Michigan Citizens' Militia Has Faced Controversy, Criticism in 16 Year History
Published: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Updated: Monday, March 22, 2010
Camouflage and sunglasses peppered the landscape as a small crowd gathered around a campsite in a secluded forest. A “Don’t Tread on Me” flag marked the outpost’s entrance, where the outside world is temporarily abandoned for an oasis celebrating individual liberty, gun rights, and the Constitution. Underneath it all, however, exists preparation for some deep, dark, foreboding event that could open a new chapter in American history.
The mission on March 6 was simple: learning how to construct crude bows and arrows. 30 individuals, the majority of them middle-aged men, listened to Jaime Burleigh, an outdoors enthusiast who gave instructions on how to find the most effective materials in the forest. As the group ventured to collect branches for their project, a uniformed man codenamed “Solo” expressed his feelings about the demonstration.
“The strengths [of the group] are the skills here that we’re sharing with people. There’s a sense of responsibility that we have to our neighborhoods, to our state, and to our country. That sense of responsibility is a strength for everyone.”
These members of the Southeast Michigan Volunteer Militia (SMVM) meet monthly at the Island Lake Recreation Area in Brighton, Michigan to participate in survival and marksmanship training. With Tea Party activists currently protesting against government spending and expansion, some members of the SMVM, which is one of the largest branches within the “Michigan Militia” movement, have acted since the mid-1990s. Anticipating the need to be prepared, against an unknown force at an unknown time, is characteristic of the militia movement.
“I think the American public is unconsciously trying to put current events behind them and not worry about it. They try to let things be, just ignore it and it’ll go away. I’m not that type of person,” said Dan Guloiksen, a four-year SMVM member.
Understanding the SMVM’s motivations today requires an understanding of its roots within the larger Michigan Militia. And central to the narrative is the story of one man’s vision which inspired a widespread, yet contentious movement at the end of the Cold War.
The 20th Century Founding Father
Infamous for his theories about clandestine governmental activity, Norman Olson is seen as a patriot or fear-mongerer, depending on who is asked. A native of Royal Oak, Michigan, Olson joined the United States Air Force after he graduated high school in 1964. He exited the military 20 years later, becoming a high school teacher, superintendent, and later preacher at the CalvaryBaptistChurch in Brutus, Michigan.
Olson’s life as a militia leader began in 1993 during the Clinton administration. Seeing violent confrontations at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and at the home of Randy Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, he felt that his safety and civil liberties were being compromised.
“The government grew more tyrannical over a period of time, with people strapped with taxation and limits on their liberties. And the only way to break the bonds of tyranny is for the people to rise up. That seems to be the whole message of the Declaration of Independence,” said Olson, who is now building a citizens’ militia in Alaska.
As a minister, the self-described “Constitutionalist” said he needed to lead during uncertain times. Olson opened his church to community meetings, where about 40 people would discuss their latest concerns coming from Washington. Eventually, frustration led to decisive action. With his friend Ray Southwell, Olson founded the Northern Michigan Regional Militia on April 28, 1994, committing the group to resisting “corrupt politicians” like then-Attorney General Janet Reno. He became militia force commander, and within months, the Michigan Militia Corps emerged, incorporating smaller county militias within the state. Campaigns like “Operation Visibility” and “Operation Legitimacy” were designed to attract attention and recruits. At his 120 acre compound in northern Michigan, training was open to interested Americans. Ultimately, at its peak, Olson claimed that the Michigan Militia attracted 20,000 members.
Olson’s leadership cannot be underestimated, said Mark Pitcavage, Director of Investigative Research at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
“The main thing he contributed was a tremendous amount of energy in 1994 that ensured that the militia movement was present in Michigan at all. But he certainly promoted a number of conspiracy theories. The entire militia movement, including the Michigan Militia, fundamentally comes out of conspiracy theories.”
Conspiracy theories or not, Olson held strong beliefs that attracted militia recruits. He would meet with Southwell, militia information officer Ken Adams, and militia training and operations officer Mark Price to discuss threats, some of them from abroad. The enemy appeared dangerously close.
“We heard buzzes that there was foreign military equipment in America being staged. Russian tanks were photographed on top of railroad flat-cars, and we heard rumors about black helicopters.”
That assault on the militia came earlier than expected. Ultimately, Olson’s movement would be attacked not by tanks, but by criticism surrounding one of America’s worst attacks before 9/11.
Unexpected Casualties
On April 19, 1995, smoke engulfed the American heartland as the AlfredP.MurrahFederalBuilding exploded in Oklahoma City. Shocked Americans discovered that 168 individuals perished at the hands of Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, and Michael Fortier. After the attack, rumors circulated that McVeigh was connected to the Michigan Militia. Authorities initially linked McVeigh to the group because he had a prior relationship with Mark Koernke, a U-M custodian and militia member who supposedly ran trainings on how to bomb buildings.
