ECO-TERRORISTS

FBI, ATF address domestic terrorism

Violent animal rights extremists and eco-terrorists now pose one of the most serious terrorism threats to the nation, top federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday. Senior officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms (ATF) and Explosives told a Senate panel of their growing concern over these groups. Of particular concern are the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF). John Lewis, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, said animal and environmental rights extremists have claimed credit for more than 1,200 criminal incidents since 1990. The FBI has 150 pending investigations associated with animal rights or eco-terrorist activities, and ATF officials say they have opened 58 investigations in the past six years related to violence attributed to the ELF and ALF. In the same period violence from groups like the Ku Klux Klan and anti-abortion extremists have declined, Lewis said. The ELF has been linked to fires set at sport utility vehicle dealerships and construction sites in various states, while the ALF has been blamed for arson and bombings against animal research labs and the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry....

Go here for the FBI testimony and here for the BATF. Click here for the other presenters....

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