A Cornucopia of Crazy: The Westboro Baptist Church's FBI File

Recently, in response to a FOIA request submitted on my behalf, the FBI released to me its 191 page dossier on the Westboro Baptist Church, a rather vile organization known for its staunch anti- LGBT stance. As a survey of the file conducted by me reveals, the Westboro Baptist Church has experienced some degree of blowback due to their “God Hates Fags,” crusades. The file also reveals past incidents of anti-Semitic belief that drove the WBC to support a Nazi war criminal.

In response to the possibility of harm against Phelps and his clan, the FBI conducted investigations into threats against the organization. In 1996, the FBI intervened redacted after she sent threats to the Westboro Baptist Church after becoming enraged over his attitudes towards the LGBT community. They intervened the self-confessed guilty party, the served at least one subpoena (to her ISP), and fully documented the threat. Even after deciding the case was not worth federal investigative resources, the AUSA, in light of [redacted]'s possession of firearms, even tried to keep the case open in the event that Phelps traveled to the West Coast again. In 1998, the FBI investigated bomb threats against the Westboro Baptist Church. Twice in January 1999 and thrice in March 1999, bomb threats were received by the Westboro Baptist Church and each time the FBI looked into it.

Other interesting factoids gleaned from the FBI dossier on the Westboro Baptist Church:

The militia network (1) types believed that Phelps was an ally due to his and his church's anti- LGBT biogtry,and its membership occasionally became agitated to the point of threatening violence when this was discovered not to be the case.

The FBI provided information on the group to the Canadian (and possibly the Finnish) government(s). 

Westboro Baptist Church is staunchly anti-Semitic.

In one press release they described Harriet Lerner as “THE JOLLY ANTICHRIST JEW” In another press release, the Westboro Baptist Church calls Ruth Bader Ginsburg a “Jewish Dwarf,” and asks in a photo caption: Why was she chosen over 3 gentile women?” A January 1997, press release described the Office of Special Investigations' attempt to deport to Kolnhofer as “Jew vengeance” and claimed that these efforts amounted to “SHYLOCK JEWS WANT ANOTHER POUND OF FLESH. POOR OLD MAN, 79, ON LIFE SUPPORT.” It also railed against “tyrant Jew Judges” and :Bloody Nazi Jews” in Kansas who supposedly attacked members of the church and suppressed their free speech and freedom of religion rights. The press release concluded with a announcement that the WBC would be protesting the Holocaust Museum (alternatively described as the “Holocaust Memorial Sodomite Museum and the Holocaust Fag Museum,” in Washington DC in January 1998.

The reason for the Westboro Baptist Church's litigious nature is their refusal “to solicit or accept financial contributions, being of the Old School Baptist persuasion, whose churches never pass the plate, lest the Gospel be deemed for sale.”

His family has criminal behavior and the FBI recommended that “caution should be used when addressing [redacted] and his followers. Some of the family members, including [redacted] have criminal records to include battery, extortion, witness intimidation, harassment, and other miscellaneous charges.

They view their signs as “huge, colorful, state of the art productions”. In a Twitter message, Zacharias Phelps Roper confirmed that this still their view, stating: "Absolutely! (＾ｰ^)ノ".

The FBI informed on WBC to [redacted] of [redacted Canadian law enforcement or intelligence agency]. It also appears that the FBI did a “threat assessment” regarding the Westboro Baptist Church and the risk they they posed to then-Finnish President Tarja Halonen.

When contacted by the author for comment and follow up questions, Timothy Phelps replied:

That's great news!  If there's anything in there that might remind you of your duty to serve your Creator, focus on that part. The rest can be used as you see fit (toilet paper, bird cages, kindling, or what not) 

 The Westboro Baptist Church's FBI File


(1) That was a poor choice of words. Thanks to Jesse Walker for pointing out my error.

