Former US soldier who admitted to attempted murder of fellow service members jailed for 45 years after leaking data to UK neo-Nazi, pro-Jihadist group

A former soldier who admitted to the attempted murder of his fellow servicemen has been sentenced to 45 years in prison. 

Ethan Melzer, 24, pleaded guilty to providing top secret data to the Order of the Nine Angles, a neo-Nazi, pro-Jihadist group based in the United Kingdom. 

Campaign Against Antisemitism called for the proscription of the Order of the Nine Angles group following the publication of a report on its activities. A report by the activist group Hope Not Hate showed that the organisation promotes extreme violence, Holocaust denial, neo-Nazism and other antisemitic conspiracy theories, such as ‘Zionist’ control of the world.

The group was founded in the 1970s and dates its calendar from the birth of Adolf Hitler. It aspires to destablise contemporary “Judeao-Christian” society and to see it replaced with a fascist and Satanist substitute. It is understood that members are encouraged to infiltrate institutions to undermine them from within or join Islamist organisations to promote the group’s destabilisation agenda. Some of the group’s texts apparently make reference to ritual sacrifice and praise notorious criminals.

On 24th June, Mr Melzer pleaded guilty to attempting to murder United States service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and illegally transmitting national defense information before U.S. District Judge Gregory H. Woods, who also imposed the sentence.

The sensitive information provided to the Order of the Nine Angles, of which Mr Melzer himself was a member, included the whereabouts of his former unit’s location, movements, and security. 

The court heard that, from as early as 2018, Mr Melzer had been consuming videos and propaganda from various extremist far-right, white supremacist, and Islamist organisations, including ISIS. He then began feeding information through an encrypted platform to a subgroup within the Order, known as the “RapeWaffen Division”, with the intention of facilitating an attack on his unit’s military base.

In messages sent to the white supremacist Order, Mr Melzer wrote: “[Y]ou just gotta understand that currently I am risking my literal free life to give you all this”. 

He also told them that he was “expecting results”. Apparently apathetic over the possibility of dying for the Order, he wrote: “Who gives a [f***]…it would be another war…I would’ve died successfully…cause another [ten] year war in the Middle East would definitely leave a mark.”

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said: “Today’s sentence holds Mr. Melzer accountable for an egregious and shameful act of betrayal against his own military unit and his country. The Justice Department will use all available resources to disrupt and bring to justice those who would aid foreign terrorist organizations and use violence to harm our men and women in uniform or any American anywhere.”

Assistant Director Robert R. Wells of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division said: “Melzer betrayed his fellow soldiers and his country. Americans serving their country overseas should never have to fear a terrorist attack from within their own ranks, and today’s sentence holds him accountable for his deadly plan to attack the brave men and women of the armed forces who protect our nation.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism closely monitors the far-right, which remains a dangerous threat to the Jewish community and other minority groups.