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Brennon BJ Nastacio

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font><div><div><a href="https://www.cshagen.com/tag/kyle-thompson/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.cshagen.com/tag/kyle-thompson/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Second DAPL whistleblower to testify</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JULY 20, 2017 / CSHAGEN / 0 COMMENTS</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Former guard on life along the pipeline and why he is speaking out</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By C.S. Hagen</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">BISMARCK – When Kyle Thompson decided to speak out against tactics used along the Dakota Access Pipeline, it wasn’t because of a change of heart.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I’ve always tried to look out for the best interests of everyone,” said Thompson, the former program manager for Leighton Security Services, Inc. “Just because I did security for the pipeline, that doesn’t mean that I necessarily wanted the pipeline in the ground. I didn’t really have a view on the pipeline.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He waited half a year to speak out because he didn’t want his name dragged through the mud any more than it has been in recent months.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I figured it’s time now, and everyone’s court cases are coming up soon,” Thompson said. “Coming out now didn’t really give people a chance to discredit my side of things. I waited so long so that people couldn’t talk more shit about me. I knew once I came out, there were people on water protector side that hate me, and I get it. There’s a lot of people that got charged that were just trying to help each other out.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thompson, 30, took his first step on July 12 during a live feed with Myron Dewey, owner of Digital Smoke Signals, promising information pertaining to security work along the Dakota Access Pipeline. Less than a week after Thompson went live,&nbsp;<b>the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> state dropped charges against Brennon Nastacio</span>, the Pueblo Native American who was arrested for terrorizing after disarming Thompson while the security employee was en route to Standing Rock’s main camps.</b></font></div></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font><div><a href="https://www.cshagen.com/tag/morton-county-sheriffs-department/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.cshagen.com/tag/morton-county-sheriffs-department/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-d3dc3392-7fff-86f6-5a33-f0dd1fc8ed8f"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">&nbsp;Oct 28? 9?</span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-weight="font-weight" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Battle of Backwater Bridge</span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap"> was very strange in that it started with an effort (6 pm Sunday) by local Native people to clear the bridge of burned out vehicles, at least one placed there by police [ blockade add thirty minutes to get to ER] (related?&nbsp;</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Nov? &nbsp; Kyle: </span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Thompson-Gray LLC, a security firm, ID were found inside the pickup truck. Half a dozen bankrupt variant in different states? Related to subcontractors who supplied attack dogs?&nbsp; </span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Private security guy Kyle Thompson tried to infiltrate, assault rifle on passenger seat; driving oddly,&nbsp; got chased, rammed, had </span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-weight="font-weight" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">AR 15 assault rifle (</span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">protesters said he fired twice, FBI says no), at one point confronted by [</span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">The man who stopped him, <b>Brennon “BJ” Nastacio</b>, a Pueblo Native American from Boulder, Colorado, was placed on Morton County Sheriff’s Department’s Most Wanted List. He turned himself in and now faces felony terrorizing charges</span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">.]&nbsp; weeks latter Thompson arrested for hitting a woman in a car; he had pistol, drug paraphernalia and meth.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">[[</span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Thompson backed into a nearby body of water, and Nastacio followed while talking to him. According to Nastacio, he </span><a href="https://shadowproof.com/2017/01/03/water-protector-still-faces-felony-confronting-armed-dapl-contractor/" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" underline="underline" text-decoration-skip-ink="text-decoration-skip-ink" none="none" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">told</span></a><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap"> Thompson nothing would happen to him if he put down his gun or gave him his gun. He wanted to protect everyone and prevent any incident, where law enforcement might shoot him because Thompson was armed with a rifle and dressed like a water protector.]] shadowproof&nbsp; his young son was in camp, he was worried about gun</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">{ Nastacio is charged under a statute passed in 1968 to allow federal prosecution of mass protests. </span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-weight="font-weight" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Charged with “impeding law enforcement” during a “civil disorder,</span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">” Nastacio faces a</span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap"> </span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-weight="font-weight" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years</span></span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-weight="font-weight" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> if convicted.