A developing anti-government extremist organization that espouses a wide anti-police and anti-government worldview is the Boogaloo group, which began in 2019. People who adhere to it are sometimes referred to as Boogaloo Bois or Boogaloo lads. The group’s philosophy, targets, tactics, capacity, general aims, attack analysis, and any comments or propaganda the group has made are all included in this essay. The strategy deemed appropriate to put an end to the threat is the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Strategic Framework for Countering Terrorism and Targeted Violence (CCTV). The shortcomings of CCTV are highlighted, and suggestions are made on how to fix them. The Boogaloo Movement is a severe menace, and the government must take all necessary measures to put a stop to it, it is concluded.
Analysis of a Domestic Terrorist Group and Homeland Security Policies
The Boogaloo outfit, which started in 2019, is a growing anti-government extreme movement that espouses a broad anti-police and anti-government philosophy. Those that follow it are often dubbed Boogaloo Bois or Boogaloo Boys. Both the movement’s involvement in the 2020 Black Lives Matter (BLM) and anti-lockdown rallies as well as the illegal and violent activities carried out by a portion of its supporters have garnered considerable media attention. The term “the Boogaloo” itself, a colloquialism for a coming civil war that gained popularity in many fringe communities in late 2018, existed prior to the BM. By 2019, varied individuals, including proponents of gun rights, anarcho-capitalists, and libertarians, openly used the phrase “Boogaloo,” advising others to “bring on the Boogaloo” or “be prepared for the Boogaloo” (ADL, 2020). When the phrase circulated throughout multiple discussion boards and social networking sites, different kinds of radicals incorporated their unique imaginations because the terminology did not designate a definite sort of civil strife.
The word comes from a popular joke that alludes to the 1984 movie “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo”. In the humor, the initial half of the moniker is changed to imply a successor. For instance, when George Bush succeeded his father as president of the United States, some humorously dubbed it “Bush 2: Electric Boogaloo.” This joke has been around for a while, and it can be found on Facebook (FB) and Reddit under the title “Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo.” Yet, in the past few years, several individuals have utilized this expression to allude to a potential confrontation over the topic of weapons or gun expropriations (Thomas, 2021). It is challenging to identify the conceptual roots of such allusions because they have surfaced on several platforms.
During the remainder of 2019, the joke propagated across many social media channels. It spread through the exchange of memes as well as cultural narratives with other jokes, and the secret image board 4chan, particularly its /k/ forum, which is devoted to debating guns, gave it a special boost. It is well known that 4chan alongside other chan forums, such as 8chan and the newly launched 8kun, has fostered poisonous, misogynistic, anti-Semitic, racist, and occasionally explicitly white supremacist civilizations. In 2019, many horrific killings, including the assault in Christchurch, were connected to the /pol/ sites (devoted to debating politics) on both 8chan and 4chan (Thomas, 2021). In the meantime, the Boogaloo joke was becoming more popular on the /k/ forum. Even today, on other sites like Facebook, the residue of this /k/ board link can be seen.
A few of the Boogaloo’s aesthetically recognizable characteristics started to show up around the beginning of 2020. A lot of these were joking allusions to the code phrases that users of social networks used to evade content filtering. For instance, the Hawaiian shirts originally served as a hint to the “big luau,” that some participants began substituting for “Boogaloo” in an endeavor to go undetected. As the phrase “big igloo” was added to the list of Boogaloo codewords, the igloo also evolved into a symbol.
The chronology of the BM has included adherents that have been the subject of police abuse and scrutiny by enforcement agencies as “martyrs” who support anti-government radicalism. In 2020, while executing a no-knock search warrant linked to Duncan Lemp’s suspected unlawful possession of guns, authorities fatally shot and murdered Lemp, an avid subscriber of militia-organizing internet sites like MyMilitia. Following Lemp’s death, many posted memes on Boogaloo’s social networking sites with his name listed alongside other African Americans slain by police, with the implication that they were all victims of the same type of police violence (Thompson, 2021). These kinds of incidents have energized the Boogaloo group, and a few of its adherents have taken advantage of this dynamism to hone their anti-government discourse and incite anti-police aggression.
Bogaloo Movement Profile
The philosophy of the BM is based on the notion that a second American civil war is imminent. Because the movement is young and its ideology is developing, its supporters hold a variety of opinions, from passive conviction in an approaching civil conflict to active support for using anti-government terrorism to incite unrest. White supremacy is not a central tenet of Boogaloo philosophy, even though certain white nationalist nihilists have championed the group (Thompson, 2021). Owing to a mutual dislike of police harassment and government aggression, some Boogaloo supporters find common ground with BLM protestors, although other supporters of the movement expressly condemn discrimination.
