130-741: The Atomwaffen Division ( Atomwaffen meaning " atomic weapons " in German ), also known as the National Socialist Resistance Front , was an international far-right extremist and neo-Nazi terrorist network. Formed in 2013 and based in the Southern United States , it expanded across the United States and it had also expanded into the United Kingdom , Argentina , Canada , Germany ,
260-513: A misnomer , as their energy comes from the nucleus of the atom, just as it does with fusion weapons. In fission weapons, a mass of fissile material ( enriched uranium or plutonium ) is forced into supercriticality —allowing an exponential growth of nuclear chain reactions —either by shooting one piece of sub-critical material into another (the "gun" method) or by compression of a sub-critical sphere or cylinder of fissile material using chemically fueled explosive lenses . The latter approach,
390-665: A policy of deliberate ambiguity , it does not acknowledge having them. Germany , Italy , Turkey , Belgium , the Netherlands , and Belarus are nuclear weapons sharing states. South Africa is the only country to have independently developed and then renounced and dismantled its nuclear weapons. The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons aims to reduce the spread of nuclear weapons, but there are different views of its effectiveness. There are two basic types of nuclear weapons: those that derive
520-459: A white ethnostate based upon authoritarian neo-fascist ideals akin to Nazi Germany . Atomwaffen also drew influences from Nazi esotericism and the occult , and its recommended list of reading materials for aspiring initiates included the works of Savitri Devi and the works of Anton Long, a founding member of the Order of Nine Angles , a British neo-Nazi and a Satanist leader. Some members of
650-445: A 17-year-old neo-Nazi said to have prepared right-wing terrorist attacks. The teen was said to have obtained instructions for the construction of weapons, ammunition and explosive devices and chemicals for the construction of explosive devices, as well as having built explosive devices and incendiary devices himself and carried out initial explosive tests. According to the investigators, findings in his house and business premises confirmed
780-517: A Court order. (Reflecting Amendments to Section 219 of the INA in the 2001 USA PATRIOT Act ) The U.S. Department of State lists the following items as additional considered beneficial effects of designation: Official designation of a group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization also triggers more robust means of combat under the Authorization for Use of Military Force act enacted in 2001, which
910-574: A Jamaican man, barely missing the carotid artery. Atomwaffen Division Europe was a subgroup for Ukrainians and Poles affiliated with the Germans. One of the leaders of the group was Patrick G. who was connected to far-right music label Neuer Deutscher Standard and far-right fashion brand Isegrim Clothing . The Polish police raided the apartment of a member and uncovered Nazi memorabilia and expensive body armor. According to an investigation by German Amadeu Antonio Foundation published on 19 April 2021,
1040-610: A basis for revocation, the petitioning FTO must provide evidence that the circumstances forming the basis for the designation are sufficiently different as to warrant revocation. If no such review has been conducted during a five-year period with respect to a designation, then the Secretary of State is required to review the designation to determine whether revocation would be appropriate. The procedural requirements for designating an organization as an FTO also apply to any redesignation of that organization. The Secretary of State may revoke
1170-591: A blog post on their website claiming to start a new organization, the "National Socialist Resistance Front." According to Vice and the Guardian in 2023, Atomwaffen Division members have been active "and play key roles" in organizing the Active Club Network , which is a loose association of various neo-Nazi and white supremacy groups. A leading member of Atomwaffen's Canadian branch , Patrick Gordon Macdonald , who has been charged with terrorism offenses,
1300-512: A cell in Switzerland, confirming the suspicions of the German officials that Switzerland served as the linchpin of Atomwaffen's German operation, allowing them to evade law enforcement. European security officials have asked their U.S. counterparts for assistance in combating these cells and urged designating them as terrorist organizations. In August 2020, months after the claimed disbanding,
1430-600: A combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb ), producing a nuclear explosion . Both bomb types release large quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter . The first test of a fission ("atomic") bomb released an amount of energy approximately equal to 20,000 tons of TNT (84 TJ ). The first thermonuclear ("hydrogen") bomb test released energy approximately equal to 10 million tons of TNT (42 PJ). Nuclear bombs have had yields between 10 tons TNT (the W54 ) and 50 megatons for
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#17327762737311560-696: A conference—called for in the manifesto—in Pugwash, Nova Scotia , Eaton's birthplace. This conference was to be the first of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs , held in July 1957. By the 1960s, steps were taken to limit both the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other countries and the environmental effects of nuclear testing . The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963) restricted all nuclear testing to underground nuclear testing , to prevent contamination from nuclear fallout, whereas
1690-532: A designation or redesignation at any time upon a finding that the circumstances that were the basis for the designation or redesignation have changed in such a manner as to warrant revocation, or that the national security of the United States warrants a revocation. The same procedural requirements apply to revocations made by the Secretary of State as apply to designations or redesignations. A designation may also be revoked by an Act of Congress, or set aside by
1820-657: A detailed "administrative record", which is a compilation of information, typically including both classified and open sources information, demonstrating that the statutory criteria for designation have been satisfied. If the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury , decides to make the designation, the United States Congress is notified of
1950-458: A faster and less vulnerable attack, the development of long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) has given some nations the ability to plausibly deliver missiles anywhere on the globe with a high likelihood of success. More advanced systems, such as multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), can launch multiple warheads at different targets from one missile, reducing
2080-489: A few nations possess such weapons or are suspected of seeking them. The only countries known to have detonated nuclear weapons—and acknowledge possessing them—are (chronologically by date of first test) the United States , the Soviet Union (succeeded as a nuclear power by Russia ), the United Kingdom , France , China , India , Pakistan , and North Korea . Israel is believed to possess nuclear weapons, though, in
