The ALF was named as a terrorist threat by the United States Department of Homeland Security in January 2005.[10] In hearings held on May 18, 2005 before a Senate panel, officials of the FBI and ATF stated that "violent animal rights extremists and eco-terrorists now pose one of the most serious terrorism threats to the nation," adding that "of particular concern are the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF)."
Southern Poverty Law Center has criticized the Department of Homeland Security for concentrating on the Animal and Earth Liberation Fronts rather than on white supremacists, writing that "for all the property damage they have wreaked, eco-radicals have killed no one — something that cannot be said of the white supremacists and others who people the American radical right."[54] Senator James Jeffords said that the "ELF and ALF may threaten dozens of people each year, but an incident at a chemical, nuclear or wastewater facility would threaten tens of thousands."[52]
In 1998, Professor Paul Wilkinson, former director of the University of St Andrews Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, said that the ALF and its splinter groups were the "most serious domestic terrorist threat within the United Kingdom."[51] He told Channel 4's Dispatches that the ALF is "very close" to killing someone, adding: "Keith Mann, who was sentenced to 11 years for his extremist violence, said in a message to ALF activists that sooner or later someone would die. He didn’t express any remorse about this or any regret. Now that does show to me a level of fanaticism which is very dangerous indeed."[51] The Daily Telegraph has called the ALF "the most active terrorist organisation in Britain."[55]
Operation Backfire
On January 20, 2006, as part of Operation Backfire, the U.S. Department of Justice announced charges against nine American and two Canadian activists calling themselves the "Family," who are alleged to have engaged in direct action in the name of the Animal Liberation Front and Earth Liberation Front. The Department of Justice called the acts examples of "domestic terrorism."
The incidents included arson attacks against meat-processing plants, lumber companies, a high-tension power line, and a ski center, in Oregon, Wyoming, Washington, California, and Colorado between 1996 and 2001