Participants of Boogaloo FB groups frequently exchange BLM-supportive and anti-racist material. Furthermore, Boogaloo’s social media channels urged followers to attack police officers and protest alongside demonstrators throughout the May–June 2020 Minneapolis protests that followed George Floyd’s death. Garrett Foster, a supporter of Boogaloo, was killed in 2020 in Austin, Texas while taking part in a nonviolent BLM rally. The degree to which Boogaloo’s alliance with BLM demonstrators is just an opportunistic move to use demonstrations as a cloak for bloodshed is a topic of significant controversy. Even though this is sometimes the case, some members of the Boogaloo movement—including admins of well-known FB groups for the movement—have openly condemned racism and homophobia. This suggests that there may be some real ideological correspondence with anti-racist organizations among the group’s supporters.
Given the decentralized structure of the organization and the wide range of occurrences featuring its supporters, it is challenging to categorize the BM along conventional political lines. For instance, in 2020, two members of a Boogaloo network known as the Boojahideen admitted to planning to aid the international terrorist group Hamas in return for cash to fund Boogaloo operations (Zenn, 2020). Following Breonna Taylor’s death by authorities in 2021, the FBI detained two adherents of a separate Boogaloo network, the United Pharaoh’s Guard (Thompson, 2021). Whereas the BM does share a similar anti-government mood and advances idealist Boogaloo goals, these actions hinder the movement from falling into a conventional political categorization like “far-right” or “far-left.”
The Boogaloo group’s adherents do not exactly share a single, unifying ideology. They essentially cover the whole radical right. Most of these individuals are libertarians with a strong affinity for firearms. Some are outright racist white nationalists. As a result, there is a wide ideological range among the group’s participants. Yet what binds them together is their conviction that the administration has overreached its authority and that a second civil unrest is the only way to fight back against this imagined despotism. Several adherents are actively arming themselves as a means of preparing for the war, as well. Moreover, they truly think that it will happen (Bauman & Brooks, 2020). As a result, the type of society that BM supporters hope to create through this revolution differs. Some people desire a completely free society, while others desire a white ethnic state. Yet at its heart, this is a violent movement that supports armed rebellion against the government.
Group’s Tactics
To foment societal discord and spark a subsequent civil war, Boogaloo supporters frequently armed with guns joined various marches and demonstrations in 2020. For instance, they took part in the riots when George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis policemen in May 2020. Ivan Hunter, one of the followers, made the trip from Texas to take part in the rioting. He shouted, “Justice for Floyd!” as he discharged a semiautomatic rifle at a Minneapolis Police Department facility. In Oakland, another follower named Steven Carrillo shot several government security guards, slaying one of them (Thompson, 2021). Federal prosecutors claim that Carrillo attempted to employ the Oakland demonstrations for racial justice as a pretext for the killings by taking advantage of the tensions created by the demonstrations and the deployment of police officers to create havoc.
Three Boogaloo supporters with present or previous military ties were detained by the FBI in Mid-2020 for planning to nuke a power station during Nevada racial justice demonstrations. These activities significantly contrast with those undertaken by other Boogaloo supporters, who have chosen to protest lawfully instead of using protests as an excuse for violence, illustrative of the many Boogaloo ideologies and modes of action. Generally, BM adherents take advantage of civic demonstrations to execute their heinous acts.
Group’s Targeting
Boogaloo supporters and linked organizations have made direct assaults against prominent public officials—people who are frequently picked out by the BM as being exceptionally anti-freedom. Authorities in law enforcement unveiled charges against thirteen people in October 2020 for their alleged roles in a scheme to abduct Michigan Governor Whitmer and instigate a civil conflict (Thompson, 2021). The people belonged to the Wolverine Watchmen, a paramilitary organization that had engaged in training exercises in advance of the impending “Boogaloo,” as per affidavits. The virtual alias “Boogaloo Bunyan” was used by Joseph Morrison, one of the founding members of the Wolverine Watchmen.
