Feds: Coast Guard Lieutenant Has Neo-Nazi Ties, Had Hit List of Targets
An active duty U.S. Coast Guard officer stationed at the service鈥檚 Washington, D.C., headquarters sought to follow in the footsteps of a far-right European terrorist, a federal prosecutor said, and had a hit list of Democratic politicians and聽cable news hosts he wanted to kill.
Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson of Silver Spring, Maryland, wrote a letter to an unnamed neo-Nazi in September 2017 advocating for a 鈥渨hite homeland.鈥�
鈥淚 never saw a reason for mass protest or wearing uniforms marching around provoking people with swastikas etc.,鈥� Hasson wrote. 鈥淚 was and am a man of action you cannot change minds protesting like that.鈥�
The FBI arrested Hasson, who works in acquisitions, on Feb. 15 and are seeking to hold him pending trial. A detention hearing is set for Thursday in federal court in Maryland.
Hasson鈥檚 letter to the white nationalist聽came seven weeks after the deadly 鈥淯nite the Right鈥� rally聽in Charlottesville, Virginia. In it, Hasson discusses his 28 years in the military 颅鈥� the Marines and the Army National Guard, along with the Coast Guard 颅鈥� and said, 鈥淵ou can make change with a little focused violence.鈥�
Echoing Breivik
In early 2017, Hasson started reading through the manifesto of . Breivik confessed that the massacre was motivated by his desire to rid Norway of Muslims.
Prosecutors said Hasson searched multiple sites for weapons and military technical manuals on improvised munitions.
Federal agents found 15 firearms and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition when Hasson was arrested Feb. 14.
Prosecutors cited a draft email written by Hasson in June 2017 in which he said he was "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth" using a "Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax" or some other mass toxin.
In the letter to the unnamed neo-Nazi, Hasson wrote about a 鈥渨hite homeland鈥� and his time as a 鈥渟kinhead鈥� and in the military.
鈥淗ow long can we hold out there and prevent n-----ization of the Northwest until whites wake up on their own or are forcibly made to make a decision whether to roll over and die or to stand up remains to be seen,鈥� Hasson wrote.
Like Breivik and, more recently, , Hasson made a target list, prosecutors said, picking out specific victims, including current and former elected officials as well as cable news hosts on MSNBC and CNN.
Sayoc is awaiting trial on charges that he delivered bombs to a variety of Democratic politicians, including former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as CNN.
Hasson searched for 鈥淢ost liberal senators,鈥� 鈥渨here do most senators live in dc鈥� and 鈥渁re supreme court justices protected,鈥� prosecutors said.
His searches also included MSNBC morning host Joe Scarborough, and he sought details about where the 鈥淢orning Joe鈥� show was taped. He also found Scarborough鈥檚 home address online.
In January, prosecutors said, Hasson pulled together a list similar to Breivik鈥檚, identifying people he considered traitors.
Others targeted by Hasson, prosecutors said, were MSNBC host Chris Hayes, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who he identified as 鈥淪en blumen jew,鈥� House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and former Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, among others.
Hasson also searched 鈥渃ivil war if trump impeached鈥� and 鈥渂est place in dc to see congress people.鈥�
Federal agents also found that Hasson read through Breivik鈥檚 diary online about the use of steroids. In the diary, Breivik recommends using a six-week steroid cycle while preparing for an attack.
In Hasson鈥檚 home, agents found a locked container with more than 30 bottles of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) inside.
Radicals in the military
The military has a history of producing violent radical right-wing extremists.
The head of the the neo-Confederate League of the South鈥檚聽Florida chapter, Michael Tubbs,聽was a demolitions expert in the Green Berets. Tubbs pleaded guilty in 1991 to theft of government property and conspiracy to transport guns and explosives across state lines.
Prosecutors said Tubbs and his brother聽coordinated the theft of an arsenal and were setting up a violently racist group called the Knights of the New Order. Officials said Michael Tubbs had drawn up lists of targets including newspapers, television stations and businesses owned by Jews and blacks.
After his release from prison in 1995, Tubbs immediately rejoined the white supremacist movement.
And, the idea of acting alone, a concept known as 鈥渓eaderless resistance,鈥� started with former Ku Klux Klansman and Army veteran Louis Beam.
Beam served in the Army during the Vietnam War, then returned to Texas and joined the local chapter of the United Klans of America.
Beam mentored domestic terrorists in the 1980s and into the early 1990s on the idea of taking action in small cells of one to six men. The goal was to stop the destruction of organizations infiltrated or compromised by law enforcement.
Instead, Beam counseled extremists working independently, using 鈥渓one wolves鈥� to take action. These 鈥渓one wolves鈥� would 鈥渁ct when they feel the time is ripe, or [would] take their cues from others who precede[d] them.鈥�
One of the most infamous lone-wolf terrorists in American history, Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, was a Gulf War veteran. His partner, Terry Nichols, was in the army.
In a draft email from 2017, Hasson聽references right-wing domestic terrorist Eric Rudolph, who spent time in the army and is currently in prison for perpetrating a series of bombings in the 1990s motivated by anti-abortion and anti-gay sentiment. Former active service members such as Wade Michael Page听补苍诲 Frazier Glenn Miller聽have committed terror attacks after spending years immersed in this country鈥檚 racist radical right.
A drug investigation
The FBI was turned on to Hasson as part of a drug investigation.
FBI Special Agent Alexandria M. Thoman wrote in an affidavit that Hasson, while stationed at the U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, was in contact with a drug dealer since at least 2016 and purchased the addictive painkiller Tramadol.
Hasson also used email to buy and swap guns and purchase kits to help him hide his drug use when he took a urinalysis test.
At the time of his arrest, the FBI lodged federal firearms and drug charges.
鈥淭he current charges, however, are the proverbial tip of the iceberg,鈥� Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas P. Windom wrote. 鈥淭he defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct.鈥�
U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride said in a statement that Hasson worked in the Coast Guard acquisition directorate and confirmed the arrest.
He declined further comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
Photo from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland
