Bomb Plot Thwarted, Officials Say Anti-Government Group Accused Of Planning Attacks On Bases

Law enforcement officials have thwarted a plan by an anti-government group to attack military installations in the United States, starting with Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, during an annual Fourth of July open house, a Missouri police official said on Tuesday.

Seven men and women arrested this month had planned to use anti-personnel bombs and other weapons at bases where they believed U.N. troops were stationed, said Lt. Richard Coffey of the Missouri Highway Patrol. Two Missouri undercover officers had infiltrated the group, he said, and the FBI was informed.

Two members of the group - Bradley Glover, 57, who described himself two years ago as a commander of the Southern Kansas Regional Militia, and Michael Dorsett, 42, a resident of Fort Worth, Texas - were arrested shortly after 6 a.m. on July 4 at a campground in a state park in San Saba County, Texas, west of Fort Hood.

Among their belongings, according to an FBI affidavit, were guns, ammunition, a homemade silencer, cannon fuse, chemicals, a night vision scope and bulletproof vests.

James Wittmeyer, deputy director of public affairs at Fort Hood, said no one at there was in danger at any time. Thousands of people came to the base’s Independence Day open house for music and fireworks.

Fort Hood is home to the Army’s III Corps, which includes the First Cavalry Division and the Fourth Infantry Division. Wittmeyer said no U.N. forces had ever trained there.

Others arrested this month included a Creede, Colo., couple, Kevin Hobeck, 39, and his wife, Terry Hobeck, 45, both charged with possessing a machine gun; Kimberly Newman, 40, and her husband Thomas Newman, 36, of Wichita, Kansas, who gave 10 pipe bombs to the undercover agents, according to court documents, and Merlon Lingenfelter Jr., 37, of Mondovi, Wis., who was charged with possessing two pipe bombs and two machine guns.

Coffey, the assistant director of the division of drug and crime control for the Missouri Highway Patrol, said his undercover officers were attending the Third Continental Congress, a gathering of militia members and sympathizers, in Independence, Mo., last April when they learned of the group, which had no known name.

People at the congress discussed how to set up a provisional government after the downfall of the U.S. government, Coffey said, and the undercover agents became aware of a splinter group that “wanted to speed along the process through the use of various types of terrorist acts.”

Although the group had no Missouri connection, Coffey said, “we had our officers stay with the group. They attended meetings and saw illegal, fully automatic weapons and explosive devices.”