Leaderless resistance (or phantom cell structure) is a political resistance strategy in which small, independent groups (covert cells) challenge an established adversary such as a government. Leaderless resistance can encompass anything from non-violent disruption and disobedience to bombings, assassinations and other violent agitation. Leaderless cells lack bidirectional, vertical command links operating without a hierarchal command. ^[1] Look up rebellion in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often winning. Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand. ... A covert cell structure is a method for organizing undercover or unconventional fighters against a large and well-established organization. ... The Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb produced in the United States. ... It has been suggested that Selective assassination be merged into this article or section. ... Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ...

Given the simplicity of the strategy, leaderless resistance has been employed by a wide-range of movements, from terrorist and supremacism groups through animal rights, anti-corporate, anti-abortion, and environmentalist activists. Terrorist redirects here. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with chauvinism. ... A civet, or sea fox, photographed in the Zigong Peoples Zoo, Sichuan, 2001. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... ... For the psychology topic, see Environmental psychology. ...

General characteristics

A typical covert cell operates as anything from a lone individual to a small group of members. The basic characteristic of the structure is that there is no explicit communication between cells which are otherwise acting toward the same goals. Members of one cell usually have little or no specific information on who else is agitating on behalf of their cause.

Leaderless movements may have symbolic figureheads. It can be a public figure or an inspirational author, who picks generic targets and objectives, but does not actually manage or execute plans. Media, in this case, often create a positive feedback loop: the publishing of declarations of a movement’s role model instills motivation, ideas and assumed sympathy in the minds of potential agitators who lend further authority to the figurehead.^{[citation needed]} While this may be loosely viewed as a vertical command structure, it is notably unidirectional: a titular leader makes pronouncements and activists may respond but there is no established contact between the two levels of organization. Positive feedback is a type of feedback. ...

As a result, leaderless resistance cells are largely insusceptible to informants and traitors.^{[citation needed]} As there is neither a center that may be destroyed, nor links between the cells that may be infiltrated, it is more difficult for established authorities to arrest the development of a leaderless resistance movement than more conventional hierarchies. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... In law, treason is the crime of disloyalty to ones nation. ...

Given its asymmetrical character and the fact that it is often strategically adopted in the face of an obvious institutional power imbalance, leaderless resistance has much in common with guerrilla warfare. The latter strategy, however, usually retains some form of organized, bidirectional leadership and is often more broad-based than the individualized actions of leaderless cells. In some cases, a largely leaderless movement may evolve into a coherent insurgency or guerrilla movement, as successfully occurred with the Yugoslav partisans of World War II. In the same conflict, the British leadership had extensive plans for the use of such resistance in the event of a German invasion. ^[2] Guerrilla warfare (also guerilla) is the unconventional warfare and combat with which small group combatants (usually civilians) use mobile tactics (ambushes, raids, etc) to combat a larger, less mobile formal army. ... The US government and media was using the term insurgent as early as 1899 to describe rebels during the Philippine-American War, here Filipinos described as insurgents at the time lie in a trench after being executed by US forces. ... Yugoslav Partisan Flag The Yugoslav Partisans were one of the two main resistance movements engaged in the fight against the Axis forces in the Balkans during World War II, alongside rival Chetniks, the Yugoslav Peoples Liberation War. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

While the concept of leaderless resistance is often based on resistance by violent means, it is not limited to them. The same structure can be used by non-violent groups authoring, printing and distributing samizdat literature, using the Internet to create self-propagating boycotts against political opponents, maintaining an alternative electronic currency outside of the reach of the taxing governments and transaction-logging banks. Samizdat, book published by Pathfinder Press containing a collection of forbidden Trotskyist Samizdat texts. ... This page is about boycott as a form of protest. ...

History of the idea

The concept of leaderless resistance was reportedly developed by Col. Ulius Louis Amoss, an alleged U.S. intelligence officer, in the early 1960s. An anti-communist, Amoss saw leaderless resistance as a backup for the possibility of a Communist seizure of the United States. Year 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Anti-communism is opposition to communist ideology, organization, or government, on either a theoretical or practical level. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ...

The concept was revived and popularized in an essay published by the anti-government activist Louis Beam in 1983 and again in 1992. Beam advocated leaderless resistance as a technique for white nationalists to continue the struggle against the U.S. government despite an overwhelming imbalance in power and resources. Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Year 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1992 (MCMXCII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar). ... // White nationalism (WN) advocates a racial definition (or redefinition) of national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. ... This article describes the government of the United States. ...

Beam argued that conventional hierarchical pyramidal organizations are extremely dangerous for their participants, when employed in a resistance movement against government, because of the ease of disclosing the chain of command. A more workable approach would be to convince the like-minded individuals to form independent cells, without close communication between each other, but generally operating in the same direction. A hierarchy (in Greek: , derived from — hieros, sacred, and — arkho, rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things or people, where each element of the system (except for the top element) is subordinate to a single other element. ... This article deals with the military concept. ...