Even More Missives From the Opaque Boss

Curious as to the NSA's role in the death of Bin Laden? Submit a FOIA request for the Director's Message on "NSA's Role in the Death of Osama Bin Laden." It is one of dozens of messages from Director of the NSA to his staff officially acknowledged by the NSA.

In response to a recent FOIA request submitted on behalf of the author, the National Security Agency has declassified a list of "Director's Messages," missives from Keith Alexander to his underlings and minions at NSA. This newly declassified and decontrolled list features messages dating from the last list which this author was able to procure (available here) . It should be noted that the Director's Messages replaced the "DIRgrams" sent out by General Michael Hayden during his reign as DIRNSA. The two lists of Hayden's DIRgrams can be found here and here

While all of the messages on this seven- page list appearing to be interesting, among the more notable are:

"NSA's Role in the Death of Osama Bin Laden"
"New NSA/CSS Strategy"
"Violence in the Workplace"
"NSA and the New Administration"
"Support to the President-elect's transition Team"
and many, many more.

Copies of these messages can be obtained through FOIA. Electronic FOIA requests can be submitted to the NSA through their website.

A 3rd Round of DIRNSA Messages

A Croatian, Culinary Clash

During the opening week of 1980, Chicago was the scene of an aborted terrorist campaign directed against Croatian emigres supportive of Yugoslavia. On January 4^th 1980, a bomb was discovered in the parking lot used by customers of the Golden Shell restaurant, which was patronized by Yugoslavs and located within an ethnic Croatian neighborhood. Around noon, January 5^th 1980, a Chicago employee sanitation was killed when an improvised explosive device placed in the alley behind the Continental Club detonated. Like the Golden Shell, the Continental Club was patronized largely by Yugoslavs.¹

The investigation made little progress. One of the biggest impediments appears to the fact that no claims of credit were received for the bombings and no communiques were issued. Upon, however, consultation with other FBI field offices and the initial examination of the crime scenes, Croatian National Resistance members were immediately suspected.² This initial impression was bolstered by a source who had “furnished reliable information,” the owner of the Golden Shell was disliked by Otpor members who disapproved of her decision to advertise on pro-Yugoslav radio shows. The source also informed the FBI that the Continental Club had occurred Otpor's disfavor because its ownership was pro-Yugoslav and Yugoslav diplomatic personnel were a common presence in the restaurant.³ Another “confidential source who has furnished reliable information in the past” alerted the FBI that spoke with a [redacted] individual who told the Otpor member that the FBI had questioned her about Otpor and the [redacted] individual's relationship with it.

While the [redacted] (probably the owner or the manager of the Golden Shell) stated she had no problems with any Yugoslav groups prior to the bombing attempt⁴  [Redacted] reported that the [redacted] of the Golden Shell had been previously condemned over her decision to advertise the restaurant as “Yugoslav” as opposed to “Croatian” and she had been approached with demands to display pro-Croatian posters in the windows.⁵ 

The Continental Club had recently had a Yugoslav entertainer at the club, something that angered members of the Serbian and Croatian communities.⁶  On January 6^th, the Kragujevic Lounge received a threatening phone call from a male “Serbian” voice who shouted profanity over the loyalty to Tito at the [redacted] recipient of the phone call.⁷  Based on the prior two attacks, it appears an accurate, but not totally safe to bet this was a follow-up to the prior two attacks.

Ultimately, even a plan to employ hypnotism failed to produce any results in this investigation and judging from the file the investigation ended in 1981.  Below is almost all of the FBI file on the matter. Feel free to explore and possibly solve this mystery yourself.

NEWBOMB FBI File

11/6/1980 Memorandum from Chicago (field office) to Director Subject: ATTEMPTED BOMBING AT THE PARKING LOT OF THE GOLDEN SHELL RESTAURANT 1-3

2Chicago Field Office FD-263 for the period between 1/5-2/5/1980 Case” NEWBOM cover page B.

