John Foley for BuzzFlash: The Three Percenters and the Boogaloo, a Clear and Present Armed Danger of Civil War From the Militarized Pro-Trump Right
July 27th 2020
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BuzzFlash Editor’s Update: John Foley’s commentary below is prescient, given that when he sent it on Friday, he predicted in his email that the armed Three Percenter militia would confront armed-Black protesters demanding justice for Breonna Taylor this past weekend in Louisville. Indeed, there was a volatile face-off, in which three members of the armed Black group were shot on Saturday due to “negligent discharge,” according to police.
By John Foley
The current Boogaloo movement has rightfully attracted media attention by their threat of civil war. Yet absent in reporting is the scale and danger of this threat. This threat potentially can grow into a full-scale insurgency against the citizens of the United States if not addressed quickly by our political leaders. Many are also missing the connection between the Boogaloo movement and the heavily armed Three Percenter militia.
The Three Percenter militia is an extremist group which considers itself an “unorganized militia”. Their ideology is Pro-Trump but built upon a blend of radical libertarian philosophy and Neo-confederate ideology. Three Percenters (also referred to as III%ers, 3%ers and 3 Percenters), falsely claim that only 3% of colonists fought against the British during the Revolutionary War. The group abounds with fringe conspiracy theories and they have a radical paranoia of the government especially of any form of gun control.
Three Percenters consist mainly of white, male, conservative gun owners, but they do have a growing Hispanic and minority membership. Allegedly they reject any relationship to white supremacists and encourage “American patriots” of all races to join, but their actions speech louder than words. They primarily recruit from within the ranks of the US military or veterans. They tend to make threats to anyone who challenges their world view and many members have been linked to overt acts of terrorism.
They operate under the pretext of an “unorganized militia”, which has no basis in constitutional law, as noted by Stephen Hall “Militias”: Historical Necessity Versus Modern Movement. The US Constitution calls for a well regulated militia, not an unorganized militia. This unorganized militia is structured along the lines of a terrorist group or an insurgent group using an informal command structure, with ranks, and duty positions. They have units distributed geographically usually by state and county. Social media allows them to run a vast network of closed and secret cells. An estimate of armed Three Percenters just in Colorado is between 9,500-11,700 members, making it a formidable threat to the citizens of Colorado. Most states also have a similar presence of Three Percenter militants.
What is an insurgency? It is an organized movement aimed at the overthrow of a constituted government through subversion and armed conflict. In some cases, insurgencies may also intend to extract limited political concessions unattainable through less violent means. [i] The first phase of an insurgency, which we are now in, is the latent or incipient phase. This is where subversive incidents and activities occur with frequencies in an organized pattern. One form of subversion is a technique advocated by the Three Percenters founder, Michael B. "Mike" Vanderboegh, which is armed civil disobedience. A current example is the armed anti-lockdown protests targeting Democratic State governments.
There is sporadic violence in this insurgency phase, especially against police. We now have violence attributed to the Boogaloo movement against law enforcement. This is Insurgency 101, where insurgents attack the police and get them to be scared and overreact. Meanwhile, regular Three Percenters claim to stand by the police as upholders of law and order. The Boogaloo movement is a crude form of plausible deniability to distance the Three Percenters from Boogaloo terrorism most likely done through compartmentalization. The military concept of compartmentalization of operations is well known within the Three Percenters due to their military members. The idea of compartmentalization is that fewer members know the details of a mission limiting the risk of compromise. Many online Three Percenters groups are small secret cells of 3-4 members. This is perfect structure for compartmentalized operations, typically practiced by terrorist and insurgent action cells. Most members of the Boogaloo caught by police strongly fit the profile of Three Percenters: current or former military personnel, holding militant views, and heavily armed.
Three Percenters have an agenda of hostility towards the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM). Starting in 2013, with the start of BLM, the Three Percenters championed the opposing All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter groups and viewpoints. One group monitoring many Three Percenter social media sites revealed that there is an active discussion of members shooting BLM protesters. This fits with one of their main operational objectives: to counter and oppose BLM and other people of color expressing social justice issues. They make it a point to conduct armed intimidation at any rally by people of color against symbols of white supremacy. At BLM rallies Three Percenters often wear florescent color tape on their shoulders to differentiate them from the BLM protesters. This is because they prepared for the likelihood of violence and often have snipers in an overwatch position. The tape is used to distinguish militia members from the BLM rally attendees if any shooting starts.
