The FBI code-named it Patriot Conspiracy (PATCON): a 1990s-era right-wing infiltration operation so secret its details remain largely unknown.
First revealed in heavily redacted records in 2007, PATCON entailed three undercover FBI agents operating a front group called the Veterans Aryan Movement (VAM). Posing as racist militiamen who robbed banks to fund domestic terrorism, the undercover agents spied on various right-wing organizations throughout the early ‘90s—but never contributed to any major convictions.
The existing public records on PATCON are relatively sparse. They include a few sworn declarations in a long-running Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, as well as the initial set of redacted documents obtained by extremism researcher J.M. Berger.
Newsweek also published a story describing PATCON in 2011 based on extensive information from a former FBI informant who participated in the operation. Much to the informant’s dismay, that Newsweek story was heavily edited to remove information about PATCON, according to court records.
Together, these documents portray an FBI program that prioritized intelligence-gathering on U.S. citizens over enforcing the law. Possibly worse, they reveal connections between PATCON and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh—raising troubling questions about how a massive FBI right-wing counterterrorism initiative failed to prevent the deadliest domestic attack in U.S. history.
And given the recent revelations about Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and other right-wing groups having FBI informants in leadership positions, PATCON should serve as a valuable history lesson for the public, according to Utah attorney Jesse Trentadue, the plaintiff in the ongoing FOIA case.
“Harry Truman is my favorite president, and he had a quote I always loved: There’s nothing new in the world except the history you don’t know,” Trentadue told The Epoch Times.
The FBI declined to comment. Newsweek hasn’t responded to requests by The Epoch Times for comment.
PATCON’s Genesis
The FBI launched PATCON in 1991 to investigate a right-wing extremist movement that had been bubbling under the surface of U.S. society throughout the 1980s. Members included disaffected military veterans, displaced farmers, as well as a fringe group of racist extremists.
By Ken Silva
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