31/9/1980 FBI transcription of notes on witness interview

41/14/1980 transcript of witness interview notes Description of witness based on description of establishment as [hers]

5Transcribed notes from 1/14/1980 investigation by [redacted] SA

6Transcribed notes from 1/8/1980 investigation by [redacted] SA

71/8/1980 transcribed notes from interview with [redacted]

The NSA Public History Reader

Its initials mocked as standing for No Such Agency” and “Never Say Anything” and an established history of employing almost any means - technological, legal, and monetary- necessary to secure its anonymity and mission from hostile scrutiny,  it seems both ironic and laughable that one of the United States government’s most robust and publicly assessable public history programs is operated by the National Security Agency. Staffed at the time of this writing with , the National Security Agency’s public history program, operated under the auspices of the Center for Cryptologic History and the NSA’s Public Affairs Office has produced over a thousand oral histories, dozens of classified and unclassified monographs, and operates the only museum maintained by a member of the American Intelligence Community opened to the public. It has even produced a three part history of history at the National Security Agency, essentially an autobiography of the history program at the  Internally, the Center for Cryptologic History is tasked with providing support for and does so by providing history classes for the National Cryptologic School, educating “new hires” at NSA, and to create camaraderie within NSA ranks through the use of history. 

Below are seven documents relating to the public history programs with some links to follow-up resources.

National Security Agency/ Central Security Service- NSA/CSS POLICY I-55 was issued on 9/I9/ 2007 and the last revised on 6/10/201. This fifteen page document governs all aspects of the Center for Cryptologic History's activities including its oral history program, its publication of books and the Cryptologic Quarterly, and its the NSA's Memoralization programs.

National Security Agency/ Central Security Service- NSA/CSS POLICY I-55

Founded at the command of the first director of the National Security Agency Ralph Canine, the Technical Journal was a print publication designed to allow NSA staff to discuss technical problems, issues, and solutions amongst themselves. The Technical Journal was supplemented in 1968 with the creation of the Cryptologic Spectrum, a publication whose focus was to be less on technical issues and more the history and social science aspects of cryptography. As shown by articles posted by the National Security on its website, this separation of technical and social was more a fuzzy guideline and then a firm, enforced policy.

To the left, is the last publication guideline for the Technical Journal. According to the final response letter, they could not locate the publication guidelines for the Cryptologic Spectrum.

In 1981, the Cryptologic Quarterly was created and both the Technical Journal and the Cryptologic Spectrum were subsumed into this publication which is still produced by the NSA. It is occasionally supplemented by the Cryptologic Almanac, which is a specially produced publication that focuses on a specific topic. 

      Contributor Guidelines for the NSA's Crypytologic Quarterly

Currently, (according to their organizational chart) the Center for Cryptologic History produces all of this with a staff of just five people. Heading the effort is Dr. William Williams who heads the Center for Cryptologic History and is described by Matthew Aid as, "

The first page is a copy of the most recent (at the time of post) customer satisfaction survey. The next four are a compilation of statistics from the last review of complete customer surveys. From the available date, it seems that the visitors who completed the survey were generally civilian or prior-service and enjoyed their visit to the NCM. 

NSA Museum Survey Results

The first two pages of the next document are a memo on the presentation of a proposal for a National Security Agency museum. The current museum has its origins in this proposal despite the significant differences between it and the National Cryptologic Museum as it now exists.

The Initial NSA Museum Proposal

This five page document is NSA/CSS Regulation No. 10-63 NSA/CSS Prepublication Review Procedure. Dated 12/15/1992, this is the regulation that governs the procedures and policies that allow NSA employees to publish while protecting American national security.