</span><b> </b></span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap"><b>Nestor says this rarely-used federal statute “sets a dangerous precedent, allowing federal prosecution of any mass protest where law enforcement makes claims that it constituted ‘civil disorder.'” May 3 2017}</b></span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Nearly all the cops in Battle for Backwater Bridge were from one county?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">The “battle for Backwater Bridge erupted hours after law enforcement cleared “Treaty Camp,” arresting 142 people and pushing activists back two miles making room for Dakota Access Pipeline construction. <b>Two Dakota Access trucks and one vehicle were set on fire near the bridge;</b> an electronic billboard sat charred between them making the road impassable….CSH ten Humvee, two bearcats...</span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-weight="font-weight" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Elder Miles Allard of Standing Rock</span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">&nbsp; negotiated, eagle&nbsp; flew over, protector cheers;&nbsp;</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Kyle T: [[</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-weight="font-weight" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">One DAPL security employee armed with an automatic AR-15 was surrounded by activists and then arrested by the Bureau of Indian Affairs </span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">after he attempted to drive into the main camp, Dallas Goldtooth said. Goldtooth is a campaign organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">He said he was pepper sprayed on Thursday. Tribal leaders from across the United States were arrested, he said. “They were rounded up and arrested. It was really, really chaotic… Dakota Access is still trying to move ahead with construction.”</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Noah Morris, a front line medic, said more than 50 people were treated for pepper spray on Thursday. Twelve people suffered blunt-force injuries from nightsticks and percussion grenades, and another activist had a Taser barb imbedded in his cheek.</span></p>
<span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-weight="font-weight" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap">Law enforcement also targeted medics on Thursday,</span><span style="" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" font-variant-numeric="font-variant-numeric" normal="normal" font-variant-east-asian="font-variant-east-asian" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" white-space="white-space" pre-wrap="pre-wrap"> Morris said.</span></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><div id="utm_campaign" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-top: 10px;"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/many-native-communities-are-being-forced-relocate-due-climate-change" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.alternet.org/environment/many-native-communities-are-being-forced-relocate-due-climate-change</font></a></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p></div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" /></font><div style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style=""><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">DAPL standing rock</font></div><div style=""><div><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://shadowproof.com/2017/05/18/federal-government-trying-imprison-six-water-protectors/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">https://shadowproof.com/2017/05/18/federal-government-trying-imprison-six-water-protectors/</font></a></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>In February, a federal grand jury issued indictments of four Standing Rock water protectors on charges of Federal Civil Disorder and Use of Fire to Commit a Federal Crime.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The federal investigators accused the four men—James White,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> Brennan Nastacio</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>, Dion Ortiz, and Brandon Miller-Castillo—of involvement in setting three highway barricades on fire, which obstructed police during a highly-militarized October 27 raid of the “Front Line Camp” </b>just north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Another water protector, Michael Markus, was indicted on identical charges on January 24, and his case has been combined with those of the other four men. Prosecutors are also pursuing three federal felonies against a 38-year-old Oglala Sioux woman named<b>&nbsp;Red Fawn Fallis.</b>&nbsp;They accuse her of firing a gun during her arrest, even as multiple police officers had her pinned face-down on the ground. Fallis’ arrest also occurred on October 27.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">These cases likely mark the first time that United States authorities have pursued felonies against individuals involved in demonstrations against fossil fuel infrastructure.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">All six people facing the charges are indigenous. Under sentencing guidelines, Red Fawn Fallis faces 25 years or more in prison. The other federal defendants—Markus, White,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> Nastacio, Ortiz, and Miller-Castillo—face up to fifteen years.</span></b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Starting in August of last year, indigenous people and their allies devoted months to attempting to block the construction of the 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline, which runs through four Midwestern states near North Dakota’s Standing Rock Sioux reservation and underneath their main water source, Lake Oahe.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The project sparked opposition in communities spanning the pipeline route, including in Iowa and Illinois. In North Dakota,&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">police carried out over 700 arrests. State prosecutors have since brought felony charges against more than 100 people.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But the federal cases are arguably more serious, since they entail prosecutions by some of the U.S. government’s most elite attorneys and may result in lengthy prison sentences. The cases are also likely to exert a chilling effect on indigenous-led resistance to resource extraction and fossil fuel infrastructure.