Ecoterrorism a major threat, FBI says

May 19, 2005
BY JOHN HEILPRIN

WASHINGTON -- Environmental and animal rights activists who have turned to arson and explosives are the nation's top domestic terrorism threat, an FBI official told a Senate committee on Wednesday.

Groups such as the Animal Liberation Front, the Earth Liberation Front and Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty are ''way out in front'' in terms of damage and number of crimes, said John Lewis, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism.

''There is nothing else going on in this country over the last several years that is racking up the high number of violent crimes and terrorist actions,'' Lewis said.

ALF says on its Web site that its small, autonomous groups of people take ''direct action'' against animal abuse by rescuing animals and causing financial loss to animal exploiters, usually through damage and destruction of property. ELF is an underground movement with no public leadership, membership or spokesman.

Lewis said the FBI concluded that after analyzing all types of cases and comparing the groups with ''right-wing extremists, KKK, anti-abortion groups and the like.'' He said most animal rights and eco-extremists so far have refrained from violence targeting human life.

''The FBI has observed troubling signs that this is changing. We have seen an escalation in violent rhetoric and tactics,'' he told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. ''Attacks are also growing in frequency and size.''

Senator seeks funding source

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the panel's chairman, said he hoped to examine more closely how the groups might be getting assistance in fund-raising and communications from tax-exempt organizations' ''mainstream activists'' not directly blamed for the violence.

''Just like al-Qaida or any other terrorist organization, ELF and ALF cannot accomplish their goals without money, membership and the media,'' Inhofe said.

AP