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Coast Guard Lieutenant Accused of Terrorist Plot 'on a scale rarely seen in this country'

By Muslim New Magazine
Coast Guard lieutenant arrested

LOS ANGELES,CA, ( 02/20/19) — A Coast Guard lieutenant arrested earlier this week on drug and gun charges was planning to commit domestic terrorism, according to a court filing from the U.S. District Court in Maryland.

In a motion filed Tuesday, U.S. attorneys said Christopher Hasson, a lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard who has served at the service’s headquarters in Washington since 2016, had a hit list of targets, a cache of guns and a series of communications with white supremacists. The first sentence in the motion imploring the court to detain Hasson pending trial: “The defendant intends to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.”

Per the motion, he was arrested Feb. 15 on charges of possession of a firearm and ammunition by an unlawful user or addict of controlled substances, as well as “simple possession” of an opioid. But, prosecutors write, these charges “are the proverbial tip of the iceberg.”


“The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect governmental conduct.”


Per the court document, Hasson has been serving as an acquisitions officer at the Coast Guard’s D.C. headquarters since June of 2016. When authorities raided his residence earlier this month, they found 15 firearms and over 1,000 rounds of mixed ammunition, the document says. 


"The worst among us," stated Muslim Journal Editor Ayesha Mustafaa. "Donald Trump's wall would not have stopped—did not stop this desire for human carnage."


On Jan. 17, Hasson allegedly compiled a list of targets including a number of Democratic politicians and left-leaning political commentators. The names on the list include “Sen blumen jew” (presumably Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.,) and “poca warren” (presumably Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.).


There are also references to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a long list of additional Democratic senators, including Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Cory Booker, D-N.J., Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Tim Kaine, D-Va. 


On the same day he finished the list, the court filing says, Hasson completed Google searches over the course of three hours that included, “what if trump illegally impeached,” “best place in dc to see congress people,” and “civil war if trump impeached.” 


Hasson’s alleged online searches for pro-Russian, neo-fascist and neo-Nazi literature, along with draft emails recovered from his email offer insight into what prosecutors describe as extremist views.


“I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth,” Hasson allegedly wrote in a draft email to “acquaintances” last June; in the email, he appears to outline a stream of possible ways — ranging from biological attacks to bombing/sniper campaign” — to violently fight back against “Liberalist/Globalist ideology is destroying traditional peoples esp white.”


“It seems inevitable that we are doomed,” the email continues, with Hasson soliciting ideas for how he might “enlist the help of another power/country,” such as Russia “or any land that despises the west’s liberalism. Excluding of course the muslim scum,” conceding, “I don’t think I can cause complete destruction on my own.”


"Interesting the minimal show of this guy's photo who wanted to kill everybody," noted Mustafaa.  "He made a list of Democrats and news journalists."


Charges related to domestic terrorism in the United States have risen in recent years and, according to a report from the Southern Poverty Law Center released earlier Wednesday, the number of hate groups operating in the country has reached an all-time high. Last fall, a Florida man was arrested for mailing 16 pipe bombs to critics of President Trump and prominent Democratic figures, and a gunman killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue that had supported refugees.