2210-492: A fission bomb to initiate them. Such a device might provide a simpler path to thermonuclear weapons than one that required the development of fission weapons first, and pure fusion weapons would create significantly less nuclear fallout than other thermonuclear weapons because they would not disperse fission products. In 1998, the United States Department of Energy divulged that the United States had, "...made
2340-421: A fusion weapon as of January 2016 , though this claim is disputed. Thermonuclear weapons are considered much more difficult to successfully design and execute than primitive fission weapons. Almost all of the nuclear weapons deployed today use the thermonuclear design because it results in an explosion hundreds of times stronger than that of a fission bomb of similar weight. Thermonuclear bombs work by using
2470-445: A knife by one of the group's male members. The private messages which belonged to Sonnenkrieg Division and were acquired by the police included footage of the members of the group abusing women, such as images of the rape of a woman, who had a swastika and runes cut into her flesh. On February 20, 2019, Jacek Tchorzewski, 18, was stopped by the counter-terrorism unit at Luton Airport . He was arrested on suspicion of terror offences, and
2600-583: A machine gun and transporting a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony. Both men were each sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty. According to the law enforcement officials the men had planned opening fire from multiple positions on the upcoming 2020 VCDL Lobby Day rally. Bilbrough had also previously talked about fighting with the Azov Battalion . Mathews had instructed others to "Derail some fucking trains, kill some people and poison some water supplies ... If you want
2730-472: A nation's economic electronics-based infrastructure. Because the effect is most effectively produced by high altitude nuclear detonations (by military weapons delivered by air, though ground bursts also produce EMP effects over a localized area), it can produce damage to electronics over a wide, even continental, geographical area. Research has been done into the possibility of pure fusion bombs : nuclear weapons that consist of fusion reactions without requiring
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#17327762737312860-537: A new nuclear strategy, one that is distinct from that which gave relative stability during the Cold War. Since 1996, the United States has had a policy of allowing the targeting of its nuclear weapons at terrorists armed with weapons of mass destruction . Robert Gallucci argues that although traditional deterrence is not an effective approach toward terrorist groups bent on causing a nuclear catastrophe, Gallucci believes that "the United States should instead consider
2990-425: A nuclear war between two nations would result in mutual annihilation. From this point of view, the significance of nuclear weapons is to deter war because any nuclear war would escalate out of mutual distrust and fear, resulting in mutually assured destruction . This threat of national, if not global, destruction has been a strong motivation for anti-nuclear weapons activism. Critics from the peace movement and within
3120-411: A nuclear weapon from another country by threatening nuclear retaliation is known as the strategy of nuclear deterrence . The goal in deterrence is to always maintain a second strike capability (the ability of a country to respond to a nuclear attack with one of its own) and potentially to strive for first strike status (the ability to destroy an enemy's nuclear forces before they could retaliate). During
3250-465: A nuclear weapon is a gravity bomb dropped from aircraft ; this was the method used by the United States against Japan in 1945. This method places few restrictions on the size of the weapon. It does, however, limit attack range, response time to an impending attack, and the number of weapons that a country can field at the same time. With miniaturization, nuclear bombs can be delivered by both strategic bombers and tactical fighter-bombers . This method
3380-409: A nuclear weapon to its target is an important factor affecting both nuclear weapon design and nuclear strategy . The design, development, and maintenance of delivery systems are among the most expensive parts of a nuclear weapons program; they account, for example, for 57% of the financial resources spent by the United States on nuclear weapons projects since 1940. The simplest method for delivering
3510-433: A nuclear weapon with suitable materials (such as cobalt or gold ) creates a weapon known as a salted bomb . This device can produce exceptionally large quantities of long-lived radioactive contamination . It has been conjectured that such a device could serve as a "doomsday weapon" because such a large quantity of radioactivities with half-lives of decades, lifted into the stratosphere where winds would distribute it around
3640-421: A policy of expanded deterrence, which focuses not solely on the would-be nuclear terrorists but on those states that may deliberately transfer or inadvertently leak nuclear weapons and materials to them. By threatening retaliation against those states, the United States may be able to deter that which it cannot physically prevent.". Graham Allison makes a similar case, arguing that the key to expanded deterrence
3770-420: A shotgun and a pistol and a large amount of Atomwaffen Division propaganda. According to a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit, the man was going to meet American neo-Nazis with whom he had discussed attacking electrical sub-stations to cause power outages. On September 18, 2020, Toronto Police arrested 34-year-old Guilherme "William" Von Neutegem and charged him with the murder of Mohamed-Aslim Zafis. Zafis
3900-595: A significant amount of influences from James Mason and his publication Siege , a mid-1980s newsletter of the National Socialist Liberation Front that paid tribute to Adolf Hitler , Joseph Tommasi , Charles Manson , and Savitri Devi . It was published into a book with the same title that was required reading for all Atomwaffen Division members. Mason, a neo-Nazi and a Holocaust denier who advocates murder and violence in order to create lawlessness and anarchy and destabilize
4030-447: A significant portion of their energy from fission reactions used to "trigger" fusion reactions, and fusion reactions can themselves trigger additional fission reactions. Only six countries—the United States , Russia , the United Kingdom , China , France , and India —have conducted thermonuclear weapon tests. Whether India has detonated a "true" multi-staged thermonuclear weapon is controversial. North Korea claims to have tested
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4160-550: A substantial investment" in the past to develop pure fusion weapons, but that, "The U.S. does not have and is not developing a pure fusion weapon", and that, "No credible design for a pure fusion weapon resulted from the DOE investment". Nuclear isomers provide a possible pathway to fissionless fusion bombs. These are naturally occurring isotopes ( Hf being a prominent example) which exist in an elevated energy state. Mechanisms to release this energy as bursts of gamma radiation (as in
4290-714: A terrorist group by multiple governments, including the United Kingdom and Canada. Members of the Atomwaffen Division have been held responsible for a number of murders , bombings, planned terrorist attacks , and other criminal actions . In 2015, the group's creation was announced by founding member Brandon Russell , on the Neo-fascist and Neo-Nazi web forum IronMarch.org , which, prior to its shutdown in 2017, had been linked to several acts of Neo-Nazi terrorism and violent militant groups such as
