On Monday, the Justice Department charged two California residents, identified as suspected leaders of a white supremacist organization. The group reportedly aimed to ignite a race war in the United States and is accused of plotting to assassinate ‘high-value’ targets and encouraging its followers to commit acts of terrorism around the world.
Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison allegedly took the lead in a group called “Terrorgram”, created on an encrypted social media platform.
The two now face a number of federal charges, including inciting the murder of a federal official, defamation of federal officials and interstate threats.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who is in charge of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, indicated that the suspects were aiming to start a race war and accelerate the collapse of what they believed to be a corrupt government, with the ultimate goal of establishing a white ethno-state. According to the prosecution, they were using the messaging platform Telegram to spread their white supremacist ideology and promote accelerationism, the belief in accelerating the breakdown of society through violence, Clarke explained during a press conference on Monday.
The arrest of the two alleged leaders underscores the serious threat posed by white supremacist-inspired extremism, which Justice Department officials call the most “lethal” form of domestic terrorism both in the US and globally. During an interview with ABC News, Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen emphasized that domestic terrorism is increasingly on the rise and that white supremacist violence is the deadliest form of domestic extremism the country currently faces, underlining its growing danger.
“With the case we have brought here, we are on the higher end of the Richter scale,” Clarke said. “These are people who are exploiting social media platforms to, you know, as much as possible, try to give so-called ‘sanctity’ to other people who will carry out these attacks. They are providing bomb-making instructions. They are putting together lists of targets. Hopefully this action sends a very strong message: you cannot hide behind a computer screen”.
According to the Justice Department, part of the group’s alleged strategy was to target critical infrastructures, while according to the prosecution, Humber and Allison also allegedly made a documentary celebrating racist incidents in the country since 1968, and at the same time, the two also emphasized the need to act secretly during their operations.
While the investigation continues, information about Humber’s and Allison’s lawyers was not immediately accessible, but this episode highlighted the dangerous nature of social networks and their lack of cooperation with the authorities.
