BLM Reports Record Low Threats in 2014 Despite Bundy Standoff

Washington, DC — Belying armed confrontations and staff evacuations, official records from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) indicate that 2014 was especially peaceful, according to agency documents released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). The total of 15 threats and assaults reported by the BLM during 2014 is the lowest number since 1996, one-fourth below the prior year and nearly 50% fewer than a decade earlier.

Bundy Standoff and Reporting Discrepancies

Strangely, the BLM has no reports of any threats from the standoff with armed militia members during the failed attempt to remove trespassing cattle owned by Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, despite photos showing weapons pointed at BLM and other federal law enforcement personnel. This aligns with the BLM's insistence that it has not requested prosecution of Bundy or any of his associates, an admission made in response to a lawsuit brought by PEER under the Freedom of Information Act. However, this stands at odds with Bundy's own statement:

“We ran the BLM and U.S. Park Service and their contract cowboys along with their armed army off this Clark County Nevada land.”

“BLM apparently wants to pretend that the whole Bundy fiasco never happened,” stated PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch. “We are concerned that BLM may be discouraging employees from reporting threats to convey a false impression of peace.”

Reported Incidents and Outcomes

Instead, BLM records just two semi-related incidents: a “Threatening Phone Call in Connection with Gold Butte Operation” and intimidation of a non-law enforcement worker in Utah two weeks after the Bundy standoff. The latter was closed with no action, and the former is still pending prosecution.

Of the 15 incidents reported, only three are still pending. BLM closed six without any action, two were transferred to another agency, and the remaining four have no indicated final outcome except a “collateral fine” in one case, according to the BLM case summary.

Severity of Incidents

While some incidents seemed relatively minor, such as an assault by “squirting water,” others were quite serious, including:

• “Attempted Murder of BLM LEO [Law Enforcement Officer] (Shot With Pistol)”; and
• “Attempted Assault on BLM LEO With Vehicle.”

“Given that there are now large swaths of federal lands where BLM staff and law enforcement do not feel safe to operate, this decline in reported incidents provides scant comfort,” added Ruch. He noted that PEER first started submitting Freedom of Information Act requests for reports of assaults and threats against federal resource agency employees twenty years ago in 1995, the year of the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. “Like twenty years ago, we are seeing a spike in hostility toward government workers in the Sagebrush West fueled in part by political rhetoric. If we wish to avoid repeating history, we need to learn from it.”

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Originally Posted By PEER