A Coast Guard lieutenant assigned to the service's headquarters in Washington, D.C., has been arrested on drug and gun possession charges, and is accused of plans to "murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country," according to documents filed in Maryland District Court.
Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson, an acquisitions officer for the National Security Cutter Acquisition Program, was arrested Feb. 15 and charged with possession of a firearm and ammunition by an unlawful user or addict of controlled substances, and possession of Tramadol, a Schedule IV pain medication.
The documents were first unearthed by Seamus Hughes of The Program on Extremism at George Washington University, and shared with Military.com.
A motion for detention pending trial, filed by U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur, paints a much more menacing portrait of Hasson's crimes and planned crimes.
"The current charges, however, are the proverbial tip of the iceberg," Hur wrote. "The defendant is a domestic terrorist, bent on committing acts dangerous to human life that are intended to affect government conduct."
The court papers, filed Feb. 19, portray an officer who allegedly is a close follower of Anders Breivik, a Norwegian man who carried out two terrorist attacks in Norway on July 22, 2011, killing eight people by detonating a car bomb and then murdering 69 children at a summer camp on the island of Utova.
Breivik drafted a manifesto that Hasson allegedly read frequently and adhered to, stockpiling weapons and human growth hormone to increase his strength for an attack. Found on his computer were lengthy missives to friends about "dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful."
Hasson appeared to blame "liberalist/globalist ideology for destroying traditional peoples, especially white. No way to counteract without violence," he allegedly wrote.
From January 2017 to January 2019, the "defendant conducted online searches and [made] thousands of visits for pro-Russian, neo-fascist, and neo-Nazi literature," according to court documents. Other alleged targets on his list included presidential candidates Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York; Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts; Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey; and Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California.
He is, by his own alleged accounts in emails to friends, addicted to Tramadol.
"Need to come off Tramadol, clear my head. Read and get education have to move to friendly area and start to organize. Get leadership within the community, sheriff, city manager, mayor, lawyer?" he wrote, according to court documents. "Have to take serious look at appropriate individual targets, to bring greatest impact. Professors, DR's, Politian's, Judges, leftists in general. Look up tactics used during Ukrainian civil war ... Guide my hate to make a lasting impression on this world."
Another draft letter to a "known American neo-Nazi leader" identified Hasson as a white nationalist looking for an opportunity for "a little focused violence" to establish racial supremacy.
When Hasson was arrested at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland, earlier this month, the document states, law enforcement agents found 15 firearms, including shotguns, rifles and handguns, and "conservatively, over 1,000 rounds of mixed ammunition."
U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Scott McBride confirmed that Hasson worked in the Coast Guard acquisition directorate and released a statement regarding the investigation.
"An active-duty Coast Guard member stationed at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., was arrested last week on illegal weapons and drug charges as a result of an ongoing investigation led by Coast Guard Investigation Services, in cooperation with the FBI and the Dept. of Justice," he said in the statement. "Because this is an open investigation, the Coast Guard has no further details at this time."
According to court documents, Hasson is a former Marine who served from 1988 to 1993. He also served two years in the Army National Guard.
A message left for FBI Baltimore did not immediately receive a response.
A detention hearing for Hasson is set for Thursday at 1 p.m.
-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
-- Patricia Kime can be reached at patricia.kime@miltiary.com. Follow her on Twitter at @patriciakime.