4420-448: A terrorist group. On October 30, 2024, a Canadian Atomwaffen member named Alexander Moucka was arrested. Moucka is alleged to have hacked the customer information from 160 companies and extorting them with it. AT&T alone paid $ 370,000 to get the stolen information removed. Atomic weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions , either fission (fission bomb) or
4550-585: A video in German and English titled AWD Deutschland: Die Messer werden schon gewetzet ("AWD Germany: The knives are already being sharpened"), the group announced the establishment of a cell or branch in Germany , followed by the promise of a "long fight". The group's flyers were spotted in Berlin , targeting students. In June 2019, Atomwaffen propaganda was discovered in a Turkish neighborhood in Cologne on
4680-511: Is a designation for non-United States-based organizations deemed by the United States secretary of state , in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA), to be involved in what US authorities define as terrorist activities . Most of the organizations on the list are Islamist extremist groups; the rest are nationalist/separatist groups , or Marxist militant groups. The Department of State, along with
4810-420: Is a thermonuclear weapon that yields a relatively small explosion but a relatively large amount of neutron radiation . Such a weapon could, according to tacticians, be used to cause massive biological casualties while leaving inanimate infrastructure mostly intact and creating minimal fallout. Because high energy neutrons are capable of penetrating dense matter, such as tank armor, neutron warheads were procured in
4940-456: Is analogous to identifying a criminal by fingerprints. "The goal would be twofold: first, to deter leaders of nuclear states from selling weapons to terrorists by holding them accountable for any use of their weapons; second, to give leaders every incentive to tightly secure their nuclear weapons and materials." According to the Pentagon's June 2019 " Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations " of
5070-403: Is coming up with ways of tracing nuclear material to the country that forged the fissile material. "After a nuclear bomb detonates, nuclear forensics cops would collect debris samples and send them to a laboratory for radiological analysis. By identifying unique attributes of the fissile material, including its impurities and contaminants, one could trace the path back to its origin." The process
5200-481: Is for the purpose of achieving different yields for different situations , and in manipulating design elements to attempt to minimize weapon size, radiation hardness or requirements for special materials, especially fissile fuel or tritium. Some nuclear weapons are designed for special purposes; most of these are for non-strategic (decisively war-winning) purposes and are referred to as tactical nuclear weapons . The neutron bomb purportedly conceived by Sam Cohen
5330-405: Is ineffective. Instead, it emphasizes using violently terroristic actions (the 'accelerant') to increasingly destabilize a nation until its own government completely loses the ability to maintain fundamental security and development functions. Meanwhile, it is at this point that a revolutionary vanguard party can successfully seize power and rebrand the former democratic government into, in this case,
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5460-503: Is no evidence that it is feasible beyond the military domain. However, the U.S. Air Force funded studies of the physics of antimatter in the Cold War , and began considering its possible use in weapons, not just as a trigger, but as the explosive itself. A fourth generation nuclear weapon design is related to, and relies upon, the same principle as antimatter-catalyzed nuclear pulse propulsion . Most variation in nuclear weapon design
5590-409: Is not a fusion bomb. In the boosted bomb, the neutrons produced by the fusion reactions serve primarily to increase the efficiency of the fission bomb. There are two types of boosted fission bomb: internally boosted, in which a deuterium-tritium mixture is injected into the bomb core, and externally boosted, in which concentric shells of lithium-deuteride and depleted uranium are layered on the outside of
5720-490: Is not clear that this has ever been implemented, and their plausible use in nuclear weapons is a matter of dispute. The other basic type of nuclear weapon produces a large proportion of its energy in nuclear fusion reactions. Such fusion weapons are generally referred to as thermonuclear weapons or more colloquially as hydrogen bombs (abbreviated as H-bombs ), as they rely on fusion reactions between isotopes of hydrogen ( deuterium and tritium ). All such weapons derive
5850-546: Is still in force today. As of December 1, 2021, the following organizations are designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations: The following groups have been removed from the Department of State's list as of December 1, 2021, most due to having been disbanded and thus being no longer active. The PMOI had been designated a "foreign terrorist organisation" in 1997 in order to improve relations with Tehran and then president Mohammad Khatami . In November 2013,
5980-454: Is the primary means of nuclear weapons delivery; the majority of U.S. nuclear warheads, for example, are free-fall gravity bombs, namely the B61 , which is being improved upon to this day. Preferable from a strategic point of view is a nuclear weapon mounted on a missile , which can use a ballistic trajectory to deliver the warhead over the horizon. Although even short-range missiles allow for
6110-542: The Baltic states , and other European countries. The group was described as a part of the alt-right by some journalists, but it rejected the label and it was considered extreme even within that movement. Atomwaffen was described as "one of the most violent neo-Nazi movements in the 21st century". It was listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and it was also designated as
6240-690: The COVID-19 pandemic . On March 25, 2020, a Missouri man affiliated with Atomwaffen allegedly planned to destroy a hospital treating coronavirus victims with a car bomb and died in a shootout with the FBI . According to counter-terrorism experts, the group remained active and it continued to established affiliates in Europe. On May 31, 2020, it was announced that a new Atomwaffen cell had been uncovered in Russia. Local security services had also just previously uncovered
6370-496: The Nordic Resistance Movement , National Action , CasaPound , and Golden Dawn . In its initial posts, the group described itself as a "very fanatical, ideological band of comrades who do both activism and militant training. Hand to hand, arms training, and various other forms of training. As for activism, we spread awareness in the real world through unconventional means." As of 2017, the group's membership
6500-695: The Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test in 1962, an unexpected effect was produced which is called a nuclear electromagnetic pulse . This is an intense flash of electromagnetic energy produced by a rain of high-energy electrons which in turn are produced by a nuclear bomb's gamma rays. This flash of energy can permanently destroy or disrupt electronic equipment if insufficiently shielded. It has been proposed to use this effect to disable an enemy's military and civilian infrastructure as an adjunct to other nuclear or conventional military operations. By itself it could as well be useful to terrorists for crippling
