Alaska candidate's 'security' firm allegedly tied to extremist militia

Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller's use of private security guards who "arrested" and handcuffed a blogger-journalist following a Miller campaign event on Sunday is continuing to raise questions about the candidate's affiliations.

The latest allegation, which comes from a team of Alaskan bloggers, is that Dropzone Security Services and its owner William F. Fulton -- who led the security detail that detained Alaska Dispatch editor Tony Hopfinger -- are closely tied in with the so-called Alaska Citizens Militia and its leader, right-wing extremist Norm Olson.

"Joe Miller chose a security firm for his campaign event which is not only unlicensed," the bloggers assert, "but also right at the heart of an extreme militia group, with the owner of the security firm being a local commander of the militia and also the main supplier. This Alaskan militia is headed by the notorious Norm Olson, who played a major role in the radical militia movement in the 1990's in Michigan, a movement which is at least partly to blame for the Oklahoma bombing."

A month ago, Salon's Justin Elliott noted, "Back in July, before Joe Miller won a stunning upset over Lisa Murkowski in Alaska's GOP Senate primary, national attention briefly focused on his campaign when supporters were videotaped marching in a community parade with assault rifles over their shoulders and handguns strapped to their legs."

"It's safe to say that Joe Miller is a friend of patriots," Olson told Salon at that time. "His beliefs and platform favor Second Amendment rights as well as the power of nullification when the federal government intrudes into the private lives of Alaskans."

Now, however, the spotlight being cast on William Fulton -- who regularly posts under the nickname "Dropzone Bill" at the public message board of Olson's Alaska Citizen's Militia -- is providing an even stronger link between Miller's campaign and the radical militia movement.

"From the postings, several facts can be established," the bloggers point out. "Fulton's 'Dropzone' military surplus shop in Anchorage which he owns together with his (currently unlicensed) security company, is a regular meeting point for the members of the militia and appears also to be their main supplier, according to the messages on the website. In addition, Fulton aka 'Dropzone Bill' is a local commander of the militia."

The blog reproduces several recent messages from the board, in one of which Olson seemingly expresses a hope for bloody revolution in response to the proposed "Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act," introduced earlier this year by Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, and Scott Brown.

"ANY effort to impose martial law or incarceration of patriots will be met with a swift and deadly response," Olson wrote on September 29. "We as Alaskans, and specifically as Alaska Citizens Militia, are just waiting for a cause that will evoke a patriotic response to tyranny and oppression. Such an effort to imprison Alaskans as outlined in the draconian SB 3081 will be just the triggering mechanism that we need to light the fuse for another revolution."

Olson became widely known in the 1990's as the founder of the Michigan Militia, one of the most successful of the militia groups during that period. He acknowledged after the Oklahoma City bombing that conspirator Terry Nichols had attended one of his organization's meetings, but he was expelled by his fellow militia members when he insisted that the bombing had actually been carried out by the Japanese government. By last year, Olson was living in Alaska and recruiting members for his newly formed Alaska Citizens Militia with predictions of economic collapse and federal oppression.

The posts by "Dropzone Bill" appear to express the same expectations of coming upheaval. He speaks of a need to stockpile food for "when the shit hits the fan" and tells a fellow poster, "the less technical details we know about each other before the ballon [sic] goes up the better that way if one goes down for being stupid or set-up or both, the rest of us are clean."

"I also am very glad this conversation sprang out of our meeting," Fulton continues. "This needs to be had better now than later and this bulletin board is a great resource allowing us all to develop our thoughts and really take the time to hammer this out we all owe Norm a thank you for making this venue available to us."

The Palingates bloggers emphasize that "Dropzone also appears to be the main supplier for the militia - 'Dropzone Bill' has several posts about offers from his shop on the message board. But the main confirmation comes from Norm Olson himself - William F. Fulton is the 'Supply Sergeant for many units.'"

"He and others hold the vision of a mighty force upon the plain able to send a clear and unmistakable message to tyrants: Don't Tread on Me," Olson says of Fulton. "To do so is to unleash the dogs of war and to calculate a butcher bill that the central government may not want to pay."

And in another post, addressed directly to Fulton, Olson writes, "Let's make sure they remember who we are: The Alaska Citizens Militia. We'll fight you in the political arena, and if that fails, we'll lock and load."