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">In fact, in each case,&nbsp;<b>the U.S. Attorneys for the District of North Dakota filed a most unusual charge: federal civil disorder.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">“Nobody I’ve worked with previously has ever seen that charge,” the Water Protector Legal Collective’s Sandra Freeman, an attorney for Michael Markus, said in an interview. “It comes from a law that is usually only invoked when the federal government decides to prosecute people involved in resistance.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The National Lawyers Guild’s Bruce Ellison, the lead attorney for Red Fawn Fallis, agrees. He says he has only encountered federal civil disorder charges “a few times” before, including during federal prosecutions of American Indian Movement (AIM) activists who reclaimed Wounded Knee as part of an armed stand-off with federal and local police on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1973.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Ellison is a long-time attorney for AIM political prisoner Leonard Peltier.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Records obtained via an open records request indicate high-level operatives within the U.S. domestic security state were involved in coordinating the enormous law enforcement mobilization against Standing Rock “water protectors” from last summer through early March of this year.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">These records, which will be the subject of future stories, show officers from numerous federal agencies—the FBI, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Marshal’s Service, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for North Dakota—coordinated with state and local police as part of an inter-agency “intelligence group” that monitored Standing Rock protests in real-time, with a focus on ferreting out “instigators” and “leaders of the movement.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Among those who helped orchestrate this multi-agency intelligence effort was<b style="">&nbsp;National Security Intelligence Specialist Terry W. Van Horn of the U.S. Attorney’s Office</b>—the same entity now prosecuting Fallis, Markus, White,<b style=""> Nastacio</b>, Ortiz, and Miller-Castillo.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The intelligence-gathering operation in which Van Horn participated appears to have been coordinated by the State and Local Intelligence Center, one of numerous law enforcement&nbsp;</span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">fusion” centers</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">set up by the US Department of Homeland Security in the wake of the September 11th attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font face="Times New Roman">Supporters of the six federal defendants, as well as others facing possible prison and jail sentence, say that their court cases are a major front in the struggle for indigenous self-determination and against resource extraction.</font></span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font face="Times New Roman">“The government is looking at how to deal with calls for indigenous self-determination and resistance to resource extraction nationally, and the people facing these charges could become symbols of their ability to carry out that repression,” Ellison contends.</font></span></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">The October 27 Raid On Front Line Camp</font></h2><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The six federal prosecutions all stem from a highly-militarized October 27 raid of the “Front Line Camp,” or “1851 Treaty Camp,” which occupied some of the last remaining ground in the pipeline’s construction.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The camp was located on unceded Dakota territory, which was affirmed in the 1851 Ft. Laramie Treaty to be part of the Standing Rock Reservation. It was later stripped away under an 1889 statute from Congress.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Over 300 police officers—some carrying M16 rifles and clad in flak vests—advanced down North Dakota Highway 1806 toward Oceti Sakowin camp, the main nerve center of the water protectors’ resistance to the pipeline.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The police were flanked by a<b>&nbsp;MaxxPro Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle (MRAP)</b>&nbsp;designed to withstand bombing attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. A Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), an extremely loud device used for crowd control, was mounted atop the MRAP.&nbsp;<b>Snipers</b>&nbsp;occupied positions on surrounding hills.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the course of the raid, the police police fired tear gas and concussion grenades and peppered the water protectors with rubber-tipped bullets and bean bag pellets, causing dozens of injuries.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>Four officers broke from the line to tackle and arrest Red Fawn Fallis,</b>&nbsp;a Denver resident and lifelong member of the Colorado chapter of the American Indian Movement, whose family hails from the Oglala Sioux reservation at Pine Ridge in South Dakota.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">As Fallis struggled under the weight of her arresting officers, at least two gunshots went off alongside her. According to an affidavit filed by the Pennington County Sheriff’s Department in North Dakota, a deputy “saw a gun in Fallis’ left hand and wrestled it away from her.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Pennington County Sheriff’s Department claims Fallis was arrested for “being an instigator” and “acting disorderly.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>According to attorneys for protesters, “instigator” and “camp leader” have emerged as keywords in both state and federal prosecutions.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Fallis was initially charged with attempted murder, but a state judge removed that charge from the docket, and she is now being accused of three federal felonies. They include “possession of a firearm by a convicted felon” and “discharge of a firearm in relation to a felony crime of violence.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">According to numerous accounts, Fallis was a widely-respected coordinator at the Sacred Stone Camp, another major gathering place for prayerful opposition to the pipeline, and had played an instrumental role in the movement as a whole.