To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Echelon confirmed
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999 03:20:49 -0500

From: owner-bpr@philologos.org

[BPRnote: The first article is an earlier story for those
that might not be familiar with Echelon. The second story
is by the BBC who claims that Australia has confirmed
the existence of this global spy network.]

============

Oct 22, 1999 - TERRORISM, MANIFESTO, BOMB, SECRET:
Those words and about a dozen others of that ilk (Sarin gas, plastic
explosives) were "spammed" across the Internet in e-mail
messages Thursday. Those who participated believe the U.S. and
other governments are massively monitoring worldwide electronic
communications, including phone traffic and e-mail, with
computers programmed to spot key words (kalashnikovs, comrades)
that might be used by subversives. The point of the spamming
effort (worker's cooperatives, solidarity), was to flood the
alleged monitoring system, reportedly called Echelon, while
calling public attention to it. . . . Reb. Bob Barr, R-Ga., says
Congress should hold hearings on Echelon, even though its
existence has not been officially confirmed by the U.S.
government. Barr estimates that the system monitors 2 million
communcations per hour around the world (fascist dictators,
anarchist utopia). -- D.M.

The Morrock News Digest
http://morrock.com

=================

Global spy network revealed
Listening in to your phone calls and reading your emails

By Andrew Bomford of BBC Radio 4's PM programme

Imagine a global spying network that can eavesdrop on every
single phone call, fax or e-mail, anywhere on the planet.

It sounds like science fiction, but it's true.

Two of the chief protagonists - Britain and America -officially
deny its existence. But the BBC has confirmation from the
Australian Government that such a network really does exist and
politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are calling for an
inquiry.

On the North Yorkshire moors above Harrogate they can be seen
for miles, but still they are shrouded in secrecy. Around 30
giant golf balls, known as radomes, rise from the US military
base at Menwith Hill.

Linked to the NSA

Inside is the world's most sophisticated eavesdropping
technology, capable of listening-in to satellites high above the
earth.

The base is linked directly to the headquarters of the US
National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Mead in Maryland, and it
is also linked to a series of other listening posts scattered
across the world, like Britain's own GCHQ.

The power of the network, codenamed Echelon, is astounding.

Every international telephone call, fax, e-mail, or radio
transmission can be listened to by powerful computers capable of
voice recognition. They home in on a long list of key words, or
patterns of messages. They are looking for evidence of
international crime, like terrorism.

Open Oz

The network is so secret that the British and American
Governments refuse to admit that Echelon even exists. But
another ally, Australia, has decided not to be so coy.

The man who oversees Australia's security services, Inspector
General of Intelligence and Security Bill Blick, has confirmed
to the BBC that their Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) does
form part of the network.

"As you would expect there are a large amount of radio
communications floating around in the atmosphere, and agencies
such as DSD collect those communications in the interests of
their national security", he said.

Asked if they are then passed on to countries like Britain and
America, he said: "They might be in certain circumstances."

But the system is so widespread all sorts of private
communications, often of a sensitive commercial nature, are
hoovered up and analysed.

Journalist Duncan Campbell has spent much of his life
investigating Echelon. In a report commissioned by the European
Parliament he produced evidence that the NSA snooped on phone
calls from a French firm bidding for a contract in Brazil. They
passed the information on to an American competitor, which won
the contract.

"There's no safeguards, no remedies, " he said, "There's
nowhere you can go to say that they've been snooping on your
international communications. Its a totally lawless world."

Breaking the silence

Both Britain and America deny allegations like this, though
they refuse to comment further. But one former US army
intelligence officer has broken the code of silence.

Colonel Dan Smith told the BBC that while this is feasible, it
is not official policy: "Technically they can scoop all this
information up, sort through it, and find what it is that might
be asked for," he said. "But there is no policy to do this
specifically in response to a particular company's interests."

Legislators on both sides of the Atlantic are beginning to sit
up and take notice. Republican Congressman Bob Barr has
persuaded congress to open hearings into these and other
allegations.

In December he is coming to Britain to raise awareness of the
issue. In an interview with the BBC he accused the NSA of
conducting a broad "dragnet" of communications, and "invading
the privacy of American citizens."

He is joined in his concerns by a small number of politicians
In Britain. Liberal Democrat MP Norman Baker has tabled a series
of questions about Menwith Hill, but has been met with a wall of
silence.

