Docs: Army intelligence kept tabs on antifa while downplaying threat posed by white nationalists

Property of the People published two documents today revealing that less than two months before Charlottesville’s deadly Unite the Right white nationalist rally, the US Army’s Threat Integration Center was developing threat assessments of anti-fascist activists while simultaneously whitewashing fascist organizations with a vague “anti-antifa” designation.

Property of the People obtained these documents via Freedom of Information Act litigation against the Department of Defense.

“With the newly released documents, we again find a U.S. agency targeting anti-fascists as security threats while downplaying the menace posed by white nationalists,” said Ryan Shapiro, Executive Director of Property of the People,  a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to governmental transparency in the service of democracy.

“The Army’s intelligence center warned of Antifa protests yet ignored the then-upcoming Unite the Right rally, and also uncritically accepted far-right talking points whitewashing ‘Anti-Antifa’ groups’ racist underpinnings. In so doing, the Army continues the American intelligence community’s long tradition of finding more common ground with violent, jingoistic bigots than those devoted to stopping them.”