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">“Red Fawn was the kind of person who was down to help with anything at any time,” says one camp participant who asked not to be identified. “She was integral to the camp.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Many water protectors and members of Fallis’s family have organized a support campaign for her. They stridently maintain her innocence.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Glenn Morris, a leader of the Colorado chapter of the American Indian Movement, released a statement on behalf of Fallis’s family this past November, saying she is “an intelligent, informed and determined Oglala Lakota woman, who has defended the rights of native peoples and nations, in multiple circumstances.”</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.25; font-weight: 300; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Water Protector Facing Federal Felony Charges For Disarming DAPL Contractor</font></h2><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">One of the other people facing federal felony charges,&nbsp;</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Brennan Nastacio</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, became a hero to water protectors for his dramatic role in disarming a DAPL security worker, who had entered</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Oceti Sakowin camp—a base of prayer and opposition to DAPL—wielding an AR-15.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">The security guard, Kyle Thompson, drove into the camp and claimed to be a water protector, according to a camp security guard. He had a long-nosed semi-automatic rifle and a 30-round clip seated in the passenger seat of his truck.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Nastacio spent nearly a half hour pleading with Thompson to abandon the weapon while also calming other “water protectors,”</b> who were clamoring around him. Thompson, who works for Texas-based Leighton Security, finally handed the gun over to Bureau of Indian Affairs officers, who arrested him. <b>Soon after, Thompson’s truck was driven to a barricade and set on fire.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>North Dakota prosecutors declined to charge Thompson instead charging Nastacio with felony terrorizing of Thompson because he briefly walked toward him with a hunting knife during the incident.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In a January YouTube video, Nastacio noted his goal was “the protection of everybody at the camp,” and that he was concerned Thompson himself would be shot by the police. Thompson claims he came to the camp to investigate vandalism to a DAPL vehicle.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Ironically, on the same day as Nastacio helped disarm the Dakota Access security worker, a security firm hired by Dakota Access collected the aerial surveillance photos that now form a major basis for federal prosecution of him</b>, as well as of Miller-Castillo, Ortiz, Markus, and White, court records show. (*Note:&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This public-private “fusion” model of law enforcement that played out at Standing Rock will be the subject of future stories</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.)</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Ellison, Fallis’s attorney, is attempting to introduce evidence that demonstrates the dubious role the FBI has played in the charges against Fallis.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Terry VanHorn of the U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Role Of The FBI In Suppressing Opposition To The Pipeline</font></h2><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.25; font-weight: 300; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Police in North Dakota went to enormous lengths to portray many anti-DAPL protesters as violent criminals for their role in the protests.</font></h2><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.25;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4"><span style="font-weight: 300;">More recently, the allegations against Fallis,</span> Nastacio,<span style="font-weight: 300;"> Markus, White, Ortiz, and Miller-Castillo have become fodder for domestic security agency warnings about potentially violent threat posed by protests against other fossil fuel infrastructure.</span></font></h2><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A Department of Homeland Security report,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/warnings-of-eco-terrorism-mass-casualties-at-new-okla-tenn-oil-pipeline/article/2620569" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box;">published</a>&nbsp;by the conservative<b>&nbsp;Washington Examiner</b>&nbsp;on April 18, spells out the possibility that <b>“environmental rights extremists” and “anti-government militia</b>” may muster up attacks on the in-construction Diamond Pipeline extending from Oklahoma to Tennessee.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The report states that “[p]rotests surrounding the DAPL have resulted in the arrest of hundreds of individuals for allegedly committing criminal acts,” and that “[o]ne individual was charged with attempted murder for allegedly discharging a firearm at officers during removal efforts.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">But water protectors and their advocates point out that the real criminals at Standing Rock were the police and the oil companies’ private security firms, who consistently used violent repression to sabotage constitutionally-protected political activity.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Meanwhile, the federal government has failed to hold the police accountable for a single act of violence.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">