6630-465: The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1968) attempted to place restrictions on the types of activities signatories could participate in, with the goal of allowing the transference of non-military nuclear technology to member countries without fear of proliferation. United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations Foreign Terrorist Organization ( FTO )
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#17327762737316760-554: The Tsar Bomba (see TNT equivalent ). A thermonuclear weapon weighing as little as 600 pounds (270 kg) can release energy equal to more than 1.2 megatonnes of TNT (5.0 PJ). A nuclear device no larger than a conventional bomb can devastate an entire city by blast, fire, and radiation . Since they are weapons of mass destruction , the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a focus of international relations policy. Nuclear weapons have been deployed twice in war , both by
6890-676: The Tsar Bomba of the USSR, which released an energy equivalent of over 50 megatons of TNT (210 PJ), was a three-stage weapon. Most thermonuclear weapons are considerably smaller than this, due to practical constraints from missile warhead space and weight requirements. In the early 1950s the Livermore Laboratory in the United States had plans for the testing of two massive bombs, Gnomon and Sundial , 1 gigaton of TNT and 10 gigatons of TNT respectively. Fusion reactions do not create fission products, and thus contribute far less to
7020-639: The U.S. Armed Forces who trained the organization's members in the use of firearms and military tactics. A U.S. Navy officer was expelled for allegedly recruiting 12 members for the group and four affiliated US Marines were charged with trafficking and manufacturing firearms for the group. Atomwaffen members also sought to train with the Azov Battalion and Russian Imperial Movement . In October 2020, Ukraine deported two Atomwaffen members who tried to join Azov for inciting murders and terrorism. As of 2018, Atomwaffen had ties to various affiliated neo-Nazi groups and
7150-444: The United States Department of the Treasury , also has the authority to designate individuals and entities as subject to counter-terrorism sanctions according to Executive Order 13224 . The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) maintains a separate list of such individuals and entities. The Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism (CT) of the United States Department of State continually monitors
7280-570: The continental U.S. power transmission grid . Atomwaffen has also been accused of planning to blow up nuclear power stations . The organization's aim was to violently overthrow the federal government of the United States via terrorism and guerrilla warfare tactics. Since 2017, the organization had been linked to eight killings and several violent hate crimes in the US, including assaults , rapes and multiple cases of kidnapping and torture . The organization explicitly advocated neo-Nazism , drawing
7410-398: The fascist Satanist Order of Nine Angles (O9A), an organization which advocates rape and human sacrifice . During an investigation in 2018, ProPublica obtained 250,000 encrypted chat logs written by members of the group. It was estimated in early 2018, that Atomwaffen had 80 members, while Propublica estimated as many as 100. According to International Centre for Counter-Terrorism
7540-424: The hafnium controversy ) have been proposed as possible triggers for conventional thermonuclear reactions. Antimatter , which consists of particles resembling ordinary matter particles in most of their properties but having opposite electric charge , has been considered as a trigger mechanism for nuclear weapons. A major obstacle is the difficulty of producing antimatter in large enough quantities, and there
7670-614: The head of government or head of state . Despite controls and regulations governing nuclear weapons, there is an inherent danger of "accidents, mistakes, false alarms, blackmail, theft, and sabotage". In the late 1940s, lack of mutual trust prevented the United States and the Soviet Union from making progress on arms control agreements. The Russell–Einstein Manifesto was issued in London on July 9, 1955, by Bertrand Russell in
7800-436: The tropopause into the stratosphere , where the calm non-turbulent winds permit the debris to travel great distances from the burst, eventually settling and unpredictably contaminating areas far removed from the target of the explosion. There are other types of nuclear weapons as well. For example, a boosted fission weapon is a fission bomb that increases its explosive yield through a small number of fusion reactions, but it
7930-537: The "implosion" method, is more sophisticated and more efficient (smaller, less massive, and requiring less of the expensive fissile fuel) than the former. A major challenge in all nuclear weapon designs is to ensure that a significant fraction of the fuel is consumed before the weapon destroys itself. The amount of energy released by fission bombs can range from the equivalent of just under a ton to upwards of 500,000 tons (500 kilotons ) of TNT (4.2 to 2.1 × 10 GJ). All fission reactions generate fission products ,
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#17327762737318060-533: The 1980s (though not deployed in Europe) for use as tactical payloads for US Army artillery shells (200 mm W79 and 155 mm W82 ) and short range missile forces. Soviet authorities announced similar intentions for neutron warhead deployment in Europe; indeed, they claimed to have originally invented the neutron bomb, but their deployment on USSR tactical nuclear forces is unverifiable. A type of nuclear explosive most suitable for use by ground special forces
8190-629: The Balkans to French neo-Nazis in Marseille . The man was discovered to be connected to Serbian Combat 18 and to another local neo-Nazi gang, " MC Srbi". It was confirmed the man had travelled to at least half a dozen cities in the Balkans to meet with his contacts and to procure firearms. Master Corporal Patrik Jordan Mathews , 26, a trained explosives expert, was among the Canadian Armed Forces members accused of being connected to
8320-425: The Cold War, policy and military theorists considered the sorts of policies that might prevent a nuclear attack, and they developed game theory models that could lead to stable deterrence conditions. Different forms of nuclear weapons delivery (see above) allow for different types of nuclear strategies. The goals of any strategy are generally to make it difficult for an enemy to launch a pre-emptive strike against
8450-682: The District of Columbia Circuit not later than 30 days after the designation is published in the Federal Register. Under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act , the FTO may file a petition for revocation two years after the designation date (or in the case of redesignated FTOs, its most recent redesignation date) or two years after the determination date on its most recent petition for revocation. In order to provide
8580-472: The German police the man had announced his intention of "martyring" himself in an attack against their "enemies" to other members of the group. In addition to this he allegedly instructed others how to procure and smuggle illegal firearms. It emerged that the Halle synagogue shooting perpetrator Stephan Balliet was in possession of material by Atomwaffen Division. In September 2021, a 20-year-old Marvin E. from
