Unredacted FBI Document Sheds New Light on White Supremacist Infiltration of
Law Enforcement
By Alice Speri, The Intercept
29 Septemebr 20
A 2006 intelligence assessment reveals that officials had concerns about the
infiltration of police departments for years but failed to warn the public.
he FBI has long been concerned about the infiltration of law enforcement by
white supremacist groups and its impact on police abuse and tolerance of
racism, the unredacted version of a previously circulated document reveals.
The FBI threat assessment report was released by Rep. Jamie Raskin, chair of
the House Committee on Oversight and Reform's Civil Rights and Civil
Liberties Subcommittee, ahead of a hearing about the white supremacist
infiltration of local police departments scheduled for Tuesday.
A heavily redacted version of the 2006 document had previously been
published, one of a handful of documents revealing federal officials'
growing concern with white supremacists' "historical" interest in
"infiltrating law enforcement communities or recruiting law enforcement
personnel." A different internal document obtained by The Intercept in 2017
had also noted that "domestic terrorism investigations focused on militia
extremists, white supremacist extremists, and sovereign citizen extremists
often have identified active links to law enforcement officers."
The unredacted version of the first document sheds further light on the
FBI's concerns, as early as 2006, about "self-initiated efforts by
individuals, particularly among those already within law enforcement ranks,
to volunteer their professional resources to white supremacist causes with
which they sympathize."
"Having personnel within law enforcement agencies has historically been and
will continue to be a desired asset for white supremacist groups seeking to
anticipate law enforcement interest in and actions against them," the report
notes in a section that was previously redacted.
Another previously redacted section warned of "factors that might generate
sympathies among existing law enforcement personnel and cause them to
volunteer their support to white supremacist causes," which could include
hostility toward developments in U.S. domestic and foreign policies "that
conflict with white supremacist ideologies," the report warns.
Some redactions do not seem to be justified, for instance, the FBI's
conclusion that "white supremacist infiltration of law enforcement can
result in other abuses of authority and passive tolerance of racism within
communities served" - an apparent recognition of the potential harm to the
public posed by white supremacist individuals embedded in police
departments.
Other redactions relate to incidents of compromised intelligence. The
unredacted document notes that "a white supremacist leader is known to have
acquired a sensitive FBI Intelligence Bulletin on the white supremacist
movement that had been posted on Law Enforcement Online and had
inadvertently become publicly accessible through a law enforcement Web site.
In addition to identifying the FBI personnel who prepared the bulletin, the
document identified the FBI's targeting interests within the white
supremacist movement."
The redactions also include examples of "strategic infiltration and
recruitment campaigns" by white supremacist groups. "Most information about
systematic attempts by white supremacist groups to infiltrate law
enforcement involves efforts by the National Alliance (NA) during the era of
its founder, William Pierce, and in the years immediately following his
death in 2002," the document notes. "White supremacist infiltration of the
federal government, including the FBI, plays a prominent role in Pierce's
novels, The Turner Diaries (1978) and Hunter (1989), both widely read works
that are sometimes interpreted as practical guidance within white
supremacist circles."
The memo goes on to note that active and retired law enforcement personnel
were known to have joined the National Alliance, in some cases holding
regional leadership roles in the organization, and raises concerns that the
group's successful efforts to infiltrate law enforcement would likely
benefit other white supremacist groups with which it shared intelligence.
The redacted sections also include two examples of what the FBI refers to as
"white supremacist sympathizers." In one, the memo mentions that "in July
2006, a former police officer with possible ties to the KKK was charged with
civil rights violations involving alleged death threats made against black
schoolchildren and a black city council member." In another, the report
mentions the case of Shayne Allyn Ziska, a state correctional officer at the
California Institution for Men in Chino, California, who was sentenced to 17
1/2 years in federal prison. "Ziska was convicted on federal racketeering
charges for helping the Nazi Low Riders white supremacist prison gang
distribute drugs and assault other inmates, and reportedly providing white
supremacist indoctrination to an inmate," the report notes. "Ziska advised
he considered himself a government infiltrator consistent with National
Socialism's strategy for revolution."
It's not clear why the FBI chose to redact those sections. Markings indicate
that officials believed redacted portions of the document would disclose
techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or
prosecutions, or would expose "substantial internal matters." But some of
the redacted text appears to refer to incidents already known to the public.
The bureau has for years resisted calls for greater transparency with regard
to its knowledge of white supremacist groups.
"The public deserves to see the truth reflected in this finally unredacted
report," Raskin said in a statement to The Intercept. "The FBI saw long ago
the multiple potential dangers associated with violent white supremacy and
its efforts to infiltrate local law enforcement with ideas, attitudes, and
personnel."
"The FBI's continuing refusal to acknowledge and combat this threat, just
like its refusal to appear today, constitutes a serious dereliction of
duty," Raskin added. The FBI was invited but declined to participate in
today's hearing, a spokesperson for the committee said. "These newly
revealed passages underscore the seriousness of the threat posed by white
supremacists to law enforcement personnel and the public at large. That the
FBI has continued to withhold this full document, despite enormous public
pressure, at a time when the white supremacist threat is rampant again, is
indefensible."
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a report published last month by the Brennan Center for Justice, former
FBI agent Mike German detailed law enforcement agencies' longstanding
failure to respond to affiliation with white supremacist and militant groups
in their ranks, as well as the long history of law enforcement involvement
in white supremacist violence.
Since 2000, law enforcement officials with alleged connections to white
supremacist groups have been exposed in more than a dozen states, while
hundreds of federal, state, and local law enforcement officials have been
caught expressing racist, nativist, and sexist views on social media, "which
demonstrates that overt bias is far too common," German noted in the report.
"Efforts to address systemic and implicit biases in law enforcement are
unlikely to be effective in reducing the racial disparities in the criminal
justice system as long as explicit racism in law enforcement continues to
endure," German wrote in that report. "There is ample evidence to
demonstrate that it does."
