The Justice Department
released the below information:
Department of Justice
announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Ethan Melzer, 22, of
Louisville, Kentucky, for allegedly planning an attack on his U.S. Army
unit by sending sensitive details about the unit – including information about
its location, movements, and security – to members of an extremist organization
named Order of the Nine Angles (O9A), an occult-based neo-Nazi and white
supremacist group. Melzer is charged with conspiring and attempting
to murder U.S. nationals, conspiring and attempting to murder military service
members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists,
and conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country. The FBI and the
U.S. Army thwarted Melzer’s plot in late-May 2020, and the FBI arrested Melzer
on June 10, 2020. The case is assigned to U.S. District
Judge Gregory Woods.
“As the indictment
lays out, Ethan Melzer plotted a deadly ambush on his fellow soldiers in the
service of a diabolical cocktail of ideologies laced with hate and violence,”
said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers.
“Our women and men in uniform risk their lives for our country, but they
should never face such peril at the hands of one of their own. The
National Security Division is proud to support the efforts of those who
disrupted this planned attack and to seek justice for these acts.”
“As alleged, Ethan
Melzer, a private in the U.S. Army, was the enemy within. Melzer
allegedly attempted to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his own unit by
unlawfully revealing its location, strength, and armaments to a neo-Nazi,
anarchist, white supremacist group,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss
for the Southern District of New York. “Melzer allegedly provided this
potentially deadly information intending that it be conveyed to jihadist
terrorists. As alleged, Melzer was motivated by racism and hatred as he
attempted to carry out this ultimate act of betrayal. Thanks to the
efforts of the agents and detectives of the JTTF, our partners in the
Departments of Defense and State, and the career prosecutors of this office, a
hate-fueled terrorist attack against American soldiers has been thwarted.”
“As alleged, Ethan
Melzer sought to facilitate a deadly mass attack on his fellow service members
by disclosing sensitive information to multiple extremists, including
al-Qa’ida. The FBI’s top priority remains protecting Americans from
terrorist attacks, at home and abroad, and this case highlights the outstanding
work of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces, along with our U.S. military
partners, to identify and disrupt threats like this one against our men and
women in uniform,” said Assistant Director Jill Sanborn of the FBI's
Counterterrorism Division.
“Melzer declared
himself to be a traitor against the United States, and described his own
conduct as tantamount to treason. We agree. He turned his back on
his county and his unit while aligning himself with members of the neo-Nazi
group O9A,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office
William F. Sweeney Jr. “Today, he is in custody and facing a lifetime of
service – behind bars – which is appropriate given the severity of the conduct
we allege today.”
“This case is another
example of the international responsibilities of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force,” said Dermot Shea, the
Commissioner of the New York City Police Department. “Its FBI agents and
New York City police detectives will travel anywhere in the world to bring
terrorists to justice, in this case a soldier who is alleged to have forsaken
his oath to the United States military and his fellow soldiers.”
According to the
criminal complaint and the indictment charging Melzer, which were unsealed
today in Manhattan federal court:
Melzer joined the U.S.
Army in approximately 2018, and he joined O9A by approximately 2019.
Members and associates of O9A have espoused violent, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic,
and Satanic beliefs, and have expressed admiration for both Nazis, such as Adolf
Hitler, and Islamic jihadists, such as Osama Bin Laden, the now-deceased former
leader of al Qaeda. Members and associates of O9A have also participated
in acts of violence, including murders.
In approximately
October 2019, Melzer deployed abroad with the Army. Prior to planning the
attack, Melzer consumed propaganda from multiple extremist groups, including
O9A and the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, which is also known as
ISIS. For example, in connection with the investigation, the FBI seized
from an iCloud account maintained by Melzer an ISIS-issued document with a
title that included the phrase “HARVEST OF THE SOLDIERS” and described attacks
and murders of U.S. personnel in approximately April 2020.
In approximately April
2020, the Army informed Melzer of plans for a further foreign deployment by his
unit. Melzer thereafter sought to facilitate a deadly attack on his
fellow service members. After he was notified of the assignment, Melzer
used an encrypted application to send messages to members and associates of O9A
and a related group known as the “RapeWaffen Division,” including
communications regarding Melzer’s commitment to O9A and sensitive information
related to his unit’s anticipated deployment such as locations, movements, and
security, for purposes of facilitating an attack on Melzer’s unit. Melzer
and his co-conspirators planned what they referred to as a “jihadi attack”
during the deployment, with the objective of causing a “mass casualty” event
victimizing his fellow service members. Melzer acknowledged in electronic
communications that he could be killed during the attack, and, describing his
willingness to die, wrote “who gives a [expletive] [. . .] it would be another
war . . . I would’ve died successfully . . . cause [] another 10 year war in
the Middle East would definitely leave a mark.”
On or about May 17,
2020, Melzer exchanged electronic communications regarding passing information
about the anticipated deployment to a purported member of al Qaeda.
Between approximately May 24 and May 25, 2020, Melzer sent additional
electronic messages with specific information about his unit’s anticipated
deployment, including, among other things, the number of soldiers who would be
traveling, the location of the facility to which Melzer expected the unit would
be deployed, and information about the facility’s surveillance and defensive
capabilities. Melzer promised to leak more information once he arrived at
the location of the new deployment in order to try to maximize the likelihood
of a successful attack on his unit.
During a voluntary
interview with military investigators and the FBI, Melzer admitted his role in
plotting the attack. Melzer said that he intended the planned attack to
result in the deaths of as many of his fellow service members as
possible. Melzer also declared himself to be a traitor against the United
States, and described his conduct as tantamount to
treason.
Melzer is charged in
the Indictment with (1) conspiring to murder U.S. nationals, in violation of 18
U.S.C. § 2332(b)(2), which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison;
(2) attempting to murder U.S. nationals, in violation of 18 U.S.C.
§ 2332(b)(1), which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; (3)
conspiring to murder U.S. military service members, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §
1117, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; (4) attempting to
murder U.S. military service members, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1114, which
carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; (5) attempting to provide and
providing material support to terrorists, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2339A,
which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; and (6) conspiring to
murder and maim in a foreign country, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 956, which
carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The statutory penalties are
prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only,
as any sentencing of the defendant would be determined by the judge.
Assistant Attorney
General Demers and Acting U.S. Attorney Strauss praised the outstanding
efforts of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which consists of
investigators and analysts from the FBI, the NYPD, and over 50 other federal,
state, and local agencies; the FBI’s Legal Attaché Office in Rome, Italy; the
Air Force Office of Special Investigations; U.S. Army Counterintelligence; U.S.
Army Criminal Investigation Command; Attorneys from the U.S. Army Africa Office
of the Staff Judge Advocate and 173rd Airborne Brigade; and the U.S. Department
of State Diplomatic Security Service.
This prosecution is
being handled by the office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Adelsberg, Matthew Hellman, and Sidhardha Kamaraju
are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Alicia
Cook of the Counterterrorism Section.
The charges in the
complaint and indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed
innocent unless and until proven guilty.
You can also read my Counterterrorism
magazine Q&A with Jack Carr via the below link: 