8710-494: The Joint Chiefs of Staffs website Publication, "Integration of nuclear weapons employment with conventional and special operations forces is essential to the success of any mission or operation." Because they are weapons of mass destruction, the proliferation and possible use of nuclear weapons are important issues in international relations and diplomacy. In most countries, the use of nuclear force can only be authorized by
8840-726: The Lapland board of the Finns Party , and another Finnish member was a party ideologue, publishing dozens of articles in the Finns party organ. MP Ruuben Kaalep from EKRE was also connected to Atomwaffen members as was MP Daniel Halemba of Alternative for Germany . According to the Guardian, "mass shooters in Buffalo, New York ; El Paso, Texas ; and Jacksonville, Florida have cited Atomwaffen’s message as their inspiration." The Guardian reported that as of November 10, 2024, Atomwaffen
8970-503: The Nuclear Age (1961) that mere possession of a nuclear arsenal was enough to ensure deterrence, and thus concluded that the spread of nuclear weapons could increase international stability . Some prominent neo-realist scholars, such as Kenneth Waltz and John Mearsheimer , have argued, along the lines of Gallois, that some forms of nuclear proliferation would decrease the likelihood of total war , especially in troubled regions of
9100-469: The Order of Nine Angles and it was more extreme and potentially more violent than National Action . Hope not Hate 's annual "State of Hate" report stated that: "some members have also carried out some of these satanic fantasies and allegations of rape and imprisonment against their own members are circulating." Sonnenkrieg Division members had shared videos of one female supporter being tortured and scored with
9230-703: The SPLC, the man was among "some pretty well-known, high-up people in these organizations" and an acquaintance of Mathews and Mason. The group was designated as a terrorist organization on February 3, 2021. In May 2022, RCMP laid terrorism charge against Seth Bertrand of Ontario over alleged links to Atomwaffen. He was also charged with vandalizing a transgender centre. In June 2022 the RCMP raided houses in St-Ferdinand and Plessisville in rural Quebec allegedly connected Atomwaffen Division. La Presse subsequently reported
9360-546: The Secretary's intent to designate the organization and given seven days to review the designation, as the INA requires. Upon the expiration of the seven-day waiting period, notice of the designation is published in the Federal Register , at which point the designation takes effect. An organization designated as an FTO may seek judicial review of the designation in the United States Court of Appeals for
9490-722: The State Department listed the Nigerian terrorist organization Boko Haram as an FTO. In 2014, Republican members of Congress criticized the State Department for not designating the group as an FTO earlier. In August 2014 the Christian Science Monitor reported that U.S. military was coordinating with Kurdish forces in Iraq, including elements of the PKK , seemingly in violation of the ban on assistance to
9620-664: The USAAF detonated a plutonium implosion-type fission bomb nicknamed " Fat Man " over the Japanese city of Nagasaki . These bombings caused injuries that resulted in the deaths of approximately 200,000 civilians and military personnel . The ethics of these bombings and their role in Japan's surrender are to this day, still subjects of debate . Since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , nuclear weapons have been detonated over 2,000 times for testing and demonstration. Only
9750-777: The USAF AIR-2 Genie , the AIM-26 Falcon and US Army Nike Hercules . Missile interceptors such as the Sprint and the Spartan also used small nuclear warheads (optimized to produce neutron or X-ray flux) but were for use against enemy strategic warheads. Other small, or tactical, nuclear weapons were deployed by naval forces for use primarily as antisubmarine weapons. These included nuclear depth bombs or nuclear armed torpedoes. Nuclear mines for use on land or at sea are also possibilities. The system used to deliver
9880-527: The United States against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 during World War II . Nuclear weapons have only twice been used in warfare, both times by the United States against Japan at the end of World War II . On August 6, 1945, the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) detonated a uranium gun-type fission bomb nicknamed " Little Boy " over the Japanese city of Hiroshima ; three days later, on August 9,
10010-526: The United States. Small, two-man portable tactical weapons (somewhat misleadingly referred to as suitcase bombs ), such as the Special Atomic Demolition Munition , have been developed, although the difficulty of combining sufficient yield with portability limits their military utility. Nuclear warfare strategy is a set of policies that deal with preventing or fighting a nuclear war. The policy of trying to prevent an attack by
10140-524: The activities of groups active around the world to identify targets for the "terrorist" designation. When reviewing potential targets, S/CT looks at the actual attacks that a group has carried out, as well as whether the group has engaged in planning and preparations for possible future acts of violence or retains the capability and intent to carry out such acts. Once a target is identified, the Bureau of Counterterrorism and Countering Violent Extremism prepares
10270-602: The aliases of National Action), which was linked to various acts of racial violence and arson in the UK. The BBC revealed that the leaders of the group were Andrew Dymock, 21, and Oskar Dunn-Koczorowski, 18. Police arrested three suspected members of the Sonnenkrieg Division in early December 2018 as part of an "ongoing investigation into extreme right-wing activity". MI5 , the British domestic intelligence agency, took
10400-570: The article "A" is also experienced in martial arts and his social media shows him practicing with guns. The group has a house for meetings somewhere in Eisenach in Thuringia . On February 5, 2020, a 22-year-old member was arrested in a Bavarian town near the Czech border and several firearms were confiscated from him. He was investigated on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack. According to
10530-485: The chance of a successful missile defense . Today, missiles are most common among systems designed for delivery of nuclear weapons. Making a warhead small enough to fit onto a missile, though, can be difficult. Tactical weapons have involved the most variety of delivery types, including not only gravity bombs and missiles but also artillery shells, land mines , and nuclear depth charges and torpedoes for anti-submarine warfare . An atomic mortar has been tested by
10660-435: The creation of nuclear fallout than fission reactions, but because all thermonuclear weapons contain at least one fission stage, and many high-yield thermonuclear devices have a final fission stage, thermonuclear weapons can generate at least as much nuclear fallout as fission-only weapons. Furthermore, high yield thermonuclear explosions (most dangerously ground bursts) have the force to lift radioactive debris upwards past
