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WIU LEJA Professor Pens Family-Affiliated Extremism and the Siege at the U.S. Capitol

February 25, 2021

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MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – Since the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Western Illinois University Law Enforcement and Justice Administration Professor Dean Alexander, who also leads WIU's Homeland Security Research Program, has been researching this topic, including reviewing every available criminal complaint and affidavits stemming from that day in which insurrectionists breached the nation's symbol of democracy. As a result of this work, his latest article, "Family-Affiliated Extremism and the Siege at the U.S. Capitol," was recently published in Security magazine.

"Some 200 individuals have been charged with federal offenses connected to the siege at the U.S. Capitol January 6, and among them are at least 15 examples of family-affiliated extremism. These instances include: five sets of husbands and wives; two cases of fathers and sons, mothers and sons, brothers and cousins; and an instance of father/daughter and brother/sister participation," Alexander, who is the author of the 2019 book, Family Terror Networks, said, "Although of a different strain and less serious offenses, none specifically terrorism nor involving murder, such kin-connected radicalism is neither a new phenomenon nor one unique to the United States or elsewhere."

In Alexander's 2019 book, he analyzed 118 global cases of family terror networks, including some 50 instances involving U.S.-based jihadists, sovereign citizens, militia and white supremacy followers. Illustrations of such family terror networks encompassed: multiple brothers (e.g., 2013 Boston Marathon bombers), husbands and wives (e.g., 2015 San Bernardino attack), fathers and sons (e.g., 2010 murders of two police officers in Arkansas), cousins (e.g., subverted attack at an armory in Illinois in 2015) and many more.

"The family-linked U.S. Capitol defendants reside in 18 different states (as some do not live together), comprise a breadth of ages ranging from a 20-year-old daughter to a 70-year-old husband, and from a range of occupations/stages in life (e.g., real estate broker, doctoral student and retired, to name a few). Likewise, the appending offenses per family members comprise a few, relatively minor charges, such as entering or remaining in restricted building, as well as disorderly conduct therein," he pointed out. "In contrast, others were charged with up to nine counts individually, and, for some, fairly serious offenses, such as conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, and assaulting a federal officer."

According to Alexander, while more than 200 people have been charged, as of yet, neither terrorism offenses, such as providing material support to terrorists, nor other crimes against government authority, such as treason, insurrection or seditious conspiracy, have been filed.

"Two Montana brothers are accused to have been among the first 10 rioters to climb through a window into the Capitol. The pair, and others, then pursued U.S. Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, before ultimately entering the Senate floor, sitting in senators' chairs, opening senators' desks and reviewing sensitive materials," Alexander explained, as found through his research.

Other family members taking part in the Jan. 6 riot include a man from Tennessee and his mother from Georgia, who are both seen on video surveillance on U.S. Capitol grounds and walking in the U.S. Capitol with other rioters, with flex cuffs in their possession. An Illinois couple had their photograph taken at the Capitol Rotunda in front of a painting entitled, "Declaration of Independence," and a father and daughter, both from Missouri, face multiple charges, including two connected to the theft of an engraved wooden nameplate of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

In other social media posts, a Texan, who took part in the insurgency, with his cousins stated "4 of us breached the cops blockade and us same 4 breached the Capitol." Days after the event, some family members charged with U.S. Capitol-connected crimes asserted they were merely exercising their free speech.

"The suspected criminals appear to mostly embrace varied perspectives, such as Q'Anon precepts, support for Stop the Steal movement and militia ideologies, tied to an apparent unifying practical objective that day: interfering with the Congressional certification of the Electoral College process," Alexander explained. "The husband of an Illinois-based couple who were arrested had Q'Anon references on his Twitter account, including his involvement in the Jan. 6 event Washington, D.C. as a 'trust[s] the [Q] plan.'"

Several of the family members who breached the Capitol stated they did so 'because President Trump said to do so.' A North Carolina husband, with his wife nearby, remarked in a video, at Statuary Hall, 'Who would've knew the first time I ever come would be to storm,'" Alexander shared in the Security magazine article. "Some family members approached the U.S. Capitol as part of a larger block of group-linked rioters. Communications within distinctive cabals included text messages, phone calls, leveraging social media, and through a Zello channel 'called ‘Stop the Steal J6.' Other coordination between kin and individuals supposedly tied to formal groups has been proffered by accounts alleging they communicated together beforehand, stayed at the same hotels, and met there early on the morning of January 6."

According to Alexander, while mostly unaffiliated with a particular group, some claimed connections to such entities as Proud Boys or Oath Keepers. A Florida couple, and another from Ohio, were charged in unison with several suspected Oath Keepers members. Also, one such family member was listed by a purported co-conspirator as an Ohio State Regular Militia recruit, and an Arizona brother-and-sister team was charged with conspiracy with three supposed Kansas City Proud Boy members.

"In the unfolding weeks, further insights about these alleged extremists will become available. Such revelations will be instructive as to the full scope of family-affiliated radicalism affecting our nation," he concluded. "It is probable that additional instances of kin-related radicalism emerges among future suspects, underscoring that this lesser version of family terror networks exists in the United States in 2021 and, likely, well beyond."

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Alexander has been a member of the WIU School of LEJA since 2005. His former students work at police departments, government agencies (FBI, Department of Homeland Security and State Department) and risk management firms across the United States. His teaching, research and speaking activities encompass terrorism, security and legal issues, and he has lectured in 10 countries, including to law enforcement and military officials at North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), U.S. State Department and National Intelligence University events. Since publishing on terrorism in 1991, Alexander has written several books on the subject, including: Family Terror Networks (2019), The Islamic State: Combating the Caliphate Without Borders (Lexington, 2015), Business Confronts Terrorism: Risks and Responses (University of Wisconsin Press, 2004), and Terrorism and Business: The Impact of September 11, 2001 (Transnational, 2002).

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