The Three percenters role as Neo Confederates is overtly expressed by defending the images of the Confederacy. According to their own website they decry the attacks on the Confederate legacy stating “Over the past few years we have witnessed firsthand an agenda to remove and/or destroy American history that has anything to do with the Confederacy.” As such they have mobilized their insurgent forces in the armed defense of confederate monuments.
The racism of the Three Percenters is covertly expressed by their leadership role in the “anti-lock down” campaign after the COVID-19 outbreak. This anti-lock down campaign conveniently got underway in the weeks following reports that COVID-19 disproportionally affected African Americans. This campaign carried the racist message that it was a black health problem, so white people could get back to normal. The message was quite simple. Black Lives do NOT matter.
The link between the Three Percenters and the Boogaloo movement is reinforced by Matt Marshall leader of the Washington State Three Percent (3%), who wears a Hawaiian shirt which is considered a symbol of the Boogaloo movement. Like the Boogaloo, the Three Percenters are also planning civil war under the concept known as the Fort Sumter doctrine. This doctrine puts forth that the Confederacy lost the Civil War because the Confederacy fired first and lost the moral high ground by being the aggressor in the war. Modern Neo-Confederates like the Three Percenters, believe deeply in a second civil war, however they believe they must not make the same mistake and should not fire first, but once fired upon respond with overwhelming violence of action.
A reasonable explanation for the Boogaloo movement is as a compartmentalized militia operation to hasten the second civil war. Why the haste? Since the 1990s militia group activity has spiked with the election of every democratic president, both Clinton, and Obama saw significant spikes in membership. We already see a spike leading up to the 2020 election, as Biden leads in the polls.
Three Percenters consider themselves the armed militant wing of the Trump revolution and they view a Trump defeat catastrophic to their cause. If Biden picks a woman of color as his VP nominee, the threat of violence increases as indicated by the Georgia Three Percenters who threatened violence if Stacey Abrams won the Georgia governorship.
Our nation knows how to deal with insurgents, even a budding insurgency. Yet we have been so busy countering insurgencies around the world we missed the one right under our nose. Our Whole of Government Approach is an effective, well tested concept for dealing with this current group of insurgents. We need to apply the same tools of counterinsurgency at home and meet these new more dangerous threats head on.
Many of us, US military veterans swore an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. So, now we have identified our domestic enemy and they are these “unorganized militias”. This group, the Three Percenter group, is an anti-US constitutional enemy of our nation. The threat by their Boogaloo movement is a threat to our constitutional system and cannot be overstated.
[i] FM 31-20-3 Foreign Internal Defense: Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for Special Forces. US Army, 1994
Lieutenant Colonel John Foley is a retired U.S. Army officer and career Intelligence Officer. He served 27 years in the U.S. military service with both the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army. He had multiple combat deployments to Iraq with the 5th Special Forces, 101st Airborne Division, 1st Cavalry Division. He currently lives in Colorado and is a candidate for the Colorado State legislature in 2020.
Article Reference Links:
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Neo-Confederate White Supremacists Thrive in the Military, as the Armed Forces Turn a Blind Eye, John Foley, BuzzFlash, 22 January 2020 https://buzzflash.com/articles/hate-on-base-neo-confederates-in-the-us-military
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“Militias”: Historical Necessity Versus Modern Movement, Stephen Hall, The Ark Valley Voice, June 2, 2020 https://arkvalleyvoice.com/militias-historical-necessity-versus-modern-militia-movement/
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[i] FM 31-20-3 Foreign Internal Defense: Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for Special Forces. US Army, 1994
Armed 'Three Percenters' turn protests toward Muslim Americans, by Tribune Wire Reports December 11, 2015 https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-protests-toward-muslim-americans-20151211-story.html
Amid The Pandemic, U.S. Militia Groups Plot ‘The Boogaloo,’ AKA Civil War, On Facebook, Christopher Mathias, Huffington Post, April 24, 2020, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/boogaloo-facebook-pages-coronavirus-militia-group-extremists_n_5ea3072bc5b6d376358eba98?guccounter=1
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Far-right militia’s Facebook pages are rife with posts about shooting protesters, Claire Goforth, Daily Dot June 2, 2020, https://www.dailydot.com/debug/three-percenters-facebook-group-shoot-protesters/
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The U.S. Army and Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, Department of the Army December 2006
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