10790-455: The decision process. The prospect of mutually assured destruction might not deter an enemy who expects to die in the confrontation. Further, if the initial act is from a stateless terrorist instead of a sovereign nation, there might not be a nation or specific target to retaliate against. It has been argued, especially after the September 11, 2001, attacks , that this complication calls for
10920-469: The energy of a fission bomb to compress and heat fusion fuel. In the Teller-Ulam design , which accounts for all multi-megaton yield hydrogen bombs, this is accomplished by placing a fission bomb and fusion fuel ( tritium , deuterium , or lithium deuteride ) in proximity within a special, radiation-reflecting container. When the fission bomb is detonated, gamma rays and X-rays emitted first compress
11050-455: The fission bomb core. The external method of boosting enabled the USSR to field the first partially thermonuclear weapons, but it is now obsolete because it demands a spherical bomb geometry, which was adequate during the 1950s arms race when bomber aircraft were the only available delivery vehicles. The detonation of any nuclear weapon is accompanied by a blast of neutron radiation . Surrounding
11180-420: The fusion fuel, then heat it to thermonuclear temperatures. The ensuing fusion reaction creates enormous numbers of high-speed neutrons , which can then induce fission in materials not normally prone to it, such as depleted uranium . Each of these components is known as a "stage", with the fission bomb as the "primary" and the fusion capsule as the "secondary". In large, megaton-range hydrogen bombs, about half of
11310-535: The globe, would make all life on the planet extinct. In connection with the Strategic Defense Initiative , research into the nuclear pumped laser was conducted under the DOD program Project Excalibur but this did not result in a working weapon. The concept involves the tapping of the energy of an exploding nuclear bomb to power a single-shot laser that is directed at a distant target. During
11440-422: The group accompanying him: 33-year-old Brian Lemley, Jr, a US Army veteran, and 19-year-old William Bilbrough IV. According to the affidavit the men were building assault rifles and manufacturing the psychedelic drug DMT for occult rituals. They also possessed body armor, a machine gun and in excess of 1600 rounds of ammunition. They faced a maximum sentence of 50 years for firearm offenses, including transporting
11570-845: The group also sympathized with the Salafi and jihadist forms of Islam . Atomwaffen Division's founder, Brandon Russell, is alleged to have described Omar Mateen , who perpetrated the Orlando nightclub shooting and pledged allegiance to the Islamic State , as "a hero". In its propaganda, the group also idolized Osama bin Laden , and it also considered "the culture of martyrdom and insurgency " within al Qaeda and ISIL as something which should be emulated. Atomwaffen promoted White jihad and has advocated for an alliance with Islamic terrorists such as Hamas and its Telegram channels have promoted
11700-666: The group and recruiting for it. He was also accused of being affiliated with The Base . In August 2019, two days after being outed by the Winnipeg Free Press as a neo-Nazi recruiter, his truck was found abandoned near the border and it was suspected he was smuggled across the border and had gone underground in the United States. Mathews was arrested in Maryland by the FBI in January 2020. Also arrested were two other members of
11830-575: The group based on a tip from the FBI. In October 2019, people claiming to be members of the organization sent death threats to German politicians Cem Özdemir and Claudia Roth . "At the moment, we are planning how and when we will execute you; At the next public rally? Or will we get you in front of your home?" read part of the message sent to the office of the Member of Bundestag, who has Circassian roots. The death threats were condemned by Angela Merkel, and Interior Ministry spokesman Steve Alter commented
11960-720: The group has a large number of "initiates" in addition to 60 to 80 full members. On March 14, 2020, Mason claimed that the Atomwaffen Division had disbanded. However, the group was believed to be on the cusp of being designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the State Department , and the Anti-Defamation League stated that "the move is designed to give members breathing room rather than actually end their militant activities". An intelligence brief distributed by federal law enforcement warned that Atomwaffen and its branches had discussed taking advantage of
12090-406: The group resurfaced yet again, this time as "National Socialist Order". On April 22, 2021, the British government announced its banning of Atomwaffen/National Socialist Order as terrorist organizations. Similar actions were undertaken by Canada and Australia, which outlawed local Atomwaffen branches in sweeping bans against far-right organizations. On September 12, 2022, former NSO members released
12220-612: The group was a 21-year-old "Dark Foreigner" who created propaganda for Atomwaffen. The group celebrated the anniversary of the Quebec City mosque shooting by defacing Canadian mosques with neo-Nazi slogans. Gunfire was also reported outside a defaced mosque in Ottawa. A neo-Nazi affiliated with Atomwaffen serving in the Royal Canadian Navy was discovered to be selling handguns, assault rifles, grenades and RPG-7s from
12350-497: The group was influenced by James Mason who "may well represent the most violent, revolutionary and potentially terroristic expression of right-wing extremism current today". Dunn-Koczorowski was sentenced to 18 months in prison for encouraging terrorism, and Szewczuk was sentenced to four years in prison for encouraging terrorism and possessing documents that are useful to a terrorist, such as bomb-making instructions. British anti-fascists say Sonnenkrieg Division had been influenced by
12480-659: The group. A member of the Atomwaffen Division, Steven Billingsley, was photographed at a vigil in San Antonio, Texas , for the victims of the Orlando shooting, with a skull mask and a sign which read "God Hates Fags", a motto connected to the homophobic Westboro Baptist Church . Although the Atomwaffen Division was anti-communist , it sympathized and promoted North Korean Juche as model of racial purity and autarky . The Sonnenkrieg Division ( / ˈ z ɒ n ə n ˌ k r iː ɡ / ; Sonnenkrieg being German for "sun war")
12610-534: The head of the counter terrorism unit, said that Tchorzewski was connected to the Sonnenkrieg Division. Judge Anuja Dhir said Tchorzewski was a "deeply entrenched neo-Nazi with an interest in Satanism and occult practices" and an "offender of particular concern". On September 20, 2019, Tchorzewski was sentenced to four years imprisonment for terrorism offences at the Old Bailey. On December 4, 2019, Andrew Dymock
12740-446: The lead in the government's monitoring of far-right terrorism. On June 18, 2019, Sonnenkrieg members Dunn-Koczorowski and Michal Szewczuk, 19, were jailed for terrorism offences. According to the prosecutor the men promoted "engaging in a "total attack" on the system", Dunn-Koczorowski having proclaimed "terror is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death" and were intent on action. Furthermore,
12870-496: The majority of their energy from nuclear fission reactions alone, and those that use fission reactions to begin nuclear fusion reactions that produce a large amount of the total energy output. All existing nuclear weapons derive some of their explosive energy from nuclear fission reactions. Weapons whose explosive output is exclusively from fission reactions are commonly referred to as atomic bombs or atom bombs (abbreviated as A-bombs ). This has long been noted as something of