“My jaw dropped,” said Olson. “But I could have predicted they were going to make some type of connection. I believe the media’s ultimate goal was to destroy the militia because the militia was growing too strong.”
Although the McVeigh connection was untrue, the militia became inundated with press requests. Olson almost suffered a nervous breakdown from the attention. He denied the allegations, and to this day, he argues that the militia works to prevent “wing-nuts” from joining its ranks. However, he also saw himself as a rehabilitator if “wing-nuts” joined the militia.
“These wing-nuts were provocateurs that would come in and talk to people about handing out their literature for anti-Semitic, Neo-Nazi supremacist stuff. We would have nothing to do with it. But we would also have people that were being destroyed with their properties taken, and they would have nowhere else to go. So we spent a lot of time in what may be called encounter groups, psychological counseling, trying to bring these people out of the trees so that they don’t go firebomb an IRS building or something.”
The militia vehemently tried to distance itself from the Oklahoma City bombing. In June 1995, Olson testified about the militia movement’s intentions at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Anti-Terrorism. And while still under media scrutiny, militia officers discovered intelligence suggesting that Japan orchestrated the Oklahoma City bombing. Speculating that the Japanese thought the American government was behind the sarin gas attack on Tokyo’s subway in March 1995, Olson “connected the dots” in an attempt to deflect attention away from the militia.
“We fell into a common trap of not verifying or corroborating and substantiating information that we were getting. For the Oklahoma City bombing, we put all of this stuff together and it was a reach, I’ll tell you it was a reach.”
Olson was the highest profile militia member publicly making this claim. Through a militia court martial, he was removed as militia commander because he published information that had not been fully corroborated (which violated a rule he enacted years earlier). Along with leadership changes, militia membership was crumbling; one-third of the members quit, as estimated by Olson and Amy Cooter, a U-M Ph.D. student in sociology who has studied the militia for four years. The Michigan Militia, according to ADL’s Pitcavage, was in danger of surviving Norm Olson.
A Declining Movement?
With Olson then creating a new, separate group called the Northern Michigan Regional Militia, two factions of the Michigan Militia emerged. Pitcavage claims that one group, led by militia member Lynn Van Huizen, attempted to purge the militia of connections to white supremacist groups (particularly a white-supremacist sect called Christian Identity). The other group, which led to the SMVM, was led by Michigan resident Joe Pilchak.
“What was important about this faction was their views about the government conspiracy and standing up against it,” Pitcavage said. “Their ‘religious’ beliefs didn’t matter.”
Fragmentation within the militia led to arrests and further declines in membership. In August 1997, Brendon Blasz, a former member of Van Huizen’s faction, was detained for making pipe bombs. One year later, three men from the North American Militia of Southwest Michigan, a subsidiary group within the Michigan Militia, were charged with planning to conduct domestic terrorist attacks. Senior militia leadership argued that the detained individuals were exiled militia members before they were apprehended. However, in response to these arrests, criticism of governmental action continued. For example, Michigan Militia members felt that the Y2K bug would be used by the government to declare martial law.
That theory was false, however, causing increased scrutiny towards the movement. Militia activity subsequently waned as George W. Bush acquired the White House in 2000, according to Cooter.
“The militia’s general interest in right-wing groups, the NRA and everything else declined because Bush was elected. But after the attacks on 9/11, we had this kind of really strong emphasis on domestic protection and increasing our national security. And I think that led to a lot of future involvement,” she said.
Members of the Michigan Militia movement, including those in the SMVM, claim that they are not inherently political; as evidence, they cite their disagreements with policies enacted during the Bush administration. They specifically cite the Patriot Act as an example of governmental overreach.
Lee Miracle, a 15-year militia veteran and current coordinator of the SMVM, claims he has been equally critical towards Republican and Democratic governments.
“We raised as loud of a stink as we could raise. No one listened to us at the time. We even had the ACLU links against the Patriot Act on our website. So when I get the question, ‘Where were you under Bush?’ I say I’ve been here since 1994. That’s a bunch of administrations.”
Today’s SMVM
The Patriot Act provided a spark in militia recruitment, but some argue that the nationwide militia movement was still in decline. ADL’s Mark Pitcavage cites continued arrests of former militia members as stifling recruitment. In 2003, former Michigan Militia member Scott Woodring was killed by police one week after he had killed a police officer in a shootout. In retaliation, Norman Somerville, accused by federal officials of being involved with the militia movement, was arrested for planning to kill even more police officers.
The year 2004, however, saw a drop in violence from former militia members. Pitcavage posits that the expiration of the 1994 national assault weapons ban may have caused the decrease. One could speculate that this development caused militias to gain at least some trust that the government was protecting individual liberties; in effect, the opposite occurred.
