A brief history of the Aryan Nations is provided and some of the major tenets of their Christian Identity are presented. The role of Christian Identity within the Aryan Nations is discussed. The chapter then examines ongoing changes in the Aryan Nations, one of the most notorious hate groups in American history, focusing on its growing alignment with one of its former enemies, followers of Islamic Jihad.
Since 11 September 2001 America ' s concerns about terrorism have largely focused on countering threats from groups outside the United States. However, many of the most infamous terrorist attacks in the United States, including the Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh, bombings of abortion clinics by Eric Robert Rudolph, and the mass murder committed by Buford Furrow, have been committed by Americans. These individuals were or are either adherents of Christian Identity, members of the Aryan Nations, or both. A recent article in Intelligence Report (Blejwas, Griggs, & Potok, 2005 ), states that over the last decade there have been an estimated 60 terrorist acts within the United States committed by individuals in hate groups. According to the report most of these domestic terrorist acts have religious underpinnings.