13000-647: The members were acquiring Uzi submachine guns and had attended Azov training camps in Ukraine. The group also had a presence in Canada via an affiliated organization called Northern Order that included members of the Canadian Armed Forces . Members of the group had also been known to attend the Atomwaffen training camps in the United States. One of the pseudonymous individuals found to be part of
13130-407: The midst of the Cold War. It highlighted the dangers posed by nuclear weapons and called for world leaders to seek peaceful resolutions to international conflict. The signatories included eleven pre-eminent intellectuals and scientists, including Albert Einstein , who signed it just days before his death on April 18, 1955. A few days after the release, philanthropist Cyrus S. Eaton offered to sponsor
13260-545: The military establishment have questioned the usefulness of such weapons in the current military climate. According to an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in 1996, the use of (or threat of use of) such weapons would generally be contrary to the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict, but the court did not reach an opinion as to whether or not the threat or use would be lawful in specific extreme circumstances such as if
13390-408: The missiles before they land or implementing civil defense measures using early-warning systems to evacuate citizens to safe areas before an attack. Weapons designed to threaten large populations or to deter attacks are known as strategic weapons . Nuclear weapons for use on a battlefield in military situations are called tactical weapons . Critics of nuclear war strategy often suggest that
13520-474: The northern Hessian town of Spangenberg was arrested on suspicion of terrorism. The investigators found 600 self-made explosive devices belonging to him. According to the investigators the man had been in contact with the Atomwaffen Division. On 8 May 2023 Marvin E. was found guilty of forming a local chapter of Atomwaffen Division in Hesse , building explosives, procuring firearms and planning attacks with them, he
13650-452: The police uncovered "an enormous amount" of manuals on how to make weapons and explosives and Nazi propaganda. In court, it was heard Tchorzewski had said it was "his dream" to commit a terrorist attack and he intended to smuggle firearms and explosives from Germany for this purpose. Also presented was a notebook from his prison cell where he had written, "Let's fill our hearts with terror and London's streets with blood." Commander Richard Smith,
13780-717: The raids were related to an Atomwaffen training camp in an old school building in Victoriaville . Member of the Northern Order Patrick Gordon Macdonald was arrested on July 5, 2023 by the Canadian Police and charged with participating in a terrorist group, facilitating terrorist activity, and commission of an offense for a terrorist group. On December 8, 2023, two Ontario men Kristoffer Nippak and Matthew Althorpe were charged with making propaganda for Atomwaffen and membership in
13910-428: The remains of the split atomic nuclei. Many fission products are either highly radioactive (but short-lived) or moderately radioactive (but long-lived), and as such, they are a serious form of radioactive contamination . Fission products are the principal radioactive component of nuclear fallout . Another source of radioactivity is the burst of free neutrons produced by the weapon. When they collide with other nuclei in
14040-472: The second far-right group to be banned as a terrorist organization after National Action. On September 2, 2020, Harry Vaughan pleaded guilty to 14 terrorism offences and possession of child pornography. Vaughan was connected to both National Action and Sonnenkrieg Division. A police search of his house uncovered child pornography, documents showing how to build bombs and detonators, and "satanic, neo-nazi" ONA books advising rape and murder. In addition to this, he
14170-427: The security services have "already had this group in their sights for some time". German T-Online managed to uncover the identity of one of the members of the group, who is referred to as "A" to comply with German privacy laws. "A" had previously instructed people on a now-defunct website how to handle chemicals and how to make the explosive HMTD . He also has a conviction for illegal possession of armor. According to
14300-500: The site of a nail bomb attack , threatening further similar attacks. An unnamed American activist had emigrated to Germany for safety reasons due to threats from Atomwaffen Division. In November 2018 they received a call from the Federal Criminal Police Office to urgently come to authorities. Atomwaffen members had traveled to Germany and the police believed they were in imminent danger of being murdered by
14430-402: The surrounding material, the neutrons transmute those nuclei into other isotopes, altering their stability and making them radioactive. The most commonly used fissile materials for nuclear weapons applications have been uranium-235 and plutonium-239 . Less commonly used has been uranium-233 . Neptunium-237 and some isotopes of americium may be usable for nuclear explosives as well, but it
14560-498: The survival of the state were at stake. Another deterrence position is that nuclear proliferation can be desirable. In this case, it is argued that, unlike conventional weapons, nuclear weapons deter all-out war between states, and they succeeded in doing this during the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union . In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Gen. Pierre Marie Gallois of France, an adviser to Charles de Gaulle , argued in books like The Balance of Terror: Strategy for
14690-409: The suspicion. The Brandenburg Public Prosecutor's Office initiated proceedings on suspicion of preparing a serious act of violence that is dangerous to the state, violating the explosives law and using signs of unconstitutional organizations. On 4 October 2022, the trial of Maurice P. begun. Maurice was an alleged Atomwaffen Division member and was charged with attempted murder for cutting the throat of
14820-444: The system, was the main advisor to the group. The AWD was one of the most notable groups who belong to the militant far-right accelerationist movement popularized by James Nolan Mason and the now-defunct Iron March forum. In the context of contemporary neo-fascist politics, far-right accelerationism is a radical approach to societal change which maintains the belief that attempting to achieve such through civilized political activities
14950-446: The weapon system and difficult to defend against the delivery of the weapon during a potential conflict. This can mean keeping weapon locations hidden, such as deploying them on submarines or land mobile transporter erector launchers whose locations are difficult to track, or it can mean protecting weapons by burying them in hardened missile silo bunkers. Other components of nuclear strategies included using missile defenses to destroy
15080-518: The white race to survive, you're going to have to do your fucking part." Lemley told that he could not wait and was excited "to claim my first kill", and said they could ambush and kill police officers and steal their equipment. Another Canadian neo-Nazi attempted to cross the US border a few months after Mathews in November 2019, but was detained by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Tactical Terrorism Response Team. It discovered an assault rifle,
