Earth liberation Front (ELF) Origins, Doctrine, and Objectives By Tristan Siner

ORIGINS John Hanna (creator of the original elf) Dave foreman (co-creator) Brighton England 1992 Earth First!

DOCTRINE Follow 3 rules follows into objective Believe that all life is sacred ELF rejects ‘liberal identity’, Marxism, and all other forms of single-issue politics Ideology molded from theories of deep ecology, social ecology, and ‘anti- civilization’ or ‘green anarchism’ Little sister of ALF

OBJECTIVE Create eco-revolution Cause as much economic damage as possible to those exploiting the natural environment and life, for profit Educate the masses Take any and all actions against harming life. Protect all life

END-GOALS Protect all life no matter what Attack what destroys environmental life (monkeywrenching) Destroy any business the profits off of environmental life

Strategies, Targets, and Methods of Operations Earth Liberation Front Allison Bailey

Strategies Direct Action: the use of strikes, demonstrations, or other forms of public protest rather than negotiation to achieve one’s demands Seek to cause damage to populated areas Arson, vandalism, tree spiking, destruction of property

Publicity Strategies Guidelines of ELF Communiques 1. To cause as much economic damage as possible to a given entity that is profiting off of the destruction of the natural environment and life for selfish greed and profit 2. To educate the public on the atrocities committed against the environment and life 3. To take all necessary precautions against harming life Communiques Documents announcing details of attack after attack has occurred Publicity

Targets Target companies supporting deforestation, genetic engineering, and anything deemed to be harmful to the environment. Vail Resorts, Inc. Oct. 19, 1998: Vail Resorts set on fire by ELF Burned 5 buildings and 4 chairlifts Called for them to cancel plans of expansion in a communique University of Washington May 2001 Firebomb in the office of Toby Bradshaw, who was believed to be genetically engineering trees

Methods of Operation ELF operates in isolated cells that have no connection to each other Set up like this purposely so that it is extremely hard to trace other members No communication between cells All ELF members have access to introductory materials on arson techniques

Counterterrorism Efforts: Earth Liberation Front Rachel Billeter

Beginning Stages of ELF ELF gained little to no attention as a domestic terrorist force, primarily handled by local law enforcement 1996: First instance where ELF openly claimed responsibility for arson when they burned down Bureau of Land Management horse corral 2001: Finally noted as domestic terrorist group by FBI JTTFs came into play when local law enforcement wasn’t enough 2002: More than 26 FBI field offices that had investigations into ELF

Operation Backfire Started in 2004 Consisted of 7 independent operations from several Oregon FBI field offices “The Family” - independent ELF terrorist cell of 11 members captured by Operation Backfire and charged with multiple counts of domestic terrorism Operation Backfire was most successful against ELF

Counterterrorism Legislation Most Effective Legislation: Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 Enhanced Policies for Use of Explosives or Arson Crimes Clause - 5 to 20 years in prison if property damage - 7 to 40 years in prison if persons harmed - Death penalty possible for cause of death of individuals This act was crucial in the success of Operation Backfire

In Conclusion FBI has not been able to completely eliminate ELF (decentralized) 2009 was last noted attack ELF technically still exists; ELF has ability to reemerge FBI’s efforts seemed to have mostly keep them down