NSA Prepublication Review Regulation

Further Reading- The Center for Cryptologic History has produced a wonderful three part series on the History of History at the NSA

A Peek Behind the Scenes: The History of History at NSA (Part 1 of 3)

A Peek Behind the Scenes: Special Functions In the CCH (Part 2 of 3)

A Peek Behind the Scenes: Founding of the National Cryptologic Museum (Part 3 of 3)

The Central Intelligence Agency's Center for the Study of Intelligence has produced two articles on the National Cryptologic Museum:

Jack E. Ingram's The Story of the National Cryptologic Museum: Ensuring the Legacy

Eugene Becker's The National Cryptologic Museum Library

Intelligence Reports on the Croatian Fraternal Union

A few days ago, I posted a recently declassified and released document detailing how the United States State Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the Croatian Fraternal Union, a Croatian-American mutual-benefit society, for over three decades.

Working my way through my thesis material collection, I happened upon this Office of Strategic Services (OSS) report on the Croatian Fraternal Union. Officially undated, textual clues hint that it was created some time after March 1942. The report is on an internal power struggle between factions of the CFU over issues of leadership.

This surveillance of the Croatian Fraternal Union is less surprising given the alliance between the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and Nazi Germany.

NSA Article on the Tito-Stalin Split

Recently declassified NSA Cryptologic Quarterly article on the 1948 Tito- Stalin Split reveals that American signals intelligence was largely flying blind during the event due to the treachery of William Weisband who had revealed American successes against the Soviet Union to the USSR. Also revealed that still-classified SIGINT hints at new revelations regarding the decades old, Tito-Stalin Split to come.

NSA Article on TIto-Stalin Split

Document of the Week #19 FBI, State Department Tracked the Croatian Fraternal Union for Decades

When the first lodge of what would become the Croatian Fraternal Union of America was founded on January 14, 1894, it marked the beginning of a mutual support group and cultural association that would last well into the 21^st century.

It would also mark the creation of an organization that would spend much of the 20^th century under the gaze of American law enforcement. As the 8/30/1976 FBI telex to the State Department reveals, the FBI and the State Department were monitoring the Croatian Fraternal Union of America for decades, starting according to this record, in 1942. According to other records I saw in the FBI’s IWG files on the Ustashi, the Croatian Fraternal Union of America was investigated as early as 1940. Why would the Croatian Fraternal Union warrant decades of apparently intense FBI and State Department scrutiny?

The answer, which is based off of documents that I have seen but did not copy, is that the Croatian Fraternal Union of America was investigated as part of a broader investigation into organization that had ethnic, religious, cultural, or political ties to the Tripartite Pact powers. After the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia, this meant that Croatians were a suspect group in the United States. From surviving records, it appears that the Ustasha movement was the most intently investigated, but many Croatian groups were examined including the Croatian Peasant Party, the Croatian Catholic Union, and the Croatian Fraternal Union.

Once the war ended, much of this surveillance was stopped. For example, the FBI files on the Croatian Peasant Party and Croatian Catholic Church largely stop in 1945. I suspect, but cannot prove until I receive the documentation, is that the FBI continued monitoring the Croatian Fraternal Union due to allegations that the organization was “Communist” and had ties to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. After the easing of the Red Scare, I suspect that the Croatian Fraternal Union was subjected to continued investigation for three reasons. During the late 1960s, Croatian militants became more strident in their calls for Croatian independence, even taking actions here in the United States. Judging from the FBI files of Croatian organizations that I have received via FOIA submitted on my behalf, the Croatian agitation reach a point that the FBI could no longer ignore in the 1967-1968 time frame and many of the large Croatian oriented groups were investigated. I suspect it then-ongoing relationship with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia led to a continued FBI interest in the Croatian Fraternal Union of America. Finally, the Croatian Fraternal Union would come under attack from some of the Croatian organizations actively seeking Yugoslavia’s destruction. Bernard Luketich received death threats that provided to be anything less than idle in the summer of 1977 when he was attacked by men with lead pipes. (2)

However, this is just semi-informed speculation until I receive the documentation

(1) An example of this is Dinko Šuljak's The Communist conspiracy in the Croatian Fraternal Union

(2) http://www.jasenovac-info.com/cd/biblioteka/pavelicpapers/ljubas/al0004.html