A police officer struck</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">&nbsp;</span><b style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">21-year-old Sophia Wilansky with a concussion grenade that nearly severed her forearm.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large">A fellow water protector named<b> Steve Martinez </b>drove her to the hospital, where she underwent emergency surgeries in an effort to save her arm.</span><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On a single night in November, the police injured more than 300 unarmed and generally highly-restrained protesters by spraying water on them amid freezing temperatures and firing rubber bullets and concussion grenades.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On the day after Wilansky nearly lost her arm, seven FBI agents—including two clad in Joint Terrorism Task Force jackets—came to her hospital room and collected articles of clothing and shrapnel freshly dislodged from her arm. They also subpoenaed hospital visitor logs and videos of her room.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The JTTF visit “created a chilling atmosphere where anyone who’s a protester is under suspicion of being a terrorist,” Sophia Wilansky’s father, Wayne Wilansky, says.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>The same grand jury that has indicted Fallis, Markus, Nastacio,</b> White, Ortiz, and Miller-Castillo on felony charges <b>subpoenaed Steve Martinez </b>soon afterward. The subpoena implied that a federal investigation of the extremely far-fetched claim that Wilansky’s injury was caused by an improvised explosive was underway, and that Martinez was a subject of that investigation simply because he had driven Wilansky to seek medical attention.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It ordered Martinez to produce, among other things, “photos and SD cards; written statements; and any other information in [his] possession.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Martinez appeared before the grand jury on January 4th and was asked a single question: “When did you arrive in North Dakota?” He immediately invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to testify.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">In a written statement,<b> Martinez, who is partly of Pueblo and Apache ancestry</b>, called the grand jury “a fishing expedition to find out information about the water protector movement, and organizations and people related to it,” and asserted that “to comply with this subpoena would violate my spiritual duty to protect my loved ones.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>Martinez was expected to begin a jail sentence for contempt of court on March 1, but in late February, the U.S. Attorney’s office unexpectedly withdrew its subpoena of hi</b>m, meaning he’s free for now. About 20 supporters nevertheless gathered in front of the courthouse on March 1 holding up banners with slogans, such as “The Frontlines Are in the Courtroom.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">The Water Protector Legal Collective, the Freshet Collective, and other volunteer-driven collectives have provided legal support and advice for the water protectors now slogging through various court cases.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Notwithstanding the temporary victory in Steve Martinez’ case, members of the collectives say they intend to continue support for those whose sacrifices made the water protector movement possible in their various courtroom-related struggles.</font></p><h2 style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.25; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" style="" size="4">The History Of The Federal Civil Disorder Charge</font></h2><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The civil disorder statute used against the six federal defendants can be traced to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination in 1968, which spurred Congress to pass the US Civil Rights Act one week after his death.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It was passed in the aftermath of riots across the country in protest against substandard living conditions in segregated Black communities. The best known section of the act is Title VIII, known as the Fair Housing Act, which was designed to end residential segregation and promote racial integration. But a little-remembered section of the bill, Title X, is known as the Civil Obedience Act.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman"><b>U.S. Senator Russell Long of Louisiana, an avowed segregationist, was the amendment’s main author and offered it as a quid pro quo for his support of the legislation as a whole.</b></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The amendment created stiff penalties for such activities as “interfering with law enforcement officials during the course of civil disorder.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Long previously offered up the Civil Obedience Act as an amendment to a bill that would have specified punishments for violence against civil rights workers in the Deep South.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Biographer Michael S. Martin recalled in his book, “Russell Long: A Life in Politics,” a speech Long made to the Senate floor, in which he</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> described the pro-civil rights worker legislation as “a bill to aid and abet H. Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael,” </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">in reference to leaders of the Black Power movement. He also claimed the people the bill supported were “known to stir up hatred and ill will among people of their race and put cities to the torch.”</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">In response, Long proposed the Civil Obedience Act as a means to “strike the very thing which really concerns the people of this country: the rights and the safety of 200 million Americans whose property and whose very lives have been seriously endangered.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Nearly a half-century later, the federal government is using this same racially-charged legislation to pursue felony charges against six indigenous people at Standing Rock.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ellison recalled one of the few previous times he encountered Federal Civil Disorder charges was during </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">prosecutions of AIM activists in the 1970s.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> He experienced first-hand the murderous FBI-coordinated counter-insurgency campaign against AIM at Pine Ridge, he noted, whereby a paramilitary organization known as the Guardians of the Oglala Nation (GOONs) went on a rampage of beatings and assassinations of AIM leaders and supporters.