Group’s Capabilities
Boogaloo supporters have proven they are able and ready to use socially polarizing circumstances like rallies and protests to further their anti-government objectives. These objectives were probably chosen for a variety of reasons. Firstly, these circumstances provide sharp social rifts that Boogaloo supporters might take advantage of to destabilize social order and bring in the “Boogaloo.” These rifts are frequently already focused on the place of the police or the state in society. Secondly, there are many possible targets available to Boogaloo supporters due to the presence of police enforcement. When supporters seek to infiltrate political protests and racial justice demonstrations to cause mayhem and attack government figures, the risk of Boogaloo bloodshed is anticipated to grow during times of high street protests.
The BM and gun culture are intricately intertwined, and many of the factors that fueled the rise of anti-government radicalism over the last three decades—including hostility to new gun laws—also fueled the Boogaloo campaign. Virtual Boogalooers frequently debate gun radicalism and share memes that promote gun crime. The freedom to own, use, debate, and march with weapons is vital to Boogaloos. Being seen carrying a gun publicly is a statement of their individuality and a civic exercise of their amendment entitlements (Everytown, 2021). As a result, Boogalooers have participated in several social equality and political demonstrations while frequently openly brandishing long firearms.
The BM’s somewhat open-ended ideology increases its capacity to collaborate with other radical organizations. Although some Boogaloo supporters subscribe to beliefs such as white supremacy and a variety of conspiracy theories, the group does not, and the insurgency some Boogaloo supporters predict may not be based on race. Because of this, the group’s philosophy appeals to a broader variety of anti-government radicals who are unlikely to affiliate with conventional white supremacist idealist organizations that want to incite racial conflict. The BM’s propensity to unite and recruit from other extreme factions and groups that embrace its anti-government views might have a “force multiplier effect,” amplifying the threat it entails.
Group’s Overall Goals
The best way to understand Boogaloo is as a distributed, anti-government movement made up of a variety of players who are partly motivated by followers’ conviction that they are treading in the shoes of the US’ forefathers and partaking in a revolt against despotism. By intimidation and planned violence against members of the police force and elected officials, myth-driven violent and insurrectionary Boogaloo groups seek to bring about or react to social breakdown. Enforcement agencies like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) are the archetypal examples of how the state violates fundamental liberties in the eyes of many anti-government groups, like the Boogaloo Bois (Kriner & Lewis, 2021). Anger at federal, state, and local law enforcement officials for their involvement in implementing such laws has evolved as states have increased legal tools to temporarily seize weapons from persons who constitute a threat to the public.
Analysis of Attacks
In the US, members of the Boogaloo group have previously planned or carried out violent crimes. A thirty-six-year-old guy was under investigation by the FBI in Kansas City in March 2020 for planning to attack a hospice for coronavirus patients. Once a shootout broke out during the capture, the perpetrator killed himself by shooting. The suspect called his intentions “operation Boogaloo” and claimed he intended to “kick start a revolution” (Everytown, 2021). Two months later, two Federal Protection Service agents under contract were killed. A few days later, two sheriff’s officers who were looking into the vehicle that was utilized in the initial incident were shot by the claimed offender, Carrillo (Lewis, 2020). Before being apprehended by authorities, Carrillo carjacked an automobile and wrote many words, notably “Boog,” on the bumper with his blood after being shot.
Robert Justus, a co-conspirator, was prosecuted for aiding and abetting the attempted murder and murder of the 2 Protective Service agents, while Carrillo was finally convicted of both crimes. The press now covers the “Boogaloo” phenomenon in more depth thanks to this brutality and the countless instances of schemes by supporters being thwarted. The press’s interest in and analytical evaluations of the BM as a supposedly fresh and undiscovered menace, nevertheless, runs the risk of missing the bigger picture (Lewis, 2020). The violent plans carried out by people dubbed “Boogaloo Bois” are an outgrowth of anti-government, right-libertarian views that support an idealist aim of inciting widespread violence to cause a social breakdown.
The BM is not a united philosophy or set of standards, neither is it a disciplined or structured organization. A wide spectrum of individuals continues to exploit the word “Boogaloo” to carry out lethal domestic terrorism acts. White anti-government, supremacist, and neo-Nazi movements all offer a coordinated and entrenched challenge, and this “movement” ought to be seen for what it is: just window dressing. They should be targeted for punishment because of the danger they pose, which should spur long-needed changes to domestic terrorism laws in the US.
Group’s Released Statements/Propaganda
Among the key figures in the Boogaloo movement was Carrillo. ” I became unreasonable,” “Boog,” and “Stop the duopoly” were written in blood on an automobile that he had hijacked as he fled from the cops (Jr, Finkelstein, & Farmer, 2020). Carrillo was subsequently discovered to be in the custody of a Boogaloo patch distributed by the Thicc Boog Line, another of the Boogaloo movement’s quickly expanding FB groups.
