A @gwupoe scoop: A LT in the US Coast Guard was arrested this week for drug and gun charges. It looked like a run of the mill case until the detention memo filed yesterday. He had a hit list, contacts with white supremacists, guns, and, again, was an Coastie assigned to HQ.
— Seamus Hughes (@SeamusHughes) February 20, 2019
(GWUPOE — I didn’t recognize it, either — is the Program on Extremism at George Washington University)
From the Washington Post:
… Christopher Paul Hasson called for “focused violence” to “establish a white homeland” and said, “I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth,” according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Maryland. Though court documents do not detail a specific planned date for an attack, the government said he had been amassing supplies and weapons since at least 2017, developed a spreadsheet of targets that included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and searched the Internet using phrases such as “best place in dc to see congress people” and “are supreme court justices protected.”…
Hasson, 49, of Silver Spring, is expected to appear before a judge for a detention hearing in federal court in Greenbelt at 1 p.m. Thursday.
Hasson was arrested Friday on charges of illegally possessing weapons and drugs, but the government said those charges are the “proverbial tip of the iceberg.” Officials with the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland outlined Hasson’s alleged plans to spark chaos and destruction, describing in court documents a man obsessed with neo-fascist and neo-Nazi views.
“Please send me your violence that I may unleash it onto their heads,” Hasson wrote in a letter that prosecutors said was found in his email drafts. “Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world.”…
Hasson has been working at the U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington since 2016, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. He also served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1988 to 1993 and in the Army National Guard for about two years in the mid-1990s, the filings state….
Court documents do not detail what prompted federal law enforcement to begin investigating Hasson but contend that Hasson had been studying the 1,500-page manifesto of right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who unleashed two attacks in 2011 that killed 77 people in Norway, and echoed Breivik’s attack preparations…
In an email drafted in June 2017, he contemplated biological attacks and targeting food supplies, according to the court filings. He considered the merits of a “bombing/sniper campaign.” And he included a “Things to do” list that mentioned purchasing land “out west or possibly NC mtns” for family and researching tactics used during the civil war in Ukraine.
“During unrest target both sides to increase tension,” Hasson wrote in the email, according to the court filings. “In other words provoke gov/police to over react which should help to escalate violence. BLM protests or other left crap would be ideal to incite to violence.”…
I’m with Mr. Pierce on this:
… [T]his really may not have been the best day for the president* to be calling media outlets enemies of the people. After all, there are some people out there who still take him seriously.
Jeffro
Good reporting but I do wish the WaPo had been more clear in its headline: it’s not a ‘white nationalist’, it’s a ‘right-wing nut job’ with a kill list of left-wing leaders and others who have offended Der Emperor.
And the RWNJ in question was ‘set to pop’ just as soon as trumpov was impeached…fancy that.
People should be reminded, daily, that a similar RWNJ incited by trumpov’s comments already lit up the Capital Gazette and killed five people. There have already been casualties of trumpov’s incitement and RWNJ violence. Dem leaders, call them on it…they sure as hell would call YOU out on it!
debbie
Did no one pick up on this guy’s proclivities at some point in all his years of service?
Adam L Silverman
He seems nice!
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: He seems to have bounced around a lot.
Mike in NC
Fucking psycho. Has he been booked on Hannity yet?
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
My wife is the C.F.O. of the Coast Guard Mutual Assistance non profit, and she was stunned when I told her about this. She has to go to the building often where this clown worked. Kind of freaked her out a little.
sdhays
Don’t forget, if we had Wall, there would be no drugs. //
ArchTeryx
The fact that he worships at the altar of Breivik told me all I needed to know about the man. He deserves the same fate as Breivik, too.
( Breivik is the subhuman pond scum that murdered 70 people in Norway, almost 60 of which were children. Children of left-wing political leaders, at a summer camp, were specifically targeted. Norway does not have the death penalty or life imprisonment, but they found a loophole for this scumbag and he’s rotting in solitary, where he belongs. )
Aleta
@Jeffro: He identifies himself as a “long time White Nationalist.”
