Group Threatened Attack On Sub Base Bangor Among Targets Of Previously Unknown Group

An anti-government group not previously known to authorities sent three letters last month threatening attacks on military bases and government installations, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Navy said the group - Revolution 2000 - mailed letters to the Trident submarine base at Bangor, about 20 miles west of Seattle; the Concord Naval Weapons Station in Northern California; and the National Security Agency headquarters in Fort Meade, Md.

The letters, sent during the last week of January and postmarked in Las Vegas, threatened attacks on the government sites with explosives, missiles and chemical nerve agents within six months, the Seattle PostIntelligencer reported.

Bangor received its letter Jan. 28, spokeswoman Lt. Dora Staggs said.

Revolution 2000 is a “previously unknown anti-government group,” according to a Jan. 30 memo from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

The letters also threatened attacks on Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California; Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Va.; and bridges in Washington, D.C., according to the Navy.

In all three letters, the writer warned, “The clock is ticking.”

The letters gave the FBI’s Las Vegas office as the return address, the memo said. “The validity of this threat is currently unknown,” it said.

Navy spokeswomen at Bangor and Concord confirmed that their security forces had been notified of the threats and were taking precautions, but both bases already are high-security facilities.

A senior FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Post-Intelligencer that the agency was investigating the letters. The official also confirmed that the bureau had no previous knowledge of the organization, nor the coded signature, identified in the letters as “K-3.”

The official said the FBI field office in Las Vegas is coordinating the investigation, but an FBI spokeswoman in Las Vegas would neither confirm nor deny that any investigation was under way.

At Bangor, “employees have been urged to redouble their efforts through training and personal observation to examine their mail, pay attention to their surroundings and be attentive regarding the people near them as the best defense against threats of violence,” Lt. Staggs said.

“We aren’t really taking any extra action. What we’ve done is notify personnel and our security personnel to be extra vigilant.”

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service memo warned personnel to be alert for any mail matching the description of the threat letters.

Concord Naval Weapons Station spokeswoman Linda Zukeran confirmed that the FBI and naval investigators are working together.