15210-631: The world where there exists a single nuclear-weapon state. Aside from the public opinion that opposes proliferation in any form, there are two schools of thought on the matter: those, like Mearsheimer, who favored selective proliferation, and Waltz, who was somewhat more non- interventionist . Interest in proliferation and the stability-instability paradox that it generates continues to this day, with ongoing debate about indigenous Japanese and South Korean nuclear deterrent against North Korea . The threat of potentially suicidal terrorists possessing nuclear weapons (a form of nuclear terrorism ) complicates
15340-624: The yield comes from the final fissioning of depleted uranium. Virtually all thermonuclear weapons deployed today use the "two-stage" design described to the right, but it is possible to add additional fusion stages—each stage igniting a larger amount of fusion fuel in the next stage. This technique can be used to construct thermonuclear weapons of arbitrarily large yield. This is in contrast to fission bombs, which are limited in their explosive power due to criticality danger (premature nuclear chain reaction caused by too-large amounts of pre-assembled fissile fuel). The largest nuclear weapon ever detonated,
15470-510: Was a " race traitor " who should be shot for marrying Meghan Markle , who is of mixed race; that police officers should be raped and killed; and that white women who date non-whites should be hanged. At its formation in 2018, the group was thought to have had 10 to 15 members in the UK and Europe, and some suspected members were thought to have been involved in a previous neo-Nazi group, the System Resistance Network (one of
15600-461: Was a neo-Nazi group that was the United Kingdom -based branch of the Atomwaffen Division, and it maintained its links to the Atomwaffen Division by e-mail and chat room discussion as well as by its use of similar names and its distribution of similar propaganda. It surfaced in December 2018, when it was revealed that members of the group had suggested on the group's Discord server that Prince Harry
15730-809: Was allegedly also a member of Canadian Active Club. Kristoffer Nippak, another founding member of the Northern Order was also a member of the Active Club. According to the director of the University of New Brunswick's Criminology and Criminal Justice Program, David Hoffman, Atomwaffen is using Active Clubs as a cover for organizing where it has been outlawed as a terrorist group. Although Atomwaffen's ideology stressed opposition to democracy and parliamentarism, prominent Atomwaffen members have also risen to power as prominent members of their local far-right parties. Viljam Nyman of AWD Finland had been member of
15860-721: Was also an altar with the symbol of the O9A adorning a monolith. According to Evan Balgord of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, they were aware of more O9A members in Canada and their affiliated organization Northern Order. Canadian Armed Forces launched an internal investigation in October 2020 after a special forces soldier with the CJIRU was identified as a member of the Northern Order and Order of Nine Angles. According to
15990-543: Was arrested and charged with 15 terror offences, including encouraging terrorism and raising funds for a terrorist group. He was first arrested in June 2018 at Gatwick Airport on his way to the United States. Dymock was questioned over alleged sexual offences against a teenage girl, in connection to the earlier assaults on women. He was convicted on all counts on June 12, 2021, and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment on July 21, 2021. In February 2020, Sonnenkrieg Division became
16120-541: Was described at the Old Bailey as a firearms enthusiast living with his two young sisters at the time of the arrest. In June 2023, Vaughan plead guilty to new charges for his production of child pornography. On March 2, 2021, the Australian home affairs minister, Peter Dutton , accepted an Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) recommendation to label Sonnenkrieg Division a "terrorist organisation", citing their reach into Australia. The Sonnenkrieg Division
16250-572: Was disbanded. In its propaganda videos, Atomwaffen burned copies of the United States Constitution and flag and it also advocated attacks against the federal government of the United States , attacks against racial minorities, attacks against gay people, and attacks against Jews . The videos also contained footage of the attacks on said minorities. Atomwaffen Division had engaged in several mass murder plots, plans to cripple public water systems and plans to destroy parts of
16380-698: Was mostly young, and it also recruited new members on university campuses . Its campus recruitment poster campaigns urged students to "Join Your Local Nazis!" and say "The Nazis Are Coming!". It posted recruiting posters at the University of Chicago , the University of Central Florida , the Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia , and Boston University . Atomwaffen Division had recruited several veterans and current members of
16510-600: Was officially proscribed in Australia on March 22, 2021. A Buckinghamshire man planned to attack his Jewish neighbours and broadcast it live in December 2022. High Wycombe Youth Court ordered him to take part in a two-year rehabilitation program in 2023. It was reported by the Economist that British Atomwaffen members took part in the 2024 United Kingdom riots . Telegram channels linked to Atomwaffen also "co-ordinated promotion and planning of riots". On June 1, 2018, in
16640-492: Was sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in jail. In April 2022, hundreds of police officers in eleven federal states took action against suspected members of the "Atomwaffen Division". Among the 50 accused members was a Bundeswehr sergeant. Kalashnikov rifles and gold bars were confiscated in the raids in addition to money and ammunition. After months of observation, the police took action in Potsdam on June 3, 2022 and arrested
16770-744: Was the Special Atomic Demolition Munition , or SADM, sometimes popularly known as a suitcase nuke . This is a nuclear bomb that is man-portable, or at least truck-portable, and though of a relatively small yield (one or two kilotons) is sufficient to destroy important tactical targets such as bridges, dams, tunnels, important military or commercial installations, etc. either behind enemy lines or pre-emptively on friendly territory soon to be overtaken by invading enemy forces. These weapons require plutonium fuel and are particularly "dirty". They also demand especially stringent security precautions in their storage and deployment. Small "tactical" nuclear weapons were deployed for use as antiaircraft weapons. Examples include
16900-461: Was the caretaker of a local mosque who was found dead with his throat cut. The Toronto Police Service said the killing was possibly connected to the stabbing murder of Rampreet Singh a few days prior a short distance from the spot where Zafis' murder took place. Von Neutegem was a member of the O9A and social media accounts established as belonging to him promote the group and included recordings of Von Neutegem performing satanic chants. In his home there
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