“The government has infiltrated and destroyed from within most if not all Pro White organizations. We need a white home land as Europe seems lost.”
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1098326520425336832.html
He’s also RW and not sane.
Ruckus
@debbie:
Unless things have changed a lot since I was in, if he wanted to not be known as a danger to others and he kept his head down, no one would be the wiser. As long as he wasn’t creating an issue publicly and especially not in uniform, maybe no one who could/would do anything even knows that he wants to be a murdering asshole. I was on board a ship with a man shooting up heroin and no one knew until he got caught with a needle in his arm by someone of a high enough rank. Also, it was still against the rules, we had at least one gay guy in the crew. The reason I know this was I saw him in town one day, not being all that discrete. As long as no one said anything to the powers that be he was fine. Nice guy, solid worker, none of his fellow non lifer enlisted seemed to care one bit about his choices. And none of us were saying a word.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
@Ruckus:
Hard to believe something like his temperament wouldn’t have tipped off anyone. I have trouble imagining someone with his level of anger appearing to be just another guy.
Major Major Major Major
@ArchTeryx: weren’t they thinking about hiring some buddies for him since they don’t believe in isolation either?
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: I didn’t get too involved in my soldiers’ lives. If they did their work and didn’t get in trouble, I let them go about their business. Besides, how do you know his issues were this acute throughout his military career?
Ruckus
@debbie:
Like I said, if he kept his head down, which means he basically didn’t say anything on the job or in uniform about his – lifestyle – no one would know. While the military is rather intrusive in one’s life, they didn’t inquire into your business without cause. That is officially. I did have one E7 take me into a room and tell me he didn’t like my attitude. As it was just the two of us in a closed room I told him my attitude was none of his fucking business and that the navy gets my time, my training and expertise and a willingness to do my job to the best of my ability, but that he could fuck right off that I had to like it. He never said another word, first off I didn’t work for him, wasn’t under his supervision and he knew he was on shaky ground because my crew had 100% up time. It would have been pretty difficult for him to charge me with anything and I’d have just denied it. I will say that he was one of the lifers who never ever went topside underway by himself. One thing you learn is that life in the military is getting along, not pissing off everyone around you. He didn’t get along with pretty much anyone. This E7 pulled the same stunt with a buddy, and said buddy told me he had been in the Hell’s Angels and I tended to believe this particular story for a number of reasons. Anyway my buddy grabbed the E7 by the throat and jammed him up against the wall and let it be known that he didn’t take kindly to being fucked with. He never was again.
Now remember this guy was also an officer, and that could be a difference in a lot of ways. He might have his own quarters or not even stay on base if assigned to one. One maybe sort of a tell though is that he’s an LT and is 49 yrs old. That seems to me to be a bit odd. But then I was in a long time ago and turned 21 in boot camp – I was an old man then too. There weren’t more than a handful of us out of 80 guys close to that age.
sukabi
AOC has a few thoughts about this, and journalists who are sharing the targets addressess..
Jay
@sukabi:
Comments are pretty disgusting on that thread.
sukabi
@Jay: yeah, there are a bunch of creeps out there.
Sloane Ranger
Bah, Just some lone wolf with mental/emotional issues. Can’t be a real terrorist – he’s white.:)
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
#Economic Anxiety
debbie
@Ruckus:
@Omnes Omnibus:
I know you’re both long gone, but I still think there would be a sense of something “off” with the guy. I have one brother who is (figuratively) a psychopath. I can feel his anger when he walks into the room.
Matt
“RaHoWa just as soon as I kick these opioids” is the most Trumpkin thing ever.
Ben Cisco
@debbie: In the military one is trained to compartmentalize. It may be difficult to grasp, but Ruckus and Omnes are on point on this one. Your experience and perception regarding your brother is missing that component.
The Midnight Lurker
I don’t have time for your verifiable stories of heavily armed, radicalized racists in positions of authority, planning to do horrible things to further the goals of fascism! I gotta call 9-1-1!
There are some ‘blacks’ in the public park down the street, having a cookout that look suspicious!