Guard’s Potential Enemies List Leaked Document Lists Militia Groups, Idaho Snake River Alliance

An Idaho National Guard spokesman denied paranoia was behind including an Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory watchdog group on a list of potential “opposing forces.”

But Lt. Col. Jim Ball said paranoia is involved.

“Yeah, there certainly is,” he said Wednesday, “and it exists in the minds of the people who are reading one page of a multi-page document and taking it out of context.”

Ball said an investigation would be conducted to find out how a single page from a classified Guard document “got outside the system” and into the hands of the Snake River Alliance.

Beatrice Brailsford, the alliance’s southeastern Idaho coordinator, said it was outrageous that her organization was lumped together with the Aryan Nations, militia groups, gangs and “gun control advocates.”

“The Snake River Alliance has responsibly participated in public policy development since 1979. Certainly over the years we have opposed specific U.S. Department of Energy decisions and tried to change them, but we have done so in responsible, legal ways,” she said. “We have exercised our right to affect public policy in all appropriate forums.”

The page labeled “For Official Use Only” and anonymously delivered to the Snake River Alliance’s Boise office recently listed the groups as chief among examples of “opposing forces” that “are made up of many diverse groups with strong ethnic, religious, political and economic points of contention.”

Besides “right-wing and militia groups,” the document also says opposing forces “may be individuals acting as tourists or students and working for a foreign intelligence service. Tourist activity has increased in the State of Idaho. State and city governments are now interacting with foreign governments to build economic and agriculture ties.”

Ball said the document was part of a 14-page intelligence estimate the Guard compiles, usually once a year, to assess what potential Idaho individuals or groups might have to affect the Guard’s ability to operate and train.

“I think the key word here is potential … because nobody knows what will or will not affect the military’s ability to function,” Ball said.

As for the Snake River Alliance, he said, “They are simply an organization which, based on our previous experience, has an opposing viewpoint, and based on past actions has the potential to disrupt the Guard’s operations or training activities.”