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Sovereign Citizens
A Growing Domestic Threat to Law Enforcement By the FBI’s Counterterrorism Analysis Section
They could be dismissed as a nuisance, a loose network of individuals living in the United States who call themselves “sovereign citizens” and believe that federal, state, and local governments operate illegally. Some of their actions, although quirky, are not crimes. The offenses they do commit seem minor, like creating false license plates, driver’s licenses, and even currency.
However, a closer look at sovereign citizens’ more
severe crimes, from financial scams to impersonating or threatening law
enforcement officials, gives reason for concern. If someone challenges
(e.g., a standard traffic stop for false license plates) their ideology,
the behavior of these sovereign-citizen extremists quickly can escalate
to violence. Since 2000, lone-offender sovereign-citizen extremists
have killed six law enforcement officers. In 2010, two Arkansas police
officers stopped sovereign-citizen extremists Jerry Kane and his
16-year-old son Joseph during a routine traffic stop on Interstate 40.
Joseph Kane jumped out of the vehicle and opened fire with an AK-47
assault rifle, killing both officers.
The sovereign-citizen threat likely will grow as
the nationwide movement is fueled by the Internet, the economic
downturn, and seminars held across the country that spread their
ideology and show people how they can tap into funds and eliminate debt
through fraudulent methods. As sovereign citizens’ numbers grow, so do
the chances of contact with law enforcement and, thus, the risks that
incidents will end in violence. Law enforcement and judicial officials
must understand the sovereign-citizen movement, be able to identify
indicators, and know how to protect themselves from the group’s
threatening tactics.
Ideology and Motivation
The FBI considers sovereign-citizen extremists as
comprising a domestic terrorist movement, which, scattered across the
United States, has existed for decades, with well-known members, such as
Terry Nichols, who helped plan the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, bombing.
Sovereign citizens do not represent an anarchist group, nor are they a
militia, although they sometimes use or buy illegal weapons. Rather,
they operate as individuals without established leadership and only come
together in loosely affiliated groups to train, help each other with
paperwork, or socialize and talk about their ideology. They may refer to
themselves as “constitutionalists” or “freemen,” which is not
necessarily a connection to a specific group, but, rather, an indication
that they are free from government control. They follow their own set
of laws. While the philosophies and conspiracy theories can vary from
person to person, their core beliefs are the same: The government
operates outside of its jurisdiction. Because of this belief, they do
not recognize federal, state, or local laws, policies, or regulations.1
One prevalent sovereign-citizen theory is the
Redemption Theory, which claims the U.S. government went bankrupt when
it abandoned the gold standard basis for currency in 1933 and began
using citizens as collateral in trade agreements with foreign
governments.2 These beliefs can provide a gateway to illegal
activity because such individuals believe the U.S. government does not
act in the best interests of the American people. By announcing
themselves as sovereign citizens, they are emancipated from the
responsibilities of being a U.S. citizen, including paying taxes,
possessing a state driver’s license, or obeying the law.
Illegal Activity
The Redemption Theory belief leads to their most
prevalent method to defraud banks, credit institutions, and the U.S.
government: the Redemption Scheme. Sovereign citizens believe that when
the U.S. government removed itself from the gold standard, it rendered
U.S. currency as a valueless credit note, exchanging one credit document
(such as a dollar bill) for another. They assert that the U.S.
government now uses citizens as collateral, issuing social security
numbers and birth certificates to register people in trade agreements
with other countries. Each citizen has a monetary net worth, which they
believe is kept in a U.S. Treasury Direct account, valued from $630,000
to more than $3 million. These accounts, they claim, are in a
third-party’s name, a “strawman,” that they can access, which they
commonly refer to as “freeing money from the strawman.” In essence, it
is extorting money from the U.S. Treasury Department. Sovereign citizens
file legitimate IRS and Uniform Commercial Code forms for illegitimate
purposes, believing that doing so correctly will compel the U.S.
Treasury to fulfill its debts, such as credit card debts, taxes, and
mortgages.3
At a minimum, these activities create a voluminous
influx of documents that clog the courts and other government agencies.
But, the idea behind the Redemption Theory also leads sovereign
citizens to find criminal sources of income as they travel the country,
teach fraudulent tactics to others for a fee, and participate in white
collar crimes. The latter offenses include mail, bank, mortgage, and
wire fraud; money laundering; tax violations; and illegal firearms sales
and purchases.
At seminars, sovereign citizens charge
participants a fee in exchange for information on Redemption Theory
schemes and other methods to avoid paying taxes, sometimes even selling
materials, such as CDs or DVDs. They also sell fraudulent
documents—including drivers’ licenses, passports, diplomat
identification, vehicle registrations, concealed firearms permits, law
enforcement credentials, and insurance forms—to other sovereign citizens
and illegal immigrants and charge fees for “consultant services” to
prepare sovereign-citizen paperwork. Several recent incidents highlight
their activities.
