Animal Partisan Obtains Records Revealing FBI Interest in Using Weapons of Mass Destruction Laws Against Animal Rights Activists

Glen Allen, Virginia – Animal Partisan, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization, has recently obtained records that allegedly show Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) ties to the animal agriculture industry and strategies to target animal activists using Weapons of Mass Destruction statutes.

In October 2022, Animal Partisan made a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), seeking records detailing ties between the agency and the animal agriculture industry. Specifically, Animal Partisan’s request sought records of a presentation the FBI gave to a conference held by the North American Meat Institute (NAMI), one of the nation’s largest animal agriculture associations. According to allegations in the suit, the FBI first claimed no such records existed and then later claimed they were exempt from disclosure under FOIA.

In July 2023, with the Vermont Law and Graduate School’s Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic (FAAC) and Sorenson Law LLC acting as counsel, Animal Partisan sued the FBI in federal court to obtain release of the records at issue. On June 25, 2024, the FBI released the records—records that the plaintiff alleges it had been unlawfully withholding for nearly two years.

“While the FBI has a decades-long history of targeting animal rights activists, these records demonstrate a potentially dangerous escalation in the agency’s tactics,” said Will Lowrey, legal counsel at Animal Partisan. “The records shine a troubling light on collaborations between federal law enforcement and the animal agriculture industry to explore ways to bring some of the most severe federal criminal laws to bear against animal rights activists.”

Animal Partisan alleges that the records reveal:

• That NAMI contacted the FBI and requested its participation in the 2020 “Animal Care and Handling Conference.”
• The FBI agreed to participate and provide insight into “agroterrorism and federal law enforcement’s approach to protecting the United States meat industry.”
• The FBI then prepared a presentation detailing “WMD [weapons of mass destruction] and domestic terrorism” content for the conference.
• The FBI’s presentation highlighted two of the agency’s programs, including its Weapons of Mass Destruction Program and its Domestic Terrorism Program, focusing specifically on “animal rights violent extremism.”
• The FBI discussed several federal criminal statutes that could presumably be used to target animal rights activists, including: (1) Use of weapons of mass destruction, (2) Prohibitions with respect to biological weapons, (3) Tampering with consumer products, and (4) Distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction. Some of these statutes carry penalties of up to life in prison.

“These records suggest the FBI may be exploring whether it can blame animal rights activists for future disease outbreaks at factory farms and bring charges for use of ‘biological weapons,’” said Laura Fox, director of the Farmed Animal Advocacy Clinic. “In an environment where infectious diseases such as avian influenza are running rampant through animal agriculture due to intense confinement conditions, the FBI’s presentation signals an ominous new stage in the agency’s efforts to stifle dissent critical of animal agriculture.”

CASE INFORMATION

United States District Court for the District of Columbia
Animal Partisan v. Federal Bureau of Investigation
Case No. 23-1990 (CKK)