Note how this group was turned by an insider who developed ill-will
towards the group. Compare to the Al Qaeda dude who stole from the Base
and was estranged (see trial transcripts..)
Montana Back in Uncomfortable Spotlight After Assassination Plot Is
Alleged
By Tom LacekyAssociated Press Writer
Published: Mar 7, 2002
WHITEFISH, Mont. (AP) - Police say David Burgert is a trouble-making
blowhard and his alleged "Project 7"
assassination plot is probably fantasy.
But they are watching their backs. Very carefully.
"You never know. A lot of people thought something like the World Trade
Center would never happen," Police Chief Bill Dial said. "I take
extremist groups seriously. Would they have done it? I don't know. Your
guess is as good as mine."
Investigators believe Burgert's group was plotting to trigger an
anti-government revolution. Detectives say they discovered it last month
when a Project 7 member tipped them off after Burgert beat him up.
According to Flathead County Sheriff Jim Dupont, the conspirators
planned to kill judges, prosecutors and police officers in such numbers
that the National Guard would be sent in. Then the troops would be
killed, forcing the federal government into the fray and sparking a
national uprising.
How serious was the plot?
Project 7 amassed a huge arsenal - machine guns, 30,000 rounds of
ammunition, explosives, night-vision equipment, body armor and booby
traps - that Dupont estimates may have cost hundreds of thousands of
dollars. The police chief will not say how Burgert or Project 7 paid for
the arsenal.
Authorities say Burgert's girlfriend, Tracy Brockway, 32, penetrated the
Whitefish police department by getting a job as a cleaning woman, and
compiled "intelligence files" with extensive personal information on
county law enforcement officers and their families.
"When my guys were reading the 'intelligence bulletins,' some were kind
of taken aback, but at the same time they laughed," Dial said. One
officer's intelligence file "said he ate junk food and had bratty kids."
The Project 7 name refers to Flathead County license plates, which all
begin with the number seven.
Montana has gotten an image as a haven for anti-government radicals like
Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and the Freemen. Flathead County, which borders
Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, is staunchly
conservative. Many here work as loggers or miners and are quick to
vilify environmentalists and the federal government.
But Dial dismissed any notion that Project 7 is a symptom of right-wing
radicalism directed at law enforcement. "We just view them as criminals,
as thugs," he said.
Burgert lawyer Mark Sullivan did not immediately return a call for
comment Thursday. But Brockway's lawyer, Gary Doran, said police seem to
be engaging in the sort of conspiracy theories they usually ridicule.
The charges originated with "a 17-year-old kid who got in a fight with
Mr. Burgert and went away very angry and immediately gave statements to
police officers," Doran said.
Until now, the 38-year-old Burgert has been a petty, though frequent,
problem for local officers. Because he had a criminal record in Alabama
and Colorado, Dupont barred him several years ago from joining the
county search-and-rescue team.
"He has hated me ever since - absolutely hated me," the sheriff said.
"The best description of him is, he's a 16-year-old bully with a big
mouth."
The police chief in nearby Kalispell, Frank Garner, was supposedly one
of those targeted by the group. A 17-year veteran, he said he considered
it a credible threat since "not many go to these lengths."
Burgert was arrested Feb. 8 on charges unrelated to the alleged plot and
remains jailed in Kalispell, the county's largest community with a
population of 17,000. He is accused of assaulting an officer when police
came to arrest a friend who had fled to Burgert's home. Brockway is
charged with hiding Burgert while he was a fugitive on the assault
charge.
No one has been charged in the alleged assassination plot.
There are two more Project 7 members Garner especially wants to see
behind bars, and investigators are building cases against them. The
federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI are also
investigating.
Dupont and others think that Project 7 had only eight to 10 people, and
that only two or three close to Burgert may have been involved with the
assassination plot.