"There's no doubt it's being used as a listening centre," he
said, "There's no doubt it's being used for US interests, and
I'm not convinced that Britain's interests are being best served
by this."

http://news2.thls.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/newsid%5F503000/503224.stm

Other links of interest:

Commentary by Joseph Farah
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_btl/19991104_xcbtl_echelon_se.shtml

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Bishop wants Church to pray to God the Mother
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999 03:24:15 -0500

From: owner-bpr@philologos.org

Bishop wants Church to pray to God the Mother

BY RUTH GLEDHILL, RELIGION CORRESPONDENT

A PRAYER that describes God as "mother" could be introduced
to the Church of England's liturgy for the first time if it is
accepted
by the General Synod this month.

The prayer is likely to prove controversial when the synod
meets at Church House, Westminster, in two weeks.

The Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries, wants the
prayer to be said at the centre of the Eucharist, the most
sacred moment of a church service. A similar prayer was rejected
after being debated at the synod three years ago.

In the prayer, said immediately after the sanctus, God is
described as a "mother" who "tenderly gathers her children".
Later in the same prayer, worshippers plead with God to "build
us into a living temple to your glory".

Bishop Harries's prayer is the seventh of eight eucharistic
prayers to be debated for the new service book, Common Worship,
which will succeed the 1980 Alternative Service Book towards the
end of next year.

After more than three years of intensive debate, with hours
spent dwelling on minutiae, the first six prayers are now close
to final approval.

Bishop Harries, who had a similar new eucharistic prayer
rejected by the synod in 1996, has introduced this "mother" God
prayer just months before Common Worship is due to go to press.

The synod is also divided over the wording of the Nicene Creed.
The Church is debating whether the creed should describe Christ
as "incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary" or
"incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary".

The former is favoured by most churches around the world, but
is criticised by some evangelicals who believe that it implies
too high a status for the Virgin Mary in making her equal to the
Holy Spirit in the conception of Christ.

A motion to "increase awareness" of the attractions of the
monastic life is to be debated by the synod. At a time when
vocations to the priesthood have increased greatly, requiring
increased funding for training, synod members will be urged to
encourage more vocations to the religious life as well.

The debate, prompted by Father Aidan Mayoss, of the Community
of the Resurrection, comes at a time of decline in the numbers
of Anglican monks and nuns. Religious communities peaked in the
1950s, but most are now down to a third or half the size they
were in 1950. Many are peopled with older brothers and sisters
who need special care.

Father Mayoss said: "Many communities do have novices. The
interest is there but in many cases the flame needs a measure of
fanning."

During the week-long session, the synod will also be addressed
by Dr Martin Narey, Director-General of the Prison Service,
followed by a debate on prisons. There will also be debates on
evangelism and on talks that have taken place between the
Anglican Churches of Britain and Ireland and the French Lutheran
and Reformed Churches.

http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/11/03/timnwsnws02016.html
?999

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Is Earth's well running dry?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999 05:29:45 -0500

From: owner-bpr@philologos.org

Is Earth's well running dry?
Populations outrunning water supplies

By Hillary Mayell, Environmental News Network . 11.02.99

Water tables are falling on every continent and major rivers
are being drained dry before they reach the sea, according to a
report by the Worldwatch Institute that draws a direct link
between water availability, population growth and food security.

The report is based on a book, Pillar of Sand: Can the
Irrigation Miracle Last, by Sandra Postel. The book was funded
by the Wallace Genetic Foundation and the Pew Fellows Program of
the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Water tables fall

Postel estimates that 40 percent of the world's food comes from
irrigated cropland — and she points out that historically, most
irrigation-based civilizations have failed. Problems associated
with irrigated farming include water-logging, salting and
silting. The introduction of diesel and electrically powered
pumps has added a new wrinkle: aquifer depletion. The report
sites examples of falling water tables — and their effects — on
agricultural output:

In India, researchers estimate that water is being pumped from
the ground at double the rate of aquifer recharge from rainfall.
The International Water Management Institute estimates that
India's grain harvest could be reduced by up to one fourth as a
result of aquifer depletion. The country's population reached 1
billion in August and is expected to add an additional 18
million people a year for the foreseeable future.

Depletion of the Ogallala aquifer in the southern Great Plains
of the United States has led to irrigation cutbacks in farming
states — Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado have been losing
irrigated land over the last two decades. Texas has lost
irrigated land at roughly one percent a year since 1980.

