Date: Tue, 15 Nov 1994 11:51:16 -0800
From: Phil Agre <pagre@ucsd.edu>
To: risks@csl.sri.com
Subject: well-regulated militias

The New York Times has a longish report on the US militia movement, in which
groups of heavily armed citizens are organizing for a possible guerilla war
against the US government.  The reference is:

  Keith Schneider, Fearing a conspiracy, some heed a call to arms, The New
  York Times, 14 November 1994, pages A1, A12.

Here is one passage from it:

  "Some experts say that the militia members, despite their tough talk, are
  not as dangerously militant as the small movements of other armed conspiracy
  theorists, like the Aryan Nation and Posse Comitatus.  But, by all accounts,
  the militia movement is a much more widespread phenomenon, involving many
  more people in every region of the country, linked together by computer
  networks, fax, shortwave radio, home-produced videos and desk-top
  publishing."

It's hard to imagine how you could have a "well-regulated militia" (in the
language of the Second Amendment) without technological coordination.  Still,
whether you regard this is a risk or benefit depends on whether you regard
guerilla warfare as a solution to the problems of democracy in the United
States.

Phil Agre, UCSD