Comparison:
Bound by shared ideology, militias are more porous than outsiders would think. Members often cycle between groups like square dance partners.
Joshua Kaplan was given unusual access to an undercover report via a two-year effort of John Williams to infiltrate militia groups in the United States in '21-'22. He calls out a seemingly unusual simile from square dancing to capture the essence of how members in such militia move with ease from group. Must need to be careful with the Half Sashay.
Context:
[John Williams infiltrated militia groups in the USA between 2021 and 2023,]
After more than two years undercover [April 2023], [John Williams had] been growing rash and impulsive. He had feared someone was in danger and tried to warn him, but it backfired. Williams was sure at least one person knew he was a double agent now, he said into his phone. ‘It’s only a matter of time before it gets back to the rest.‘
In the daylight, Williams dropped an envelope with no return address in a U.S. Postal Service mailbox. He’d loaded it with a flash drive and a gold Oath Keepers medallion.
It was addressed to me [Joshua Kaplan, a Propublica reporter].
[John] Williams had penetrated the top ranks of two of the most prominent right-wing militias in the country. He’d slept in the home of the man who claims to be the new head of the Oath Keepers, rifling through his files in the middle of the night. He’d devised elaborate ruses to gather evidence of militias’ ties to high-ranking law enforcement officials. He’d uncovered secret operations like the surveillance of a young journalist, then improvised ways to sabotage the militants’ schemes. In one group, his ploys were so successful that he became the militia’s top commander in the state of Utah.
. . .
The files give a unique window, at once expansive and intimate, into one of the most consequential and volatile social movements of our time. Williams penetrated a new generation of paramilitary leaders, which included doctors, career cops and government attorneys. Sometimes they were frightening, sometimes bumbling, always heavily armed. It was a world where a man would propose assassinating politicians, only to spark a debate about logistics.
. . .
Kinch explained that Rollins, who’d recently defected to the Oath Keepers, had been singing Williams’ praises. (Bound by shared ideology, militias are more porous than outsiders would think. Members often cycle between groups like square dance partners.) 'I imagine your plate is full with all the crazy stuff going on in the world, but I’d love to sit down.'
Citation:
Kaplan, Joshua. “The Militia and the Mole.“ Propublica, propublica.org, 05 Jan. 2025. Web.
(Image courtesy of Kaptain Amerika, flickr, CC 2.0 Feb. 2025.)
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