THE MILITARY AND POLICE INSIDER THREAT
The military
94. Extreme Right-Wing Terrorists often display an interest in military culture, weaponry and the armed forces or law enforcement organisations—the Director General for MI5 noted that "many of these people are absolutely fixated with weaponry".[1] This leads both to individuals seeking to join the military, and groups seeking to recruit within the military.
95. Internationally, Right-Wing Extremist recruitment within the armed forces has long been of particular concern in the US and Germany. As early as 2008, the US Department of Homeland Security identified the radicalisation of veterans by Right-Wing Extremist organisations as a key concern, recalling that the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 had been carried out by three former soldiers who had first met while serving in the US Army.[2] More recently, in 2019, the German authorities announced an investigation into 450 cases of suspected Right-Wing Extremism in their police and armed forces, after identifying dozens as members of the Reichsbürger, a neo-Nazi movement.[3] (The international movement is covered further in the next chapter.)
96. In October 2019, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) assessed that military experience remained a source of legitimacy among ERWT groups, and that an individual with military experience, including potentially from the Armed Forces, would very likely be held in high regard in ERWT groups as a result of their perceived skill set.[4] We note that the Armed Forces Reserves may also hold appeal for potential Extreme Right-Wing Terrorists, since it requires less time commitment and enables individuals to pursue other employment.
97. In September 2017, four soldiers were arrested for membership of National Action, which had encouraged its members to prepare for a "race war" by joining the army or developing links with serving personnel to enhance their military capabilities.[5]
Case study: ERWT in the military
In April 2018, serving soldier Lance Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen of the Royal Anglian Regiment was jailed for possession of a banned CS gas canister. Police found dozens of weapons—including guns (for which he was licensed), knives and a crossbow—at two properties occupied by him in Powys, Wales. Vehvilainen was also found to be in possession of a copy of Anders Breivik's 'manifesto'. Another soldier serving in the Royal Anglians, Private Mark Barrett, was later acquitted of membership of National Action.[6]
- ↑ Oral evidence - MI5, 28 April 2021.
- ↑ 'Far Right and very wrong: why White Nationalist terrorism is a global threat', The Economist, 21 March 2019. While the Oklahoma City bombing was not a White Supremacist or Cultural Nationalist attack in a simple sense, the extreme anti-government conspiracy theories which motivated it were a major trope of the US Far Right at the time, and the perpetrators were known to have been directly influenced by White Supremacist groups and literature.
- ↑ 'Far Right and very wrong: why White Nationalist terrorism is a global threat', The Economist, 21 March 2019.
- ↑ JTAC paper, 3 October 2019.
- ↑ Europol, 'European Union Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2018'.
- ↑ 'Soldier Mikko Vehvilainen jailed for CS gas canister', BBC News, 13 April 2018.
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