Justice officials call U.S. army soldier charged with terrorism a ‘traitor’ and ‘the enemy within’ for sending classified info to a neo-Nazi group hoping to get the men in his unit all killed by Al-Qaeda.
An American army soldier is in custody for planning to have the men in his own unit killed in a horrific terror attack involving both white supremacists and Islamic terrorists from Al-Qaeda, who do the the dirty work for the neo-Nazis.
Last week, the Department of Justice indicted 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 uncovered Melzer’s plot last month and Melzer was arrested on June 10.
“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.”
“Ethan Melzer, a private in the U.S. Army, was the enemy within,” Demers said. Melzer’s plan involved an ambush on his own unit with the neo-Nazi, anarchist, white supremacist O9A group passing on the unit’s location to jihadist terrorists.
“Melzer sought to facilitate a deadly mass attack on his fellow service members by disclosing sensitive information to multiple extremists, including al-Qaeda,” 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,” 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.”
O9A: For Admirers of Adolf Hitler and Osama Bin Laden
According to the indictment, Melzer joined the army in 2018 and a year later joined O9A, an organization that espouses violent, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, and Satanic beliefs. The group has expressed admiration for both Nazis, such as Adolf Hitler, and Islamic jihadists, such as Osama Bin Laden, the founder of Al-Qaeda behind the 9/11 attacks that killed 3,000 Americans.
Meltzer was found in possession of Islamic propaganda including an ISIS-issued document with a title that included the phrase “HARVEST OF THE SOLDIERS” and described attacks and murders of U.S. personnel.
Told in April this year his unit would be deployed abroad, Melzer used an encrypted application to send that information to a purported member of al Qaeda for a “jihadi attack” to kill as many U.S. troops as possible. Melzer acknowledged he could be killed during the attack and described his willingness to die.
During a voluntary interview with military investigators and the FBI, Melzer admitted his role in plotting the attack and said the goal was to kill 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 faces life in prison.
