Terrorist recruitment of US military personnel increases the likelihood of nuclear acquisition

FINDING 3-4: Examples of new types of millenarian groups - the type of terrorist group most likely to ignore anti-nuclear norms – are emerging. There is also increasing evidence that extreme-right wing accelerationist groups are recruiting U.S. military personnel. If those personnel have insider knowledge about or access to nuclear facilities, materials, or intelligence, they may be in a position to compromise current U.S. nuclear security safeguards.

Millenarianism is the belief that after a major cataclysm, society will be dramatically changed or “cleansed”. For secular millenarians, the kind of fundamental change they are pursuing arises by taking actions that have the potential to generate a political crisis to include sparking revolution. For example, there are contemporary domestic accelerationists who are actively seeking to incite a “second revolutionary war” in the United States. Since religious millenarians often believe that a savior or Messiah appear following a period of tribulation, they seek to participate in bringing on the cataclysmic events that will cleanse the world in preparation for the Messiah. The threat of retaliation would presumably not deter these kinds of millenarian groups from extreme acts of violence to include nuclear or radiological devices, as they believe that cataclysmic events presage positive transformative change in society and in themselves. These are groups that want, not a seat at the table, but to blow up the table (Lemann 2001; National Commission on Terrorism 1998).

Examples of millenarian groups that have sought to acquire nuclear materials or weapons include not only al Qaeda and ISIS, but also the group Atomwaffen. According to an investigation by Propublica, authorities discovered an aspirational plan to blow up a nuclear facility over 40 miles from Miami (Thompson, Winston, and Hanrahan 2018a). The group’s name means “nuclear weapons” in German. Atomwaffen was formally disbanded in 2020 (Gais 2023), but it has evolved into a brand rather than a specific terrorist group (Lewis and Newhouse 2023) (Shadnia et al., 2022). Members of the coalition associated with the Atomwaffen brand in the United States seek to incite a race war and overthrow the federal government.

Particularly troubling is Atomwaffen’s recruitment of military or US government personnel. Notably, the group’s founder and leader, Brandon Russell, was arrested after authorities found homemade fuses, Geiger counters, and explosive and radiological materials in his garage. He had been serving in the 53rd Brigade Special Troops Battalion of Florida’s Army National Guard at the time of his arrest (Goldwasser 2021). He was described by a former roommate as “obsessed with nuclear weapons” (Fleer 2020). After his 2021 release from prison, Russell was indicted, in 2023, for allegedly planning to disable the power grid in Maryland (Weiner, et al., 2023). Josh Beckett, who served in the army from 2011-2015 as a combat engineer, trained Atomwaffen members in firearms and hand-to-hand combat and offered to construct weapons for the group (Thompson, et al., 2018b). Naval aviation machinist mate’s apprentice David Cole Tarkington was found to be a prolific Attomwaffen recruiter (Villarreal 2020).