Testimony of Barry R. Clausen before the House Subcommittee on Crime.

In the matter of Ecoterrorism.

June 9, 1998

Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I thank you for this opportunity to speak to you
today.

My name is Barry Clausen, I represent North American Research of Port Ludlow, Washington.
For over nine years myself and others have monitored the actions of many extremist groups
throughout the United States and several countries.

In December of 1989, as a licensed private investigator in the state of Montana. I was hired by
timber workers, mining and ranching interests to investigate acts of sabotage against their
industries.

This particular investigation led to Earth First!. Earth First! is an organization which the FBI has
labeled \”A militant environmental group.\” In 1990, with the knowledge of two federal agencies,
the FBI and the United States Forest Service, I infiltrated the group and spent the entire year as
one of them. During that time I discovered how militant and violent this group was. It still is.
Mr. Chairman, this group advocates anarchy, revolution and terrorism to the youth of our
country. Not only must this be addressed, this must stop.

Since 1990 North American Research has worked with many organizations nation wide to
monitor the actions of Earth First!. We monitor their publications, the sabotage attributed to
them, their ideologies, their supporters, their financial supporters as well as their connections and
crossover to other groups. Some of those groups include the Earth Liberation Front, which has
taken credit for several arson fires (some against government facilities), the Animal Liberation
Front (ALF), who, according to an article in the February 18, 1998 edition of the Dallas Morning
News the FBI labeled ALF as a terrorist organization.

Starting in March of 1997 radical extremists began using new tactics against public officials and
law enforcement agencies in order to intimidate officers, thwart the law, and achieve their
desired goals. Even those working in the offices of elected officials have been harassed and
terrorized by Earth First! as you have heard. In 1997 Delyla Wilson, an Earth Firster from
Bozeman, Montana was convicted in both State and Federal court of assault on Senator Burns,
Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman and Montana\’s Governor Mark Racioct after having
thrown bison entrails on the men during a public meeting.

In an attempt to hamstring law enforcement by removing some of their tools to force compliance
with the laws, the Sheriff and deputies of Humboldt County in California and the Chief of Police
in Eureka, California are being sued by protestors. Police officers in Eugene, Oregon are also
being sued as are deputy sheriffs in Okanogan County, Washington. The goals are to intimidate
law enforcement officials into reluctance to make arrests for fear of reprisals through additional
lawsuits, to limit law enforcement\’s ability to take those arrested into custody, and deplete
county court resources.

There are federal law enforcement officers within federal agencies known to myself who would
have welcomed the opportunity to testify before this committee today regarding the violence and
magnitude of the crimes they have documented involving Earth First! and other radical
environmental and Animal Rights activist groups. However, they are concerned about testifying
for fear of reprisals by their supervisors and heads of their respective agencies should they testify
and their identities become known.

Actions by persons connected to these extremist groups have led to millions of dollars lost due to
sabotage committed against an increasing number of industries within our country. There have
also been an as of yet unknown number of death threats to American citizens and families,
including myself as well as actual incidents of attempted murder and murder itself. There have
been numerous arson fires and bombings, including one the FBI labeled as \”The second worst
terrorist attack against a government facility in the history of our country.\” These acts have not
only been advocated in the literature published by these groups, but have also in some cases been
committed. North American Research, in conjunction with other organizations have documented
over 1400 acts of sabotage against industry, homes and American citizens ranging from smashed
windows to attempted murder and deaths, which have understandably impacted tens of thousands
of likes.

Rodney Adam Coronado, a member of the Animal Liberation Front who has acknowledged
publicly his connection to Earth First!, and other extremist groups, was arrested and convicted in
1995 for a 1992 arson fire at Michigan State University. He was quoted on the front page of the
February 15, 1998 addition of the Dallas Morning News, \”I see a trend toward actions that do
more destruction.\”

As an American citizen and a six year military veteran who believes in our country, our
freedoms and our rights, I would like to ask this committee to please listen, please consider what
you hear today and please act to preserve those freedoms and rights

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