the entire justice system. The fact remains that there is a cultural divide between law enforcement and environmentalists – and this is not always the case with patriotic militias. In fact, they often share a lot: military service, nuclear family, Christian religion, love for traditional American culture and pride in American history. No Heroes: Inside the FBI's Secret Counter-Terror Force by Daniel Coulson and Sharon Shannon (Pocket Books, 1999) tells of how Coulson formed the Hostage Rescue Team. In one armed stand-off after another, Coulson talked the militia out of their positions. The worst confrontation played out when he was assigned to stay in Washington. Just as PETA and liberals excuse the radical environmentalists, the present administration finds it easy to call someone other than the patriotic militias "America’s most dangerous domestic terrorist threat."

That feeds into the paranoia of the ELF/ALF axis. Every mass movement needs a devil. On the subject of "green scare" John Vidal of the Guardian wrote: "The Orwellian-sounding Violent Radicalisation and Home-Grown Terrorism Prevention Act, passed by an overwhelming 400-6 vote last month, will soon be considered by the Senate. Rather than seeking to criminalise ‘extremist’ acts, it targets beliefs, or what many people are calling ‘thoughtcrimes’." (Vidal 2008) In point of fact, this proposal, engrossed by the House, and sent to the Senate, where it is now S. 1959, calls for funding of grants to social service agencies and non-governmental organizations. It also intends the establishment of a national commission to study radicalization and terrorism. The bill includes specific language mandating the protection of civil rights and civil liberties especially among ethnic minority groups. (The full text is available from the Library of Congress’s Thomas website: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.1959:) While it is possible to have civil liberties reservations about this special need to "disrupt" the spread of radical ideas, the proposed law is not the Orwellian nightmare hinted at by John Vidal of the Guardian.

That said, it is interesting to note that when the December 31, 1999, fire at Michigan State University was first reported, damages were set at $100,000, but two days later, were boosted to $400,000. (Terlep 2000) They now stand at $1 million. (CNN 2008)

Today, David Schwendiman is Chief Prosecutor and Head of the Special Section for War Crimes in Bosnia. In 2002, he developed the guide to threat assessment for law enforcement for the Winter Games in Salt Lake City. In 1997, he was a federal prosecutor in Salt Lake City. He successfully brought two of the four "Straight Edge" eco-terrorists to justice for their firebombing of a mink food plant. (Sullivan 2006) Back then, Bryan Denson and James Long, reporters for The Oregonian, asked him about the challenge of that task.

Using public information, eco-terrorist Jake Ferguson made a study of forensic DNA testing. He constructed his firebombs in a "clean room" built in a stolen tent. Everyone who entered wore surgical masks, hair covers (shower caps) and latex gloves. The goal was to leave no biometric evidence at the scene of an arson. (Grigoriadis 2006)

The technical expertise is only one challenge. ELF’s campaigns appeal to broad masses of people who have been told repeatedly about deforestation, global warming and endangered species. Fur coats are no longer popular. Medical students no longer practice surgery on live animals. (Denson and Long 1999)

To the extent that the eco-terrorists change public attitudes, their campaigns are successful. While victory can actually be the death-knell for a mass movement, repeated failures are equally problematic. Some successes are necessary and ELF has enjoyed them. "It's like good cop, bad cop," said Betty Denny Smith, a Los Angeles activist… "If it wasn't for the extremists," Smith said, "everybody working for humane treatment would look like some kind of kook." (Denson and Long 1999) Basically, ELF and ALF make PETA look good.

JSTOR is a database of 1.8 million full-length articles in 47 disciplines. They are a standard warehouse of electronic content for sociology and criminology, publishing the most prestigious peer-reviewed academic journals. A JSTOR search for any article with the phrase "Earth Liberation Front" in the body, from 1900 to the present, revealed only six. None was critical and all accepted ELF on its own terms. Most telling, none was actually about eco-terrorism, but at most only mentioned the movement in passing, as if it were normal. They were:

Firebrands like Dr. Steven Best and Dr. Jerry Vlasak are one thing, but normalization of arson is another.

Fifty years ago, J. Edgar Hoover’s Master’s of Deceit explained how the Communist Party (USA) operated front groups, joined coalitions, insisted on their right to constitutional freedoms and liberties not known in any communist nation, and operated underground cells. Secret societies are nothing new, of course. The Da Vinci Code had a first run of 5 million paperback copies, with 40 million eventually distributed: everyone loves a conspiracy. The parameters are fairly easy to figure out from first principles. Eco-terrorists take aliases. They do not talk about their families of origin. "You learn not to ask a lot of personal questions," Brian Schulv says, "and to be suspicious of people who do." (Sullivan 2006)

Jake Ferguson, who had been hiding his heroin addiction from his eco-friends, proved to be their undoing. The arsons committed by The Family were considered a cold case. There were few leads and no budget. Response to 9/11 brought the money; and the government had a burning need of its own to bring any terrorist to justice. The Eugene police returned to the only solid lead they had: Jake Ferguson had something to do with the burning of SUVs at a car dealership. By this time, his heroin habit was worse. It was only a matter of picking him up, turning him, and wiring him for sound. Indictments followed. So did the suicide of Vail arsonist Bill Rodgers who took his life in an Arizona jail awaiting trial. (Denson and Long 1999)

Pursuing the eco-terrorists was good retribution, but not restorative justice. The arson spree had run its course. Nothing was changed. The hard-core activists were disheartened. Their bitter experience was communicated to others who might be tempted to try direct action. Even the Vail ski resort was quickly rebuilt, bigger and better than before. Now, the harsh prison sentences only rekindle the hearthfires of sympathy. For crimes committed 1996 through 2001 as members of "The Family" group of eco-terrorists:

Care of the natural environment and concern for the well-being of animals is nothing new. In fact, it can be argued that these are, in truth, artifacts of the very capitalist industrialist culture that the radicals denounce. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded in 1866. Yellowstone became America’s first national park in 1872. John Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892. Hollywood studios mandated humane treatment of animals in 1940. On February 4, 1966, Life magazine ran an eight-page photo essay, "Concentration Camp for Dogs: Pets are up for sale cheap – and no questions asked," photographed by Stan Wayman. The public response resulted in Public Law 89-544 - Animal Welfare Act of August 24, 1966. Over the last forty years, software databases and cell sampling have replaced live animals in laboratory testing for cosmetics. Robotic ("animatronic") beasts, pioneered by Disneyland in the 1950s, now substitute for real animals in Hollywood movies.

The question was never ELF’s goals – arguable though they may be – but always the means they used to achieve them. They used their intelligence to evade the law and avoid capture for over 15 years. Unfortunately, they failed to think through all the consequences of their actions. That they will pay the price of their crimes is certain. What remains problematic is whether they will become symbols, martyrs to attract new perpetrators.

Except for trusted sources like Craig Rosebraugh and Rod Coronado, there is no way to know who really speaks for ELF. Anyone can open a website and several claim to be The Earth Liberation Front.

Bernton, Hal. 2008. "Prosecutors portray close-knit arson team," Seattle Times. Saturday, January 21, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002752813_ecoindictments21m.html?syndication=rss Accessed February 27, 2008

Grigoriadis Vanessa. 2006. "The Rise & Fall of the Eco-Radical Underground." Rolling Stone, August 10, 2006.. Posted Jul 28, 2006 2:32 PM. www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11035255/the_rise__fall_of_the_ecoradical_undergroundRollingstone.com Accessed March 16, 2008.