A false but pervasive conspiracy theory suggesting that “antifa” was going to wage civil war in city streets across the U.S. on November 4, 2017 traveled all the way to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to documents published this week by Muckrock, a non-profit group that assists people in filing Freedom of Information Act requests.
The Central California Intelligence Center—also known as a fusion center, or local intelligence gathering branches that assist with the “receipt, analysis, gathering and sharing of threat-related information,” according to DHS—looked into the November 4 protests. One October threat assessment report explicitly addresses what it calls “the “Civil War concern.”
“Heightened fear over the perceived potential for violence may encourage some individuals to come to the rallies prepared to use violent tactics to defend demonstrators or themselves,” the email warned.
