Skeptic Project

William Fulton, the head of DropZone Security, denies that he's a member of the Alaska Citizens Militia -- though he inarguably has some ties to the militia, and has even been referred to as the "supply Sergeant" by the head of the group.

DropZone Security was hired as Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller's private security team at his town hall on Sunday, during which Fulton and two of his employees handcuffed and detained Alaska Dispatch editor Tony Hopfinger.

As we've reported, DropZone Security doubles as an army surplus store and bail bonds agency, and is made up of current and former members of the military. The two other agents with Fulton at the Miller event were active-duty military.

As some local outlets have already reported, Fulton himself is a repeated poster on the Alaska Citizens Militia Google Forum, which can be found here. All of his postings are here.

The Alaska Citizens' Militia describes its mission statement as: "To set forth the historical and Constitutional basis for the establishment of the Alaska Citizens Militia; to explain its mission and goals; its uniqueness as the final defense against tyrannical government at all levels; and to suggest an organizational structure."

Among the problems its website lists are "firearms restrictions or other disarmament," "mandatory medical anything," and "involuntary involvement in anything," among other things, in its "ACTS OF WAR" section.

The ACM was started by Norm Olsen, who the Southern Poverty Law Center reports also started the Michigan Militia, though he was kicked out after touting this theory about the Oklahoma City bombing: "The Japanese government had bombed the federal building there as a return favor for the sarin gas subway attack that he said the U.S. government carried out in Tokyo."

And though Fulton denies being a member of the ACM, Olsen is among those Fulton communicates with on the ACM message board. Writing under the username "bob bob" but signing his posts "DropZone Bill," Fulton has posted 42 times since January, according to Google.

In one post in January, Fulton writes: "I should hope that the militia is not involved with establishing any form of government moral or otherwise It is the purpose of the militia to defend the people and the state. I believe our job is to be shooters, elected politicians get to deal with the government establishment portion of the pie."

Another thread shows Fulton offering to facilitate an October 10 meeting of the militia at his DropZone store: "Lets do it noon on the 10th of October if that works for everybody sunday is our slowest day so I can close the shop."

In this post from October 16, Fulton writes about militia groups communicating with each other:

what I don't agree with is getting involved with what ifs, triggers, internal politics, or communicating tactical information with other groups/units the less technical details we know about each other before the ballon goes up the better that way if one goes down for being stupid or set-up or both, the rest of us are clean. I'm not saying we should hide in the shadows by any means I just think tactical planning should stay within individual groups.

"This bulletin board is a great resource allowing us all to develop our thoughts and really take the time to hammer this out we all owe Norm a thank you for making this venue available to us," he also writes.

Fulton acknowledged to TPM that he is a regular poster on the forum, but denied that he was a member of the militia itself. He contended that his postings were strictly for business purposes, which seems to be at least partially true. A few of his exchanges discuss merchandise that he will set aside for other posters.

Fulton said that as an army surplus store DropZone has "a very small customer base," so he has to drum up business somehow. He did, however, cop to posting on the forum in order to "stir 'em up when we're having a slow month."

Miller has previously claimed that private security was required by the school district where the event took place, though a spokesman for the district says that the requirement is much more lenient than Miller's use of DropZone Security would make it seem.

As TPM reported yesterday, DropZone's license with the Alaska Division of Corporations, Businesses, and Professional Licensing has expired.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/10/how-involved-is-the-head-of-joe-millers-town-hall-security-team-with-the-alaska-citizens-militia.php?ref=fpb