</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">Federal prosecutions are viewed as one aspect of an escalating effort by domestic security agencies, police, politicians, and fossil fuel industries to break the spirit of resistance movements nationwide.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said more than 30 separate anti-protest bills were introduced since November 8, representing “an unprecedented level of hostility towards protesters in the 21st century.”</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">“The government is looking at how to deal with protests nationally, and these federal prosecutions are certainly a part of that,” Ellison concluded.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="">Will Parrish is a California-based investigative journalist who focuses on militarism, climate change, and social movements.&nbsp;</font></span></p></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman"></font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">ref BS</font></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/warnings-of-eco-terrorism-mass-casualties-at-new-okla-tenn-oil-pipeline">https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/warnings-of-eco-terrorism-mass-casualties-at-new-okla-tenn-oil-pipeline</a></div><div>
</div><div><div class="ArticlePage-articleHead col-md-12 col-lg-7 col-xl-8 d-inline-block float-md-left mb-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; width: 800px; min-height: 1px; padding-right: 15px; padding-left: 15px; -webkit-box-flex: 0; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; max-width: 66.6667%; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline-block !important; float: left !important; margin-bottom: 1rem !important;"><div id="dyId2983116cc02f4290" data-dy-embedded-object="true" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="dy_unit dy_smart_object_459695" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h5 class="article-kicker color-red" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.5; text-transform: uppercase;"><a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">OPINION: WASHINGTON SECRETS</a></h5></div></div><div id="dyId78716cc02f6125" data-dy-embedded-object="true" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><h1 class="ArticlePage-headline" itemprop="headline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" style="">Warnings of eco-terrorism, 'mass casualties' at new Okla-Tenn oil pipeline</font></h1><div class="ArticlePage-byline mb-4" itemprop="author" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 1.5rem !important;"><div class="ArticlePage-authorTexts d-inline-flex flex-wrap mb-2 mr-3" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-flex !important; flex-wrap: wrap !important; margin-bottom: 0.5rem !important; margin-right: 1rem !important;"><div class="ArticlePage-authorName" itemprop="name" style="box-sizing: border-box;">by&nbsp;<a class="Link" href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/author/paul-bedard" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Paul Bedard</a></div><div class="ArticlePage-datePublished" style="box-sizing: border-box;">&nbsp;| April 18, 2017 02:13 PM</div></div></div><div class="ArticlePage-lead" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="Figure mb-1 mb-sm-3 mb-md-1 article-lead-photo data_invisible" data-align="center" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.25rem !important; margin-left: 0px; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: center;"><div class="Figure-container" style="box-sizing: border-box;">
<figcaption class="Figure-caption" itemprop="caption" style="box-sizing: border-box;">[odd pix, scary? Dakota Access pipeline opponents burn structures in their main protest camp in southern North Dakota near Cannon Ball, N.D., on Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2017, as authorities prepare to shut down the camp in advance of spring flooding season. (AP Photo/James MacPherson)</figcaption><div class="Figure-credit" itemprop="author" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;">
</div></div></figure></div></div><div class="ArticlePage-aside col-xl-4 col-lg-5 col-md-6 Xd-inline-block d-md-block float-md-right sidebar hidden-print" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; width: 400px; min-height: 1px; padding-right: 15px; padding-left: 15px; -webkit-box-flex: 0; flex: 0 0 33.3333%; max-width: 33.3333%; order: 3; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); float: right !important;"><aside class="ArticlePage-aside" style="box-sizing: border-box; order: 3;"><div id="dy_article_newsletter_signups" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="dy_article_sidebar_recommendations" style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></div></aside></div><div class="col-md-6 col-lg-7 col-xl-8 Xd-inline-block d-md-block float-md-left" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; width: 800px; min-height: 1px; padding-right: 15px; padding-left: 15px; -webkit-box-flex: 0; flex: 0 0 66.6667%; max-width: 66.6667%; float: left !important;"><div class="ArticlePage-articleBody" itemprop="articleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="RichTextArticleBody" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="RichTextArticleBody-body" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><span class="ArticlePage-articleBody-firstLetter" style="box-sizing: border-box;">J</span>ust months removed from the violence and attacks on police by environmental extremists fighting the Dakota Access Pipeline, state and federal officials are warning of similar, potentially catastrophic, attacks against another new pipeline between Oklahoma and Tennessee that enters service in the fall.</p><div id="dyId11c2416cc02f5167" data-dy-embedded-object="true" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;">A report from the Department of Homeland Security, and Arkansas, Tennessee, and Oklahoma, warns of attacks from eco-terrorists to anti-government militia on the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.diamondpipelinellc.com/project-overview/" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Diamond Pipeline project.