Water tables are falling in China almost everywhere that the
land is flat. Under the North China Plain, the country's
breadbasket, water tables are falling by roughly 5 feet (1.5
meters) a year. Where wells have gone dry, farmers have been
forced either to drill deeper, if they can afford it, or to
abandon irrigated agriculture, converting back to lower-yield
rain-fed farming. China's population is also estimated at 1
billion.

Together, China, the United States and India produce about one-
half the world's food.

Rivers running dry

As populations continue to grow and pull more water from
rivers, a new phenomenon — rivers running dry — has developed.

China's Yellow River first ran dry in 1972. Since 1985, it has
run dry for part of each year. In 1997, it failed to reach the
sea during 226 days, or roughly 7 months of the year. India's
Ganges River has little water left during the dry season when it
reaches the Bay of Bengal, leaving farmers in Bangladesh
strapped for water. The same is true of the Nile River. Most of
the water is now claimed, but the populations of the three basin
countries, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, are expected to nearly
double by 2050.

In central Asia, the Amu Darya, one of two rivers that once fed
the Aral Sea, is now drained dry by farmers in Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan. As the sea has shrunk to scarcely half its original
size, the rising salt concentration has destroyed all fish,
eliminating a rich fishery that once landed 100 million pounds
of fish a year.

Similarly, the Colorado, the major river in the southwestern
United States, rarely ever makes it to the Gulf of California,
and the fishery at its mouth has disappeared.

The link between food shortages and water shortages is close.
Hydrologists estimate that when the amount of fresh water per
person in a country drops below 1,700 cubic meters per year the
country is facing water stress. Postel estimates that the number
of people living in countries experiencing water stress will
increase from 467 million in 1995 to over 3 billion by 2025 as
population continues to grow. Water scarcity leads inevitably to
competition between urban and rural residents. Since it takes
1,000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of grain, it's cheaper for
a country to divert water to its urban centers and import grain
than to have its own farmers use the limited water to grow food.
This works fine until a country runs out of money or there's a
crash in the world grain market.

With more and more countries looking to the world market for
food, spreading water scarcity may translate into world food
scarcity sooner rather than later.

http://explorezone.com/archives/enn/11_02_well_dry.htm

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Israel, Jordan mark five years since signing peace treaty
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 12:45:53 -0500

From: croteaunet@ime.net

Israel, Jordan mark five years since signing peace treaty

By Mark Lavie
The Associated Press

TEL AVIV -- Israelis and Jordanians marked five years since the
signing of their peace treaty by taking in a view looking over
Jerusalem and across the West Bank, all the way to the hills of
Jordan. Oded Eran, Israel's ambassador to Jordan, remarked that
the scene showed how short the distances are here, yet how long
it takes to settle differences.

Jordanians here for study programmes joined diplomats,
gathering for a festive lunch at a rustic restaurant built in
the style of an old tavern facing east from a Jerusalem hill.

Eran, who was recently named head of Israel's team for peace
treaty talks with the Palestinians, said the Israel-Jordan
relationship should be seen as a model for the rest of the region.

"This is peace," enthused Yoav Biran, a senior Israeli
foreign ministry official, looking to his left at a table of
Jordanian university students here on exchange programmes, and
Jordanian experts at other tables, here to share knowledge with
their Israeli counterparts.

The treaty was signed Oct. 26, 1994 at the southern desert
border between the two countries. Jordan became the second Arab
country to make peace with Israel, following Egypt in 1979.

Since then, many Jordanians have complained that the people
have seen no material benefits from breaking a decades-long
taboo and recognising the Jewish state.

Eran urged both sides to recognise the positive aspects, noting
the decades of hostility that preceded five years of peace. He
said it is improper to judge the relationship in its beginning
stages.

Prof. Mohanna Haddad of Yarmuk University in Jordan sat at a
table directly in front of the wood-framed window affording a
view of his home country. He is the first Jordanian professor to
take his sabbatical year in Israel.

Haddad, an anthropologist, is teaching a course at Israel's
Haifa University this semester -- "Minorities in the Middle
East."

Some Jordanian professionals who have had contacts with Israel
have been ostracised by their colleagues. "Sure," laughed
the dapper educator when asked whether he would face problems
when he returns home.

"Not on the formal level, not on the professional level, not
on the government level," he explained, "on the social
level."

He said that professional organisations in Jordan are
controlled by political parties, and many have an anti-Israel
orientation. "I believe that is wrong," he told the
Associated Press. Professional organisations "should not
interfere in politics," he said.

Concerning ties with Israel, he said that once the governments
have signed and ratified a peace treaty, the people should
"submit to the will of the majority" and cooperate with
each other.

