A member of the U.S. Coast Guard was arrested after authorities discovered he had planned a mass terror attack.
Court records quote Coast Guard lieutenant Christopher Paul Hasson as saying he is “dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth,” The Washington Post reported.
His motives are believed related to white supremacist leanings. Court records don’t say when he was planning to attack but federal investigators found stockpiled weapons and ammunition that they believe he planned to use for domestic terrorism incidents, according to the Post. Photos released to media show what appear to be various kinds of rifles, shotguns, and handguns.
Hint about the importance of the case was in the opening paragraph. “The defendant is a domestic terrorist bent on committing acts dangerous to human life” pic.twitter.com/QUZk2j92u2
— Seamus Hughes (@SeamusHughes) February 20, 2019
Hasson was also charged with drug possession. During a raid by law enforcement, over thirty vials of what they guess is human growth hormone were discovered. Hasson also ordered over 4,200 pills of the narcotic Tramadol, starting in 2016. He also kept synthetic urine that authorities believe he used to pass random drug screenings at work, according to The Washington Post.
“An active duty Coast Guard member stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., was arrested last week on illegal weapons and drug charges as a result of an ongoing investigation led by Coast Guard Investigation Services, in cooperation with the FBI and the Dept. of Justice,” Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride wrote in a statement obtained by the Post.
Prosecutors says former Coast Guard officer Christopher Paul Hasson planned to kill prominent Democratic targets like Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Beto O’Rourke pic.twitter.com/bqbsacGK5D
— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) February 21, 2019
Hasson was in the Army National Guard for a couple years in the 90s. He also served as a Marine from 1988 to 1993. Hasson had been working as an acquisitions officer at U.S. Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C. since 2016. McBride said Hasson no longer works at headquarters but did not offer any other information, due to the ongoing investigation.
It’s not clear why authorities started to investigate Hasson but they did say he was studying the manifesto of Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. Breivik killed 77 people in two attacks in Norway in 2011, according to the Post. The newspaper says Hasson was using methods he learned from Breivik’s writing. Methods he sought to use for his destructive plans also included using toxins to create outbreaks of botulism or influenza, according to Fox News.
The Post cited court documents saying that Breivik had precisely hoped to offer a map for others to carry out his attacks. Breivik is currently serving a 21 years in prison.
FEDS: Firearms seized from US Coast Guard headquarters lieutenant in DC. Man suspected of being extremist and planning attack in US. Arrested last week. pic.twitter.com/butw2rFtPr
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) February 20, 2019
Federal agents found 15 guns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition at Hasson’s Silver Springs, Maryland, home, which is eight miles from Washington, D.C.
Hasson was arrested on Feb. 15.
According to Fox News, he was arrested in the parking lot of the Coast Guard headquarters.
Investigators found a hit list on Hasson’s computer that consisted of news personalities and politicians prominent in the Democratic Party.
The case first reached the public eye through counterterrorism expert Seamus Hughes and George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, where Hughes serves as deputy director.
Went to the federal courthouse to see some folks after the detention hearing for Hasson. You always pick up something after everyone gathers. Insane amount of media here. Overflow room, etc.*
*(Couldn’t get you all to cover ISIS sending money to a guy in Maryland last year.)
— Seamus Hughes (@SeamusHughes) February 21, 2019
Hughes previously worked for the National Counterterrorism Center and before that, he was Senior Counterterrorism Advisor for the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, according to his profile on the Program on Extremism’s website.
