Increasing violence
Here's how the animal rights and eco-terrorists made it to the top of the FBI charts.
"There is nothing else going on in this country, over the last several years, that is racking up the high number of violent crimes and terrorist actions, arsons, etc, that this particular area of domestic terrorism has caused," Lewis testified to a Senate committee earlier this year.
Lewis said that from January 1990 to June 2004, "animal and environmental rights extremists have claimed credit for more than 1,200 [attacks], resulting in millions of dollars of damages and monetary loss."
The FBI is worried about mounting rhetoric from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), whose members regularly break into labs, destroy equipment and threaten scientists; and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), whose supporters attack SUVs and housing developments.
Consider the words of Jerry Vlasak, a physician who is a well-known activist in the animal advocacy movement in Los Angeles. He said he's not a member of ALF, but makes it his mission to publicize their actions. To Vlasak, anyone who does testing on live animals is a "vivisector."
Vlasak made some incendiary comments at an animal rights conference in 2003. "I think there is a use for violence in our movement," Vlasak was reported as saying.
He called violence morally acceptable at times. "If vivisectors were being killed, I think it would give other vivisectors pause. If there were prominent vivisectors being assassinated, there would be a trickle-down effect ... strictly from a fear and intimidation factor, that would be an effective action."
"You wouldn't need to see too many assassinations" before vivisection declined, he said.
The FBI admits it has had a hard time penetrating ALF and ELF. Actions are usually taken by small groups of people, acting autonomously, and e-mailing or faxing results to people like Vlasak, who publicize the results.
The movement prides itself on this sort of independent cell structure and the lack of central leadership.