Leaderless resistance in fiction

The 1996 novel Unintended Consequences by John Ross, portrays a successful rebellion by the American heartland after decades of bullying by faraway Washington and accurately depicts a leaderless resistance. Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... A novel (from French nouvelle Italian novella, new) is an extended, generally fictional narrative, typically in prose. ... For the Law of unintended consequences, see Unintended consequence Unintended Consequences by John Ross, 1996 Unintended Consequences is a novel by author John Ross, first published in 1996 by Accurate Press. ... John Ross was the name of: John Ross (naval officer) (18th C.), admiral of the British Royal Navy John Ross (American patriot), a figure in the American Revolution John Ross (d. ...

Leaderless resistance in practice

Far right

The concept of leadership resistance remains important to much far right thinking in the United States ^[3], both in response to Amoss' initial fear (foreign forces on U.S. soil) but increasingly also—in line with Beam—as a response to perceived federal government over-reach at the expense of individual rights. The actions of Timothy McVeigh are perhaps the most extreme example in the United States. McVeigh acted largely alone, but based on motivations widespread amongst the anti-government and militia movement. Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001), commonly referred to as the Oklahoma City bomber, was convicted of eleven federal offenses and ultimately executed as a result of his role on the April 19, 1995, Oklahoma City bombing. ...

Leaderless resistance is not only used toward anti-government ends on the far right. Xenophobic organizations such as White Aryan Resistance and the British neo-Nazi Combat 18 have adopted and advocate the tactic. The modern Ku Klux Klan is also credited with having developed a leaderless resistance model. ^[4] Troy Southgate also advocated forms of leaderless resistance during his time as a leading activist in the National Revolutionary Faction and a pioneer of National-Anarchism. WARs Hate and Fear logo The White Aryan Resistance is a neo-Nazi white supremacist organization founded and led by former Ku Klux Klan leader Tom Metzger. ... Combat 18 logo, which is based on the Totenkopf of the 3rd SS Division Combat 18 (or C18) is a British neo-Nazi organization formed in 1992 after meetings between the group Blood & Honour and football hooligans such as the Chelsea Headhunters. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... Troy Southgate is a leading National-Anarchist activist based in the United Kingdom - indeed the concept of National-Anarchism seems to be largely his invention. ... The National Revolutionary Faction (NRF) was a United Kingdom-based national-anarchist group led by Troy Southgate. ...

Islamist terrorists

Leaderless resistance is also often well-suited to terrorist objectives. The Islamist terrorist organization Al-Qaeda provides a prototypical figurehead/leaderless cell structure. The organization may be pyramidal but sympathizers who act on its pronouncements often do so spontaneously and independently. This article contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ... Al-Qaeda (Arabic: القاعدة, the foundation or the base) is the name given to a worldwide network of militant Islamist organizations under the leadership of Osama bin Laden. ...

Given the small, clandestine character of terrorist cells it is easy to assume they necessarily constitute leaderless resistance models. Where a bidirectional affiliation occurs, however, the label is inappropriate. The men who executed the bombings of the London Underground on July 7, 2005 constituted a leaderless resistance cell in that they purportedly acted out of sympathy for Islamisz fundamentalism but under their own auspices. The bombers involved in the September 11 attacks, by contrast, received training, direction and funding from Al-Qaeda and are not properly designated a leaderless cell. The London Underground is a transit system that serves much of Greater London and some neighbouring areas. ... is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The World Trade Center on fire The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. ...

Animal rights movements

In the 1980s, the radical Earth First! environmental movement adopted the leaderless resistance model ^[5]. The strategy is now actively employed by animal rights and environmental interest groups, including Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty and the Earth Liberation Front (which broke from Earth First! when the older organization turned toward more moderate tactics), as well as the Animal Liberation Front. The symbol of Earth First!: a Monkey wrench and stone hammer Earth First! is a radical environmentalist organization[1] that emerged in the USA, in the great southwestern desert during the spring of 1980. ... A monkey inside Huntingdon Life Sciences in the United States. ... The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) is the collective name for anonymous and autonomous groups that, according to the now defunct Earth Liberation Front Press Office (ELFPO), use direct action in the form of economic sabotage to stop the exploitation and destruction of the natural environment. ... Beagles removed by British ALF activists from a testing laboratory owned by the Boots Group. ...

Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty, provides a case study in how recruitment and mobilization can occur in a leaderless model. Comprehensive internet sites provide potential sympathizers lists, for instance, of senior Huntingdon personnel (including addresses) and businesses associated with the Huntingdon animal testing.

