E. Telegraph: FBI to brief Brits, others next weekend re Y2K threats

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ISSUE 1612 Sunday 24 October 1999

FBI tells of 2000 extremist threat By David Wastell in Washington

A GROUP of senior British police officers is to receive a secret FBI briefing on the threat of Millennium violence from hate organisations and fringe political groups, amid rising anxiety over possible extremism linked with the year 2000.

More than 30 police chiefs from across Britain will be also taught how to "decode" the biblical references used by some extremists to explain and justify the need for drastic action. The decision by the FBI to share its intelligence with police officers from overseas, during an international conference next weekend, follows warnings to American police departments to monitor closely militias, cults and hate groups which may be plotting violent disruption on the eve of January 1.

Police are being put on standby and leave is being cancelled in forces throughout the United States, with special attention being paid to the wilderness states of Montana, Idaho, Utah and Washington where the militia movement is both radical and well-entrenched.

American police have been sent a copy of a confidential 40-page FBI report, which urges them to watch closely for changes in the behaviour of cults and militia groups in their area, such as the stockpiling of weapons and explosives in the 67 days remaining till the end of the year.

The report, Project Megiddo, is named after the ancient battleground in Israel associated with Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil which some believe will begin in or soon after the year 2000. It is intended to draw attention to the risk that either a fanatical group or a few crazed individuals may single out targets for attack or murder as the New Year begins. Some fanatics regard a breakdown in social order as a first step to their own salvation.

The report will be given to British police officers when they attend the FBI's behind-closed-doors briefing session entitled "Millennium, militias and mayhem: What to expect in the coming year" at a meeting of the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Charlotte, North Carolina, next weekend.

FBI officials believe the threat comes from two quarters: far-Right groups who believe that Armageddon is imminent, and others who consider the Y2K computer bug to be part of a conspiracy to establish a "One World Government" run by the United Nations.

The FBI assessment is given added weight by the fact that the biggest ever terrorist attack on the US mainland, the Oklahoma City bombing, took place on the second anniversary of the final raid on the Branch Davidian cult compound at Waco, Texas, in which at least 80 people were killed. The fear is that as one of the biggest anniversaries in history, the year 2000, will attract a similar response.

American law enforcement agencies are increasingly wary of the threat from lone or small groups of activists such as Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, who may not be members of militias but who may be known to them - or even have been trained by them in the use of weapons.

Three years ago Janet Reno, the Attorney General, ordered the FBI to go out and meet the militias to talk them round and in scores of small meetings across the mid-West and mountain states, agents have tried to persuade militia members that they are really on the same side.

Last week in a public park shelter in Bloomfield, Indiana, a small town 65 miles south-west of Indianapolis, an FBI agent, Doug Garrison, assured six militia members that his colleagues were not "hiding behind every tree" watching their every move.

The discussion ended with a promise from both sides to respect the differences between legal and illegal activity, according to one report. Roger Staalcup, commander of the Southern Indiana regional militia, said that members of his group would report anybody they learned of planning illegal activity.

Experts draw a distinction between the fearful survivalists, who are stocking up on huge quantities of dried foods, fuel and possibly weapons for self-defence before withdrawing to the safety of mountain and forest retreats, and those who are actually longing for an apocalypse to take place.

David Kessler, executive administrator of the Centre for Millennial Studies at Boston University, said: "A lot of the people who talk about the coming end of the world are smiling about it - they are very sincerely happy to live in these times."

The danger is that some may turn to violence to hasten the chaos and tribulation which they believe will result in their being swept off to personal salvation. Mr Kessler said: "There is a risk of self-fulfilling prophecies. These people may be acting very logically in their own terms and I see no reason to doubt that they will try to do these things. But we have all those other people trying to stop them. I am not willing to predict who will succeed."

But even if the end of the year passes without major incident, Mr Kessler said: "I see no reason to believe that millennial or apocalyptic groups will ever end. It's a very old idea that there will be an imminent transformation of society, either by God, man, technology or extra-terrestrials. If 2000 passes and none of these things happen, these groups do not go away."

There is also the fear that thousands of survivalists will become angry and frustrated once they realise that their efforts, which in some cases stretch back years, have apparently been wasted.

But some continue to hedge their bets. One fundamentalist Christian internet web site, Prophecy, devoted to dissuading believers from the notion that the apocalypse is imminent - "God's programme is not likely to coincide with our calendar," it declares - still advises "prudent" people to prepare for "a few days' survival in case of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake".

Roy Penrose, the director general of the National Crime Squad, will be among those attending the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference.

Also at the meeting will be: David Wilmot, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester; Peter Gammon, the chairman of the Superintendents' Association; Sir John Wheeler, the former Conservative minister and ex-chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee; Neil Taggart, the chairman of West Yorkshire Police Authority; and Fred Broughton, the former chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 24, 1999


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