ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: World Net Daily
01March2011 5:00amEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: A new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center on "hate groups" warns of the explosive growth in 2010 of extremist, "patriot" organizations, among them the Constitution Party, Oath Keepers and WorldNetDaily.
In the Spring 2011 issue of its Intelligence Report, titled "The Year in Hate & Extremism," the SPLC identifies 824 "patriot" organizations it says "define themselves as opposed to the 'New World Order,' 
engage in groundless conspiracy theorizing or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines."
"Hate groups topped 1,000 for the first time since the Southern Poverty Law Center began counting such groups in the 1980s," writes the SPLC's Mark Potok in the issue's lead article. "But by far the most dramatic growth came in the antigovernment 'Patriot' movement – conspiracy-minded organizations that see the federal government as their primary enemy – which gained more than 300 new groups, a jump of over 60 percent."
"Taken together," he continues, "these three strands of the radical right – the hatemongers, the nativists and the antigovernment zealots – increased from 1,753 groups in 2009 to 2,145 in 2010, a 22-percent rise."
The SPLC describes itself as a nonprofit civil rights organization dedicated to "fighting hate and bigotry," but takes a clearly left-leaning political bent – criticizing in its spring issue alone the tea parties, "anti-gay" groups like the Family Research Council, anti-abortion activists, radio host Glenn Beck, elected Republican officials and, of course, "patriot" groups. (read full report)
