NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / World

Neo-Nazi, racist groups a bigger threat to the US than Russia and China

By Jamie Seidel
news.com.au·
9 Apr, 2023 08:06 AM6 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

But law enforcement statistics reveal an increasing number of extremists. Photo / Getty Images
But law enforcement statistics reveal an increasing number of extremists. Photo / Getty Images

But law enforcement statistics reveal an increasing number of extremists. Photo / Getty Images

America’s “doomsday” extremists are getting serious. They’re recruiting veteran and active military personnel. And they’ve begun attacking critical infrastructure.

The US intelligence community’s recently released 2023 Annual Threat Assessment is blunt in its warning: Nazis and other racist groups are now the “most lethal threat” faced by the United States.

That’s ahead of the aggressive expansionism displayed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the invasion of Ukraine under Russian President Vladimir Putin.

And these groups “believe that recruiting military members will help them organise cells for attacks against minorities or institutions that oppose their ideology”, the report warns.

United States think tanks are also increasingly worried.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A new Brookings Institution survey found 16 per cent of Americans agree with the statement: “Because things have gotten so far off-track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”

But law enforcement statistics reveal an increasing number of extremists are already choosing to do so.

In 2022, there were 26 “actual physical attacks” on power facilities across the United States. That’s up from eight in 2021.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And that’s just one sign the recruitment drive among US military and police forces is bearing deadly fruit.

Ready recruits

“Extremist groups have long urged members to join the military to get training in weapons, tactics and leadership,” a special report into the emerging crisis by military.com states. “The most common route to extremism may be post-service, when veterans … struggle to make peace with their time in the military and try to forge a new life as a civilian.”

Active recruiters include militias and outlaw gangs such as Patriot Front, Atomwaffen, Oath Keepers and the Boogaloo movement.

Such groups already “ape the military and actively recruit members and veterans because they see them as an asset to whatever cause they are pursuing”.

One such cause is detailed by a manifesto circulating on the Russian social media service Telegram. Called the ‘Hard Reset’, the document details military-based tactics to take down public infrastructure.

Neo-Nazis hold flags during a National Socialist Movement rally.
Photo / Getty Images
Neo-Nazis hold flags during a National Socialist Movement rally. Photo / Getty Images

It’s finding a fertile audience beyond just US military and police enforcement agencies.

The Brookings Institution survey found that one in 10 Americans identify as being adherent to “Christian nationalism”. A further 19 per cent say they support many of the movement’s goals.

“There is an underlying ideology of racism among the Christian nationalist movement that connects them to white nationalist groups who rely on old and new tropes to promote white supremacy,” the survey finds.

This is expressed through conspiracy movements, including replacement theory – a belief that non-European immigrants are “invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background”.

Unholy war

“The main thing that keeps the anti-white system going is the power grid,” a neo-Nazi manifesto declares. “This is something that is easier than you think. Peppered all over the country are power distribution substations... Sitting ducks, worthy prey.”

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Analysts say the only thing uniting the diverse dogmas of US neo-Nazi, white supremacist and Christian nationalist movements is a belief in “accelerationism”.

“With the power off, when the lights don’t come back on... all hell will break lose, making conditions desirable for our race to once again take back what is ours,” the Nazi doctrine document reads.

What comes next, including how it will reconcile competing extremist beliefs, is not addressed.

The apocalyptic propaganda calls for supporters to select targets “that do the most damage to the system and spark revolution and chaos. So long as the power turns on, the status quo, the downward decline of our race, and the increase in non-whites in our lands will carry on unhindered”.

But signs are “true believers” have already made a start.

Read More

  • US still on high alert after terrorism threat - NZ ...
  • US is preparing Australia to go to war against China, ...
  • South Korea President cites North Korea’s serious nuclear ...

On December 3 last year, two electricity grid transformers in Moore County, North Carolina came under sniper fire. The resulting outage left 40,000 residents without power for several days, even as temperatures fell below zero.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

North Carolina governor Roy Cooper stated the obvious: “If someone with a firearm can do this much damage and get power out to tens of thousands of people, then obviously we need to look at the different layers of infrastructure and hardening and make better decisions here.”