November 04, 1999

http://www.access2arabia.com/jordantimes/Thu/news/news6.htm

"Israelis and Jordanians marked five years since the signing of
their peace treaty by taking in a view looking over Jerusalem
and across the West Bank, all the way to the hills of Jordan. "

Gen 13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain
of Jordan, that it [was] well watered every where, before the
LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, [even] as the garden of the
LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Evangelicals Temper Y2K Rhetoric
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 16:42:42 -0500

From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>

EVANGELICALS TEMPER Y2K RHETORIC

As 1998 drew to a close and the nation suddenly became awash in
predictions of possible Year 2000 computer meltdowns, nowhere was
the doom and gloom more prevalent than among conservative
Christians.As the appointed hour rapidly approaches, however, many
of these same voices have now traded fundamentalist conviction
about the near certainty of global disruption for agnostic equivocation
about the millennium bug's real impact. Instead of the Bible, they've
taken to quoting government and industry assurances of Y2K
readiness. Moreover, a distinct backlash has emerged within the
conservative Christian community against many of those who issued
some of the most dire warnings.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/329257.asp?cp1=3D1

via: real_world_news-subscribe@onelist.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Mississippi Valley At Risk Of Big Quake - Report
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 1999 16:45:52 -0500

From: <owner-bpr@philologos.org>

November 4 2:35 PM ET

Mississippi Valley At Risk Of Big Quake - Report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Mississippi River Valley cities such as St.
Louis and Memphis are in grave danger of being hit by a severe
earthquake, geologists said Thursday.

They found faults, similar to those responsible for the 1994 Northridge
quake that badly damaged the Los Angeles area, all along the New
Madrid fault region that extends through Arkansas, Missouri,
Kentucky, Illinois and Tennessee.

That region was hit by three big quakes with magnitudes greater than
7.0 on the open-ended Richter scale in 1811 and 1812 -- quakes so
strong they reportedly caused church bells to ring all the way to
Boston.

Writing in the journal Science, a team at the University of Colorado at
Boulder and the University of Arkansas said they had found evidence
that explains just why the quake threat there is so serious.

"Our evidence shows the New Madrid seismic zone is indeed a threat,
which contradicts a recent study of the seismic hazard of the region
taken with satellite data," Karl Mueller, who led the study, said in a
statement.

"For the first time we can see how fast the earthquake engine is
running and how long it takes to build up energy for a quake."

Not only would any quake be strong, but because the valley is made
up of layers of silt, the shaking would turn much of the land to jelly in
a process known as liquefaction.

"New Madrid is the world's most spectacular example of liquefaction,"
Mueller said in a telephone interview. "When you take a fine-grained,
saturated sediment like mud or silt and you shake it during an
earthquake, it turns to the consistency of jello," Mueller said.

"If you have a building that is sitting on top of jello, the building falls
down. The scary part about New Madrid is that ... we see liquefaction
all over the place there."

And people in Memphis, for example, would be caught unprepared.
"They really don't think that (quakes) are a threat because they
haven't happened in a lifetime," Mueller said.

Mueller said he thinks his team's data is reliable because they did so
many different measurements of the faults.

They hired backhoe operators to dig long, deep, trenches along the
Mississippi floodplain in the Reelfoot Lake region of Tennessee to
expose recent deformations of the sediments.

Geologists have recently been studying "blind-thrust" faults that
cannot be easily seen or mapped. Such a hidden thrust-fault was
responsible for the 1994 Northridge quake, which measured 6.7 on the
Richter scale, killed 57 people and caused more than $40 billion in
damage.

One signature of blind-thrust faults is the folding of rocks or
sediments beneath the surface as they absorb the upward motion of
the energy released by the faults.

They found a pattern of faults linked into a forked, lightning-bolt
shape. "If you know the shape of the fault, then you know where the
seismic gun is pointed," Mueller said.

They also used an imaging technique that helped enhance three-
dimensional topographic maps of the region, and data from other
researchers using "seismic reflection profiles."

"They are like CAT scans through the upper couple kilometers (mile
and a half) of earth and they give us a pretty good picture of what the
shape of these big bends are, these big wrinkles," Mueller said.

He said aftershocks from the 1812 quake, which continue to this day,
help scientists see where the faults are. "The aftershocks illuminate
the faults and it's like shining a lot of little flashlights on these faults,"
he said.

Mueller said there is no telling just when a quake will hit, but it was
likely a quake of magnitude 7.2, enough to cause serious damage to
buildings, would strike within 500 years of the 1812 quake.

He said right now, about three feet (one meter) of "elastic energy" is
stored in the fault system. "If it popped off now, that would be a
Northridge-sized event," he said. "That's something in the mid-to-high
6's."

via: hblondel@tampabay.rr.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - (resend) Project Megiddo
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Thu, 04 Nov 1999 19:24:27 -0500

From: owner-bpr@philologos.org

[I apologize if this is a duplicate for some. I seem to be
having trouble sending out list mail today for some reason.]

-----------

[BPRnote: the following has been extracted from the FBI's
Project Megiddo Report. The full 32 page report can be downloaded
from their website at http://www.fbi.gov. However, it is in
*.pdf format which means you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat
Reader in order to view the document. If you do not have
the reader, you can download it free from the Adobe site
at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html. It's
an easy installation process. If you would rather not use
the Acrobat reader, then contact me and I'll send you a text
copy of the report. It will be sent to you in a zip archive with a size of
approx. 37k.]

The attached analysis, entitled PROJECT MEGIDDO, is an FBI
strategic assessment of the potential for domestic terrorism in
the United States undertaken in anticipation of or response to
the arrival of the new millennium.

PROJECT MEGIDDO

Table of Contents:

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

II. INTRODUCTION

When Does the New Millennium Begin?
Blueprint for Action: The Turner Diaries
Interpretations of The Bible
Apocalyptic Religious Beliefs
The New World Order Conspiracy Theory and the 11 Year 2000
Computer Bug Gun Control Laws

III. CHRISTIAN IDENTITY

IV. WHITE SUPREMACY

V. MILITIAS

VI. BLACK HEBREW ISRAELITES

VII. APOCALYPTIC CULTS

VIII. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF JERUSALEM

IX. CONCLUSION

For over four thousand years, MEGIDDO, a hill in northern
Israel, has been the site of many battles. Ancient cities were
established there to serve as a fortress on the plain of Jezreel
to guard a mountain pass. As Megiddo was built and rebuilt, one
city upon the other, a mound or hill was formed. The Hebrew word
"Armageddon" means "hill of Megiddo." In English, the word has
come to represent battle itself. The last book in the New
Testament of the Bible designates Armageddon as the assembly
point in the apocalyptic setting of God's final and conclusive
battle against evil. The name "Megiddo" is an apt title for a
project that analyzes those who believe the year 2000 will usher
in the end of the world and who are willing to perpetrate acts
of violence to bring that end about.

I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The year 2000 is being discussed and debated at all levels of
society. Most of the discussions regarding this issue revolve
around the topic of technology and our society's overwhelming
dependence on the multitude of computers and computer chips
which make our world run smoothly. However, the upcoming
millennium also holds important implications beyond the issue of
computer technology. Many extremist individuals and groups place
some significance on the next millennium, and as such it will
present challenges to law enforcement at many levels. The
significance is based primarily upon either religious beliefs
relating to the Apocalypse or political beliefs relating to the
New World Order (NWO) conspiracy theory. The challenge is how
well law enforcement will prepare and respond.

The following report, entitled "Project Megiddo," is intended
to analyze the potential for extremist criminal activity in the
United States by individuals or domestic extremist groups who
profess an apocalyptic view of the millennium or attach special
significance to the year 2000. The purpose behind this
assessment is to provide law enforcement agencies with a clear
picture of potential extremism motivated by the next millennium.
The report does not contain information on domestic terrorist
groups whose actions are not influenced by the year 2000. There
are numerous difficulties involved in providing a thorough
analysis of domestic security threats catalyzed by the new
millennium. Quite simply, the very nature of the current
domestic terrorism threat places severe limitations on effective
intelligence gathering and evaluation. Ideological and
philosophical belief systems which attach importance, and
possibly violence, to the millennium have been well-articulated.
From a law enforcement perspective, the problem therefore is not
a lack of understanding of motivating ideologies: The
fundamental problem is that the traditional focal point for
counterterrorism analysis -- the terrorist group -- is not
always well-defined or relevant in the current environment.

The general trend in domestic extremism is the terroristīs
disavowal of traditional, hierarchical, and structured terrorist
organizations. Even well-established militias, which tend to
organize along military lines with central control, are
characterized by factionalism and disunity.