Homeland Security (HS)
The American government’s initiatives to combat, prepare for, and deal with terrorism and planned killings will be guided by The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Strategic Framework for Countering Terrorism and Targeted Violence (CCTV). The CCTV framework describes a thorough, all-hazard strategy for fending off dangers presented by domestic and foreign terrorist movements, along with other people or entities that commit acts of extreme violence. This framework is set up around three main goals. The first objective is to thwart threats from being pulled out to stop terrorism and other actions of extreme violence. The second goal is to safeguard communities and people by fostering resilience, improving readiness, and lessening the effects of assaults when they do take place (Homeland Security, 2020). Responding to terrorist acts and deliberate atrocity by swiftly and efficiently reestablishing order and security and assisting impacted communities in their rehabilitation is the third pillar.
To improve the country’s overall readiness and response capacities, the CCTV approach also stresses the value of forming alliances and using the resources of the corporate industry, as well as national, municipal, and local authorities. The paradigm stresses an intelligence-driven, risk-based response to combating terrorism and targeted aggression and stresses the need of tackling fundamental causes, like extremism and societal, financial, and political frustrations, in combating and preventing terrorist attacks and planned violence.
From these findings, CCTV is the best HS measure that might be assessed in terms of its potential to fight the danger posed by the Boogaloo movement. By concentrating on three main objectives—understanding and exchanging threat intelligence, deterring terrorism and premeditated crime, and dealing with and reducing the impacts of incidents—the CTTV approach seeks to improve the DHS’s initiatives to prevent terrorist attacks and targeted crime.
The traits, strategies, and philosophy of the BM must be considered to gauge the framework’s efficacy in fending off the threat it poses. For instance, the Boogaloo group is well recognized for communicating, organizing, and inciting violence online utilizing social networks and other channels. They also employ bombs and rifles, so enforcement agencies must identify them and stop them from getting access to these armaments. Furthermore, it is difficult to foresee and stop them from acting because of their ideology, which is motivated by a determination to topple the government and bring about anarchy.
Recommendation
Even though the CTTV approach places a strong focus on exchanging threat intelligence and avoiding extremism and planned bloodshed, it might not be sufficient to address the particular threat that the Boogaloo group poses. Hence, one suggestion may be to give priority to building intelligence assets to watch the internet activities of the Boogaloo group and spot any signs of violent preparation or provocation. Another suggestion may be to concentrate on improving law enforcement’s capability to spot and stop adherents of the movement from gaining access to bombs and weaponry.
Conclusion
Since its adherents attempt to incite violence and uprising against the state organs, the Boogaloo movement poses an increasing threat to the United States. The philosophy, strategies, and targets of the group are a major source of worry for HS and law enforcement personnel. There is little doubt that more needs to be done to confront the unique danger posed by the movement, even though the American administration has put in place several regulations to deal with terrorism and organized bloodshed. Legislators and police departments may utilize CCTV as a great starting point to create a comprehensive strategy to address the Boogaloo danger. Yet, for such initiatives to be successful, they must also consider the distinct traits and goals of the BM, which vary from those pursued by other extreme organizations.
References
ADL (2020). The Boogaloo Movement. ADL. Web.
Bauman, A., & Brooks, A. (2020). The Origins of The Extremist ‘Boogaloo’ Movement. Wbur. Web.
Everytown (2021). Armed Extremism Primer: The Boogaloo. Everytown. Web.
Homeland Security (2023). Strategic Framework for Countering Terrorism and Targeted Violence. DHS. Web.
Jr, A. G., Finkelstein, J., & Farmer, J. (2020). How the Boogaloo movement is turning memes into violent action. Brookings. Web.
Kriner, M., & Lewis, J. (2021). The Evolution of the Boogaloo Movement. CTC West Point. Web.
Lewis, J. (2020). Rethinking Domestic Terrorism Law After Boogaloo Movement Attacks. Law Fare Blog. Web.
Thomas, E. (2021). Boogaloo Bois: the birth of a ‘movement’, from memes to real-world violence. Counterterrorism Yearbook 2021. Web.
Thompson, J. (2021). Examining Extremism: The Boogaloo Movement. CSIS. Web.
Zenn, J. (2022). War on terror 2.0: threat inflation and conflation of far right and white supremacist terrorism after the capitol “Insurrection”. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 1-36. Web.