Military extremists, Patriot Front lawsuits and a Utah shooting by the FBI

The U.S. military often isn’t screening recruits for extremist activity, highlighting a broader failure to tackle extremists in the ranks. The white supremacist group Patriot Front is suing – but also being sued, again. A man who threatened to kill President Biden on social media is shot and killed. And an intelligence agency reveals threats to attack the power grid.

It’s the week in extremism.

Military fails in screening recruits for extremist ties

An internal Department of Defense audit released this week found that military recruiters didn’t screen eligible new recruits for ties to extremism 40 percent of the time. The report  comes two weeks after Paste BN published a deep-dive investigation into the military’s failing effort to combat extremism.

• The audit, completed by the Department of Defense Inspector General, found that 41% of applicants who were supposed to undergo additional screening were not asked about extremist or gang affiliations. And 40% were not asked to complete new screening forms.    
• Paste BN’s investigation last month found that of 20 proposed changes to root out extremism, most appear stalled or inactive.
• "It's unacceptable," Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism told Paste BN of the findings released this week. "It's really just shocking that they aren't taking this seriously."

Patriot Front sued (again)

Texas-headquartered white supremacist group Patriot Front was sued in federal court in Boston this week by a man who claims he suffered a “brutal” racist attack when the organization rallied in his home city.

• Patriot Front bills itself as a nationalist group, but internal documents leaked from the group have revealed its true white supremacist nature.
• Charles M. Murrell III, a Black musician, teacher and civil rights activist, claims he was surrounded by Patriot Front members who attacked him with their shields, causing lacerations that needed to be treated in hospital.
• It’s just the latest legal trouble for Patriot Front, which was also sued last year in Richmond, Virginia and has so far failed to show up in court. But members of the group also filed their own lawsuit, with a novel claim against an activist they say infiltrated them, and then exposed their views to others. 

Man who threatened Biden shot by FBI

Craig Robertson, a 75-year-old from Provo, Utah, was shot and killed by FBI agents at his home Wednesday. Robertson had previously made threats on social media against President Joe Biden and other powerful Democrats, according to federal court filings.

• Robertson, who had previously been questioned by FBI agents, continued to make death threats against the President and prominent Democrats, leading to a warrant for his arrest. 
• The 75-year old was killed in a raid on his home early Wednesday morning as the FBI tried to arrest him.
• Robertson posted his threats on former President Donald Trump’s social media site Truth Social and on other social media. 

Threats to power grid

A suspected white supremacist threatened to attack the nation’s power grid if authorities don’t release two men with far-right ties held for allegedly planning a bank robbery, according to a report this week in the Daily Dot.

• The Daily Dot obtained a bulletin shared on April 6 by the South Dakota Fusion Center (SDFC), which provides intelligence on threats for security agencies. 

• The bulletin details a post on Telegram by an unidentified person  threatening to engage in “more attacks on infrastructure” if the two suspects are not released.

An analysis by Axios found there were 163 reported electrical incidents or disturbances caused by acts of vandalism, physical attacks, or "suspicious activity," last year. It’s not clear, though, that the new threat has any connection to the uptick in previous attacks. The bulletin notes, “This is a new source whose information has not been validated.”

Statistic of the week: 10

That’s the number of acres a white supremacist leader and well-known neo-Nazi has bought, for $25,000, in the town of Springfield, Maine, according to a local news report late last week. The group reportedly wants to build a white supremacist enclave in the state.