While several "professional" terrorist groups still exist and
present a continued threat to domestic security, the
overwhelming majority of extremist groups in the United States
have adopted a fragmented, leaderless structure where
individuals or small groups act with autonomy. Clearly, the
worst act of domestic terrorism in United States history was
perpetrated by merely two individuals: Timothy McVeigh and Terry
Nichols. In many cases, extremists of this sort are extremely
difficult to identify until after an incident has occurred.
Thus, analysis of domestic extremism in which the group serves
as the focal point of evaluation has obvious limitations.

The Project Megiddo intelligence initiative has identified very
few indications of specific threats to domestic security. Given
the present nature of domestic extremism, this is to be
expected. However, this is a function of the limitations of the
group-oriented model of counterterrorism analysis and should not
be taken necessarily as reflective of a minor or trivial
domestic threat. Without question, this initiative has revealed
indicators of potential violent activity on the part of
extremists in this country. Militias, adherents of racist belief
systems such as Christian Identity and Odinism, and other
radical domestic extremists are clearly focusing on the
millennium as a time of action. Certain individuals from these
various perspectives are acquiring weapons, storing food and
clothing, raising funds through fraudulent means, procuring safe
houses, preparing compounds, surveying potential targets, and
recruiting new converts. These and other indicators are not
taking place in a vacuum, nor are they random or arbitrary. In
the final analysis, while making specific predictions is
extremely difficult, acts of violence in commemoration of the
millennium are just as likely to occur as not. In the absence of
intelligence that the more established and organized terrorist
groups are planning millennial violence as an organizational
strategy, violence is most likely to be perpetrated by radical
fringe members of established groups. For example, while Aryan
Nations leader Richard Butler publicly frowns on proactive
violence, adherents of his religion or individual members of his
organization may commit acts of violence autonomously.

Potential cult-related violence presents additional challenges
to law enforcement. The potential for violence on behalf of
members of biblically-driven cults is determined almost
exclusively by the whims of the cult leader. Therefore,
effective intelligence and analysis of such cults requires an
extensive understanding of the cult leader. Cult members
generally act to serve and please the cult leader rather than
accomplish an ideological objective. Almost universally, cult
leaders are viewed as messianic in the eyes of their followers.
Also, the cult leaderīs prophecies, preachings, orders, and
objectives are subject to indiscriminate change. Thus, while
analysis of publicly stated goals and objectives of cults may
provide hints about their behavior and intentions, it is just as
likely to be uninformed or, at worst, misleading. Much more
valuable is a thorough examination of the cult leader, his
position of power over his followers, and an awareness of the
responding behavior and activity of the cult. Sudden changes in
activity - for example, less time spent on "Bible study" and
more time spent on "physical training" - indicate that the cult
may be preparing for some type of action.

The millennium holds special significance for many, and as this
pivotal point in time approaches, the impetus for the initiation
of violence becomes more acute. Several religiously motivated
groups envision a quick, fiery ending in an apocalyptic battle.
Others may initiate a sustained campaign of terrorism in the
United States to prevent the NWO. Armed with the urgency of the
millennium as a motivating factor, new clandestine groups may
conceivably form to engage in violence toward the U.S.
Government or its citizens.

Most importantly, this analysis clearly shows that perceptions
matter. The perceptions of the leaders and followers of
extremist organizations will contribute much toward the ultimate
course of action they choose. For example, in-depth analysis of
Y2K compliancy on the part of various key sectors that rely on
computers has determined that, despite a generally positive
outlook for overall compliance, there will be problem industries
and minor difficulties and inconveniences.1 If they occur, these
inconveniences are likely to cause varying responses by the
extreme fringes. Members of various militia groups, for example,
have identified potentially massive power failures as an
indication of a United Nations-directed NWO takeover. While
experts have indicated that only minor brownouts will occur,
various militias are likely to perceive such minor brownouts as
indicative of a larger conspiracy.2

The Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology
Problem has stated that some state and local governments could
be unprepared, including the inability to provide benefits
payments.3 This could have a significant impact in major urban
areas, resulting in the possibility for civil unrest. Violent
white supremacists are likely to view such unrest as an
affirmation of a racist, hate-filled world view. Likewise,
militia members who predict the implementation of martial law in
response to a Y2K computer failure would become all the more
fearful.

-------

1 U.S. Congress, Senate, Special Committee on the Year 2000
Technology Problem, Investigating the Impact of the Year 2000
Problem, February 24, 1996, pp. 1-6.

2 Ibid, p. 3.

3 Ibid. p. 5.

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