</a></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;">"Law enforcement are assessing what environmental extremists did to disrupt Dakota Access Pipeline – <b>Molotov cocktails,</b> rocks, arson, roadblocks, chaining themselves to equipment,<b> improvised explosive devices,</b> etc – and seeing many of the same activities potentially happening around Diamond pipeline," according to a police representative.</p><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; float: left; margin-right: 2em;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;" /><div class="Enhancement" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; clear: left;"><div class="Enhancement-item" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><figure class="Figure mb-1 mb-sm-3 mb-md-1 article-lead-photo data_invisible" data-align="center" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.25rem !important; margin-left: 0px; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: center;">[map pipe route]</figure></div></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />The 11-page "field analysis report," stamped "Unclassfied//For Official Use Only," said that there are no pending threats to the $900 million, 440-mile pipeline under construction, but that the potential is very real.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;">"While the Diamond Pipeline project has not seen the same level of disruption as the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), we are concerned that negative perceptions about enforcement efforts against DAPL opponents could inspire like-minded individuals to seek out reprisal violence against similar targets, including the Diamond Pipeline," said the report, provided to Secrets.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;">Some&nbsp;<a href="http://www.tulsaworld.com/homepagelatest/talk-of-peace-protecting-the-environment-at-tulsa-rally-against/article_cb70bf08-a8b8-5f2a-86e4-8e26e4a8c76f.html" target="blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">peaceful protests</a>&nbsp;have already occurred.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;">The report revealed that five oil pipelines crossing the U.S.-Canada border were shutdown in October, and it provided photographic evidence of the arson and sabotage of the Dakota Access Pipeline.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;">Police are keen consumers of the report because it was sheriffs and local cops that felt the brunt of the pressure at Dakota, sometimes getting in violent clashes with protesters.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;">According to the report, "Pipeline construction projects frequently arouse concerns about environmental and land-use issues. While most opposition activity related to pipeline construction remains nonviolent and lawful protest activity, some violent extremists may take advantage of lawful gatherings to attempt to threaten, incite, or commit violent acts against public safety officers or facility staff."</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;">The<b> biggest concerns cited in the report:</b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">—</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> "DHS</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and the authoring </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">fusion centers</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> assess the </span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">most likely potential domestic terrorist threat </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">to the Diamond Pipeline construction project or associated entities is from </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">environmental rights extremists motivated by resentment over perceived environmental destruction."</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">— "We assess that the second most likely potential domestic terrorist threat to the Diamond Pipeline or associated entities—including law enforcement and private contract security guards—is from </span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">militia</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> extremists opposed to government enforcement of eminent domain policies."</span></b></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">— "</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We assess that potential attacks against the Diamond Pipeline or related entities would most likely be simple and designed to damage physical infrastructure or equipment by sabotage or arson. Previous attacks against pipelines or related targets have i<b>ncluded assaults on law enforcement, private contract security guards, or construction personnel."[where? Fallin gun?]</b></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;">— "We assess the primary potential threat of violence against the Diamond Pipeline and related entities is from<b> lone offenders who adhere to environmental rights extremist beliefs </b>and believe<b> violence </b>is justified against such projects due to their<b> perceived</b> harm to the environment. Previous incidents involving lone offenders committing violent acts against targets associated with similar energy projects suggest that the pipeline and associated entities could be attractive targets for an attack by lone environmental rights extremists."</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">— </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"Militia extremists have engaged in armed standoffs, threats, and disrupted IED plots targeting law enforcement entities perceived to be enforcers of oppressive government land-use policies, according to media reporting. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Although their capabilities vary, </span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">some militia extremists have well-rehearsed paramilitary skills, as well as access to and proficiency using firearms and explosives. As a result, successful violent attacks have the </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">potential to cause mass casualties."</span></b></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 1rem;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner's "Washington Secrets" columnist, can be contacted at&nbsp;<span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><a href="mailto:pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration-line: none; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">pbedard@washingtonexaminer.com</a></span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div></div></div></div></div>