Despite some successes, leaderless animal rights and environmental movements generally lack the broad popular support that often occurs in strictly political or military conflicts.

Countermeasures

Network analysis in classical setting

The social networks based on leaderless resistance are potentially vulnerable to network analysis and its derivative link analysis. Link analysis of social networks is the fundamental reason for the ongoing legislative push in the U.S. and the European Union for mandatory retention of telecommunication traffic data and limiting access to anonymous prepaid cellphones, as the stored data contain important network analysis clues. These practices are highly unfriendly to individual privacy but are often the only way to crack leaderless cells. A social network is a social structure made of nodes (which are generally individuals or organizations) that are tied by one or more specific types of relations, such as values, visions, idea, financial exchange, friends, kinship, dislike, trade, web links, sexual relations, disease transmission (epidemiology), or airline routes. ... Network analysis is the analysis of networks through network theory (or more generally graph theory). ... Network analysis is the analysis of networks through network theory (or more generally graph theory). ... For other uses, see United States (disambiguation) and US (disambiguation). ... In the field of telecommunications, data retention (or data preservation) generally refers to the storage call detail records (CDRs) of telephony and internet traffic and transaction data (IPDRs) by governments and commercial organisations. ... Look up anonymous in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Prepaid refers to services paid for in advance. ... Cellular redirects here. ... Privacy has no definite boundaries and it has different meanings for different people. ...

See also: NSA call database

Network analysis was successfully used by French Colonel Yves Godard to break the Algerian resistance between 1955 and 1957 and force them to cease the bombing campaigns. The Algerian conflict maybe better described as guerrilla in nature rather than leaderless resistance (see Modern Warfare by Col. Roger Trinquier). The mapping data was obtained by the use of informants and torture and were used to obtain the identities of important individuals in the resistance; these were then assassinated, disrupting the Algerian resistance networks. The more unique the individual is in the adversary's network, the more difficult is the replacement and the greater is the damage. The NSA call database is a reported database of telephone calls created by the United States National Security Agency (NSA) with the cooperation of four of the largest telephone carriers in the United States: AT&T, SBC, Verizon and BellSouth. ... Algerian Nationalism A new generation of Muslim leadership emerged in Algeria at the time of World War I and grew to maturity during the 1920s and 1930s. ... Year 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1957 Gregorian calendar). ... This article is about explosive devices. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Torture is defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture as any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he... It has been suggested that Selective assassination be merged into this article or section. ...

Leaderless challenges

Traditional organizations leave behind much evidence of their activities, such as money trails, and training and recruitment material. Leaderless resistances, as they are as much ideologies as organizations, generally lack such traces. The effects of their operations, globally reported by the mass media, act as a sort of messaging and recruitment advertising. Political Ideologies Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      An ideology is an organized collection of ideas. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

The internet provides investigators with further challenges. The individual cells (and even a single person can be a cell) can communicate over the internet, anonymously or semi-anonymously publishing and sharing information online, to be found by others through well-known websites. Even where legally and technically possible to ascertain who accessed what, it is often practically impossible to discern in reasonable timeframe who is a real threat and who is just curious, a journalist, or a web crawler. A web crawler (also known as a Web spider or Web robot) is a program or automated script which browses the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner. ...

Despite these advantages, leaderless resistance is often unstable. If the actions are not frequent enough or not successful, the stream of public messages, serving as the recruiting, motivation and coordination drives for other cells, diminishes. If the actions are too successful, the result will be formation of support groups and other social structures—structures vulnerable to network analysis. Support groups exist to combat or legitimise conditions or behaviours. ... See Social structure of the United States for an explanation of concepts exsistance within US society. ...

Sources

1. ^ Simson L. Garfinkel. Leaderless resistance today. Retrieved on May 7, 2006.
2. ^ British Resistance Organisation. History. Retrieved on May 7, 2006.
3. ^ Paul de Armond. Putting the Far Right into Perspective. Retrieved on May 7, 2006.
4. ^ University of Michigan. Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism. Retrieved on May 7, 2006.
5. ^ Southern Poverty Law Center. From Push to Shove. Retrieved on May 7, 2006.

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See also

• Anarchism
• Lone wolf (terrorism)

Anarchism is a political philosophy or group of philosophies and attitudes centered on rejection of any form of compulsory authority[1] and government[2] (cf. ... According to the Anti-Defamation League The term Lone-wolf (Lone-wolf activism to proponents, Lone-wolf terrorism to opponents) was popularized by white supremacists Alex Curtis and Tom Metzger in the late 1990s: [On Curtis:] Curtis encouraged fellow racists to act alone in committing violent crimes so that they...

External links

• Networks and Netwars - PDF book by RAND Corporation.
• Leaderless Resistance - the original essay
• Simson L. Garfinkel - Leaderless resistance today