One example of a white collar crime that escalated
into a standoff includes a New Hampshire husband and wife convicted of
federal income tax evasion, failure to honor federal payroll taxes, and
other conspiracy fraud charges. Elaine A. and Edward L. Brown, both
sovereign-citizen extremists in their 60s, never appeared at their 2007
trial or at sentencing. In protest, the Browns barricaded themselves in
their home during the summer and fall of 2007, receiving supporters,
issuing militant and threatening statements, and stockpiling weapons and
explosives. They were charged with weapons offenses after their arrest
in October 2007 when law enforcement discovered pipe bombs, improvised
explosive devices made of gun powder cans with nails and screws taped to
the outside, and a large cache of handguns and rifles that included
.50-caliber rifles.7
However, even when sovereign citizens go to prison
for crimes, they continue criminal activity behind bars. Inmates
provide a new population for them to sway to adopt the sovereign-citizen
ideology; they then can train these inmates to help them defraud banks,
credit institutions, and the U.S. government. They can create
fraudulent businesses from inside prison walls and complete fraudulent
financial documents to receive lines of credit from legitimate banks.
The learning system goes both ways—inmates can teach sovereign citizens
new criminal methods that they can use either from inside the prison or
when they are released.
Indicators
Sovereign citizens often produce documents that
contain peculiar or out-of-place language. In some cases, they speak
their own language or will write only in certain colors, such as in red
crayon. Several indicators can help identify
these individuals.
They also carry fraudulent drivers’ licenses to
indicate their view that law enforcement does not have the authority to
stop their vehicle or may write “No Liability Accepted” above their
signature on a driver’s license to signify that they do not accept it as
a legitimate identification document.
Intimidation, Obstruction, and Protection
It is important to realize sovereign citizens’
tactics to harass and intimidate law enforcement, court, and government
officials, as well as financial institution employees. Methods can range
from refusing to cooperate with requests, demanding an oath of office
or proof of jurisdiction, filming interactions with law enforcement that
they later post on the Internet, and filing frivolous lawsuits or liens
against real property. They convene their own special courts that issue
fake but realistic-looking indictments, warrants, and other documents.
They also can use real government documents, including suspicious
activity reports, in an attempt to damage the credit or financial
history of specific individuals.
While these efforts may seem obviously fraudulent,
it is important to address these actions, which can have devastating
outcomes for the individuals they target. The sovereign citizens’
efforts also can be a gateway for them to harass, terrorize, and target
others in hopes of changing behaviors that they perceive as threatening.
The Court Security Improvement Act of 2007 is one
protection for officials who the sovereign citizens could target. The
provisions under Title 18 created a new criminal offense for false liens
against the real or personal property of officers or federal government
employees, including judges and prosecutors. It also created as a new
crime the disclosure of personal, identifying information to intimidate
or incite violence against these individuals.10
Conclusion
Although the sovereign-citizen movement does not
always rise to violence, its members’ illegal activities and past
violent—including fatal—incidents against law enforcement make it a
group that should be approached with knowledge and caution. It is
important that law enforcement be aware of sovereign citizens’ tactics
so agencies can warn the public of potential scams, spot illegal
activity and understand its potential severity, and be prepared for and
protect against violent behavior or backlash through intimidation and
harassment.
Endnotes
1 U.S. Department of Justice, Federal
Bureau of Investigation, Domestic Terrorism Operations Unit and Domestic
Terrorism Analysis Unit, Sovereign Citizen Danger to Law Enforcement (Washington, DC, 2010).
2 U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Domestic Terrorism Operations Unit II, Sovereign Citizens: An Introduction for Law Enforcement (Washington, DC, 2010).
3 U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Domestic
Terrorism Analysis Unit, Sovereign Citizen Extremist Movement (Washington, DC, 2011).
4 U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern
District of California, “Two ‘Sovereign Citizens’ Sentenced in Illegal
Insurance Scam,” press release, 2/24/2010; http://sacramento.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/sc022410.htm (accessed June 14, 2011).
5 U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western
District of Missouri, “Three Men Sentenced for Conspiracy to Use Fake
Diplomatic Identification,” press release, 2/8/2010; http://kansascity.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/kc020810.htm (accessed June 14, 2011).
6 U.S. Department of Justice, U.S.
Attorney, District of Nevada, “Members of Anti-Government Movement
Arrested on Federal Money Laundering, Tax Evasion and Weapons Charges,”
press release, 3/6/2009; http://www.justice.gov/usao/nv/press/march2009/davis030609.htm (accessed June 14, 2011).
7 U.S. Department of Justice and U.S.
Attorney’s Office-District of New Hampshire, press releases, 1/18/2007
and 7/9/2009, “Jury Convicts Lebanon Dentist and Husband in Tax Case,”
and “Edward and Elaine Brown Convicted”; http://www.justice.gov/tax/usaopress/2007/txdv07WEM_Browns.pdf and http://www.atf.gov/press/releases/2009/07/070909-bos-edward-and-elaine-brown-convicted.html (accessed June 14, 2011).
8 The authors wish to stress that the
majority of individuals who carry or refer to these resources are
law-abiding citizens. However, in some instances, possession of these
items may serve as one indicator of a sovereign-citizen extremist.
9 Sovereign Citizens: An Introduction for Law Enforcement.
10 Court Security Improvement Act of 2007; http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-110publ177/pdf/PLAW-110publ177.pdf (accessed June 14, 2011).Mr. Hunter is an intelligence analyst in the FBI’s Counterterrorism Analysis Section. Dr. Heinke is the counterterrorism coordinator for the State Ministry of the Interior in Bremen, Germany. |
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