“What started to happen around 2004 was that the groups started picking up again. Some new people started getting into it, and time had begun to pass. It proceeded for several years, and then what happened, starting in 2008 and accelerating in 2009 in the wake of the election of Barack Obama, was a true resurgence of the militia movement. The number of American militia groups that existed in 2007 was probably around 50. Today, we count almost 200,” Pitcavage said.
Close to Ann Arbor, the SMVM was originally named the Wayne County Brigade of Wolverines, but was renamed the SMVM in 2004. In the militia hierarchy, the SMVM now comprises local militias in Wayne, Washtenaw, Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, and Monroe counties. The militia denies that increasing membership is due to the 2008 election.
“Any simpleton can claim that this group or that group has grown in response to the election of America’s first African-American President. The fact is, militia groups that we know of care little for whatever color the president’s skin is,” said Miracle in a 2009 press release.
Membership rates at the SMVM’s meetings and trainings remain stable. On average, about 25 people attend meetings at Mayberry’s Restaurant in Farmington Hills and about 20 attend winter trainings at the Island Lake Recreation Area, said Amy Cooter. Building upon Norman Olson’s vision, the SMVM shares similarities with other Michigan Militia sects. The SMVM coordinates training days for interested recruits (and other militias). The group is also mainly comprised of middle-aged white men that are concerned about governmental expansion.
Nevertheless, there are differences that distinguish the SMVM from other American militias. Cooter claims that the SMVM is more educated than other militia groups across the country. They are also unique not only for actively expressing their concerns to political leaders and the general public, but for being open to media requests for interviews.
“These are people who write their Congressmen and encourage people to vote, and I don’t think that’s what we necessarily expect from the militia. And I think that because of that ultimately false Timothy McVeigh connection, they still kind of have incentives to want to distance themselves from that past. So they’re more willing to let media representatives come out,” she said.
The Rhetorical Battlefield
It is perhaps ironic that while the SMVM prepares to respond to an unknown threat, it is already engaged on another front where words replace rifles. Along with the ADL, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights organization that tracks American extremist groups, has been critical of militias including the SMVM. Mark Potok, Director of the Intelligence Project at the SPLC, claimed in 2009 that militias now represent the new “rage on the right.”
While Miracle and other leaders of the SMVM claim that their militia represents political diversity within its ranks, it would be difficult for him to find any varying opinion towards the SPLC and ADL. Militia members like Solo feel that the SMVM’s actions are simply being misinterpreted by watchdog groups.
“I do believe they have an agenda as they make a living making their reports and things,” he said.
Lee Miracle agrees, claiming that the militia is being unfairly attacked by groups with ulterior motives: “Does a guy who has car insurance looking to go out and run into somebody? No, and that’s what we’re doing. This is insurance. When talking about the SPLC, if no one’s alarmed or panicking, they’re not raising any money.”
“If that were the case, why would we ever talk about groups that are declining?” argued Pitcavage. “They’re doing the acts themselves. In 2009, there were 33 extremist-related murders in the United States, with a lot of them coming from the extreme right. We just lay it out there for people, and ask them if they think these things are a problem or not.”
A neutral party in this skirmish is Cooter. Spending two years completing field-work with the SMVM, she argues that the situation is more complicated than labeling all militias as “extreme” or not. She further asserted that the SMVM can be characterized as comprising an exception towards some of the allegations coming from the SPLC and ADL.
“A lot of the literature, both academic and media-wise, tends to overgeneralize militia groups. And I think it’s important that we not group all of them together just because it clouds the picture of what’s really going on,” said Cooter.
The Future Movement
The modern-day Michigan Militia celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2009, and the movement enters the new decade ready to continue training and exalting the values of limited government. But even with the SMVM’s continued enthusiasm, some experts have speculated on the long-term viability of the national militia movement. The SMVM denies this thought, arguing that the militia will never disappear.
“They will always be needed. We just need to start following the Constitution again,” said SMVM member Dan Guloiksen.
Pitcavage, who initially thought the groups would start to dissipate in the 21st century, also sees militias as becoming a mainstay in American society. “Around 2001 and 2002, I thought there was a decent chance that the movement might kind of winkle out. But in fact it didn’t, and it’s been around for 15 years now, and obviously at this point shows no signs of going away. So, I think it’s probably a permanent addition to our pantheon of different extremist movements and groups that we now face.”
A decade and a half after Norman Olson met with concerned citizens in Brutus, Michigan, his goal of creating militias across Michigan appears complete. But he is not completely satisfied, mostly because he still feels frustration towards the way he is seen in America. History, he believes, will be kind to his image and his errors.
“I would like to think that I would be given some sympathy as a man who has his heart in the right place, that tried to do the best he could to reinforce freedom and liberty and to stand as a guard against the government’s centralized power to move against the people,” said Olson.
“Did I make mistakes? Sure I did. But I have found that in every history book, there were great people who achieved great things who made some very serious errors, but that did not detract from their intent.”
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