But College of Strategic Intelligence analyst Scott Englund warns the US isn’t in an ideal place for active government intervention.

“In the United States, local, state, and federal governments have a long history of directly engaging in, and later tolerating, domestic terror against people of colour or other marginalised groups. Given that history of state terror, attempts to address inequality may be met with mistrust in these communities, no matter how well-intentioned.”

Upskilling extremism

FBI domestic terrorism statistics recorded 1981 domestic terror attacks in 2013. In 2021, that number grew to 9049.

Such figures prompted the US intelligence community’s official warning. Despite its political unpopularity.

Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, challenged the finding at a Capitol Hill briefing.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
One of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the US, hold a swastika burning after a rally. Photo / Getty Images
One of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the US, hold a swastika burning after a rally. Photo / Getty Images

“Are you serious? You seriously think that racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists are the most lethal threat that Americans face?”

The Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, replied: “Yes, sir, in terms of the number of people killed or wounded as a consequence.”

Part of that reason is the drive by extremist organisations to become more militaristic and professional.

Extreme right-wing militia The Oath Keepers came to international attention after a combat-uniformed cadre led the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Its leader has since been convicted of sedition.

Its membership primarily consists of people who describe themselves as military or police veterans. But a leaked database of the 38,000-strong body details some of its members’ skills.

These include battle tank operators and one who claims to have worked with nuclear warheads.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

According to the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, this is just part of a disturbing trend of political partisanship within the US military.

“The non-partisan ethic of the armed forces is at greater risk today than it has been in our lifetimes, and maintaining it is essential for the survival of American democracy,” three of its senior analysts write.

“Abraham Lincoln’s 1858 warning that a “house divided against itself cannot stand” remains as relevant today as it was on the eve of the Civil War. If American society becomes so polarised that large numbers of citizens are prepared to take up arms against each other, the United States’ experiment in self-government could ultimately fail.”

But the strength of every recruit’s vow to defend the US Constitution still holds currency, they add.

“Indeed, the 2020 presidential election served as an extreme test case. The US military not only withstood the pressure and did its job; it emerged stronger and even more committed to maintaining its unique nonpartisan role. If it were subjected to a similar test today or during the 2024 election cycle, we are confident it would pass again.”

Save

    Share this article

Latest from World

World

World-first IVF trial reduces risk of babies inheriting diseases

World

Food aid wasted: US official blames Trump cuts for loss of 500 tonnes

World

Trump's mixed signals: Will he fire Fed Chair Powell?


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Rural community 'in shock' as industrial park greenlit
Bay of Plenty Times

Rural community 'in shock' as industrial park greenlit

Insider Tips: How to Shop Mānawa Bay Like a Pro
Sponsored Stories

Insider Tips: How to Shop Mānawa Bay Like a Pro

Massive fire destroys festival stage, two days before opening
Entertainment

Massive fire destroys festival stage, two days before opening

Mum killed in Waiuku crash leaves behind three children including newborn
New Zealand

Mum killed in Waiuku crash leaves behind three children including newborn

All Blacks team naming: Changes expected for third test
All Blacks

All Blacks team naming: Changes expected for third test

Emma Watson banned from driving for six months
Entertainment

Emma Watson banned from driving for six months



Latest from World

World-first IVF trial reduces risk of babies inheriting diseases
World

World-first IVF trial reduces risk of babies inheriting diseases

The new technique offers an 'important reproductive option' for families, an expert said.

16 Jul 09:24 PM
Food aid wasted: US official blames Trump cuts for loss of 500 tonnes
World

Food aid wasted: US official blames Trump cuts for loss of 500 tonnes

16 Jul 09:09 PM
Trump's mixed signals: Will he fire Fed Chair Powell?
World

Trump's mixed signals: Will he fire Fed Chair Powell?

16 Jul 08:24 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search