Local Officials Seek FBI's Help With Extremists

Feb. 7, 2012

The FBI said Monday that it is being inundated with calls from local government officials asking for assistance in dealing with anti-government extremists.

The FBI said Monday that it is being inundated with calls from local government officials asking for assistance in dealing with anti-government extremists, officials said.

Stuart McArthur, deputy assistant director of the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, said the extremists -- part of the "sovereign citizen" movement that advocates a rejection of government authority, taxes and laws -- have the potential to prompt violence in their day-to-day encounters with police, judges, inspectors and other local government officials.

McArthur said the movement, which first rose to prominence in the 1990s when anti-government fervor produced Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, has shown signs of escalating criminal activity. "Our focus has been increasing," McArthur said.