top4/30/2013
Terrorist Organization Profile: |
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| n/a | |
| n/a | |
| United States | |
| 1978 | |
| Group is inactive | |
| Racist, Religious, Right-Wing Reactionary | |
| selling homemade machine guns, silencers, and explosives at gun shows | |
| The Covenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord (CSA) was a Christian Identity survivalist group founded by James Ellison. Ellison, a former minister, ran a Christian retreat on his property, located near the Missouri-Arkansas border. In 1978 Ellison had a vision of the race war that he believed would soon engulf America, and he transformed his retreat into a white supremacist paramilitary training camp dedicated to the principles of Christian Identity. According to Ellison, the CSA would be an "Ark for God's people" during the coming race war. By God's people, Ellison meant white Christians. Jews, he told his followers, were not really God's chosen people, but rather a demonic and inferior race. CSA recruited at gun shows, where they invited people to sign up for CSA's "Endtime Overcomer Survival Training School." Students who attended CSA training were trained in weapons usage, urban warfare, wilderness survival, and "Christian martial arts." CSA also made money at gun shows by selling homemade machine guns, silencers, and explosives. The organization's other source of cash was theft. Ellison encouraged his disciples to steal, citing the Israelites plundering of the Philistine's tents after David killed Goliath as Biblical justification. |
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| Beginning in 1983, the CSA embarked on a crime spree that included the firebombing of an Indiana synagogue, an arson attack on a Missouri church, and the attempted bombing of a Chicago gas pipeline. On April 19, 1985, 300 federal officers surrounded the CSA compound and demanded that the 100 or so heavily armed residents surrender. After a tense four days of negotiations, the CSA peacefully surrendered. Inside the compound, authorities found homemade landmines, U.S. Army anti-tank rockets, and a large supply of cyanide that the CSA was apparently planning to use to poison the water supply of an unspecified city. Eight of the captured leaders and members, including Ellison, were convicted and imprisoned, effectively destroying the group. | |
Key Leaders
Related Groups
- Aryan Nations (AN) -- Ally
- Order, The -- Ally
U.S. Government Designations
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| No | |
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Learn more about these U.S. Department of State classifications: Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) |
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Other Governments' Designations
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| No | |
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