wmlro.com: US warns about terrorist actitivies of "sovereign citizens"

It's bizarre: Americans try, on the one hand, to make their words very precise - and so they add pointless and confusing prefixes or suffixes but on the other hand, they frequently grab at any passing word that sounds important and attach it to a similar, but not identical, concept.

So, Americans think that extreme violence is terrorism, even if it's just in the course of a robbery. The rest of the world thinks that any violence, even the threat of violence is terrorism IF it is performed for e.g. a political motive.

Also, unlike almost every other country, the USA draws a distinction between "domestic" and "foreign" terrorism.

And so an FBI notice about "Domestic Terrorism: The Sovereign Citizen Movement" is read with some trepidation.

In fact, except that it focuses on "domestic" which it defines as "Americans attacking Americans because of U.S.-based extremist ideologies" the notice has a much clearer picture of at least some of what the rest of the world calls terrorism. Unfortunately, it also says "Domestic terrorism comes in many forms in our post 9/11 world." That's totally irrelevant: Timothy McVeigh's lawyer, in his opening of the defence case, described the Oklahoma City bombing of an IRS building as " the largest domestic terrorism act in the history of this country."

The government, in its opening, described McVeigh as "anti-government; that he has a hatred for the United States, and that he conspired with others to build a terrible explosive device which he initiated because he was angry at the government of the United States."

What the FBI is concerned about now is an extension of the frontier spirit, and of the concepts of every man being free under the law. As states become more subsumed into an increasingly federalised political arena, there are some - many - who believe that their right to self-governance is being stolen.

And at the far end of that opinion is that each individual has the right and capacity to regard himself as an independent state, or to combine with others to form such a state. It's difficult to deny the concept entirely: the USA has afforded sovereign nation status to various Indian tribes and they stand outside many federal and state laws. The sovereign citizen sees no reason why he should not be afforded - and simply adopt - those same principles.

The first thing sovereign citizens claim is that they are immune from state and federal taxes because they are, they say, citizens of their own state and therefore not liable to the US fiscal regime.

The FIB's notice says "Sovereign citizens are anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or “sovereign” from the United States. As a result, they believe they don’t have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments, or law enforcement.

"This causes all kinds of problems—and crimes. For example, many sovereign citizens don’t pay their taxes. They hold illegal courts that issue warrants for judges and police officers. They clog up the court system with frivolous lawsuits and liens against public officials to harass them. And they use fake money orders, personal cheques and the like at government agencies, banks, and businesses."

Several case studies are offered:

In Sacramento, two sovereign citizens were convicted of running a fraudulent insurance scheme. Operating outside state insurance regulatory guidelines, the men set up their own company and sold “lifetime memberships” to customers, promising to pay any accident claims against their “members.” The company collected millions of dollars, but paid out very few claims.

In Kansas City, three sovereign citizens were convicted of taking part in a conspiracy using phony diplomatic credentials. They charged customers between USD450 and USD2,000 for a diplomatic identification card, which would bestow upon the holder “sovereign” status—meaning they would enjoy diplomatic immunity from paying taxes and from being stopped or arrested by law enforcement.

Illegal vehicle identification plates

In Las Vegas, four men affiliated with the sovereign citizen movement were arrested by the Nevada Joint Terrorism Task Force on federal money laundering, tax evasion, and weapons charges. The investigation involved an undercover operation, with two of the suspects allegedly laundering more than a million dollars from what they believed was a bank fraud scheme.

Attention is drawn to the fact that many "sometimes use or buy illegal weapons but guns are secondary to their anti-government, anti-tax beliefs. On the other hand, guns and paramilitary training are paramount to militia groups."

For financial institutions the position is clear: identifying members of this "movement" is action required under the Bank Secrecy Act (but arguably not under the USA PATRIOT Act which focussed on "foreign terrorism" - which emphasises the dangers of the artificial distinction between domestic and foreign terrorism) and SARs must be filed in appropriate cases. That means, for example, noting account holders who do not pay taxes or who use e.g. false diplomatic accreditation as a part of their due diligence documentation.