![\"FBI](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-06-04_15-59-16-401-e1749079510107.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n WASHINGTON D.C.\u2013\u2013<\/strong>Night-and-day different visions of the FBI relationships with factory farming and animal advocacy emerged just a click apart on June 3,\u00a0 2025 from Animal Wellness Action president Wayne Pacelle and Wired <\/em>investigative journalist Del Cameron.<\/p>\n Pacelle envisioned what could be,\u00a0 might be,\u00a0 and probably will not be under the Donald Trump administration,\u00a0 politically indebted as it is to the animal industry-dominated \u201cred states.\u201d<\/p>\n Taking an optimistic view,\u00a0 Pacelle in a blog posting heralded the introduction in the House of Representatives of a pair of bills entitled the FBI Animal Cruelty Taskforce Act and the Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cameron by contrast took an extensive look at the longstanding FBI relationship with the Animal Agriculture Alliance, \u00a0which describes itself as \u201ca nonprofit trade group representing the interests of U.S. farmers, \u00a0ranchers, \u00a0veterinarians, \u00a0and others across America\u2019s food supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cToday, \u00a0with Animal Wellness Action\u2019s leadership,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle began, \u00a0\u201cU.S. Representatives Josh Gottheimer,\u201d\u00a0 a New Jersey Democrat, \u00a0\u201cand Nicole Malliotakis,\u201d\u00a0 a New York Republican,\u00a0 \u201chave introduced the FBI Animal Cruelty Taskforce Act \u2014 a groundbreaking measure to create a dedicated set of FBI agents to concentrate on investigating acts of cruelty and arresting perpetrators.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cOur nation has a set of federal anti-cruelty laws,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle explained.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is the Preventing Animal Cruelty & Torture Act, \u00a0the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, \u00a0the Pet & Women\u2019s Safety Act, \u00a0and others,\u201d\u00a0 all gradually added as amendments to the federal Animal Welfare Act of 1970,\u00a0 which in turn built upon the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act of 1966.<\/p>\n \u201cDedicated FBI agents assembled into a task force at the Department of Justice,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle dreamed aloud, \u00a0\u201cwould concentrate on dogfighting, \u00a0cockfighting, \u00a0the production and distribution of so-called \u2018animal crush\u2019 videos, \u00a0and other heinous acts illegal under federal law,\u201d\u00a0 as Congress presumably intended when reinforcing and expanding the Animal Welfare Act,\u00a0 bit by bit over more than half a century.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe team envisioned by the FBI Animal Cruelty Taskforce Act,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle dreamed on,\u00a0 \u201cwould work hand-in-hand with a team of prosecutors that would be formed with the passage of the Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act, \u00a0H.R. 1477,\u201d\u00a0 introduced by Representatives David Joyce,\u00a0 an Ohio Republican,\u00a0 and Joe Neguse,\u00a0 a Colorado Democrat.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we crack down on animal cruelty,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle argued,\u00a0 \u201cwe make our communities safer, \u00a0because malicious acts of violence against animals are invariably tangled up with other criminal conduct, \u00a0such as narcotics trafficking, \u00a0domestic violence, \u00a0human trafficking, \u00a0and illegal firearms,\u201d\u00a0 as ANIMALS 24-7<\/strong> has detailed case by case for decades.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe FBI has conducted a recent set of busts [of dogfighters and cockfighters],\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Pacelle mentioned,\u00a0 \u201cbut even the folks at the FBI know that they are just scratching the surface of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n (See Former NFL player Leshon Johnson hit again for pit bull fighting<\/a> and Red-faced feds ICE alleged cockfighters after ANIMALS 24-7 points finger<\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIn the indictment earlier this year of former NFL player LeShon Johnson,\u201d\u00a0 Pacelle recalled,\u00a0 \u2018FBI director Kash Patel signaled he understands the gravity of animal cruelty and its links to other crimes.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FBI will not tolerate criminals who harm innocent animals for their twisted form of entertainment,\u201d \u00a0Pacelle paraphrased Patel.<\/p>\n \u201cHe also emphasized that these cases are not isolated \u2014 that animal cruelty investigations are \u201ca precursor to larger,\u00a0 organized crime efforts,\u00a0 similar to trafficking and homicides.\u201d<\/p>\n Kash Patel. (TikTok photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Finished Pacelle,\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re urging Congress to pass both bills without delay. \u00a0Or to have FBI director Patel and attorney general Pam Bondi seize the moment and create the sections on their own.\u201d<\/p>\n Agriculture secretary Brooke Rollin,\u00a0 unfortunately,\u00a0 could be expected to object directly to Trump if either Patel or Bondi did any such thing.<\/p>\n Further,\u00a0 creating a division of the FBI and\/or Department of Justice specifically to address cruelty to animals,\u00a0 urgently needed as it is,\u00a0 would of necessity require hiring a significant number of qualified and experienced personnel.\u00a0 This would be an expensive measure likely to run afoul of the Department of Governmental Efficiency,\u00a0 even if all of the personnel needed could be found among the federal staff who were fired earlier in 2025,\u00a0 but now must be rehired,\u00a0 according to various court decisions.<\/p>\n Hans Ruesch.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Apart from those political and economic obstacles to the proposed FBI Animal Cruelty Taskforce Act and Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act, \u00a0there is also the necessity of transforming the culture of the FBI to view animal advocates as allies in law enforcement instead of enemies.<\/p>\n Since the formation of the National Society for Medical Research in 1945,\u00a0 founded in part to use the momentum of World War II urgency to squelch anti-vivisectionism,\u00a0 animal use industries have sought to persuade the FBI that animal advocates are a threat to national security.<\/p>\n Whether politically conservative,\u00a0 like the \u201cscientific\u201d wing of anti-vivisection advocacy led by evolution-denying fundamentalist Christians and the late author Hans Reusch (1913-2007),\u00a0 or \u201cleft,\u201d\u00a0 like the civil rights activists turned animal rights leaders Henry Spira (1927-1998) and Tom Regan (1938-2017),\u00a0 or as firmly in the middle as Animal Welfare Institute founder Christine Stevens (1918-2002),\u00a0 whose husband Roger L. Stevens founded the Kennedy Center and the National Endowment for the Arts,\u00a0 practically anyone of animal advocacy prominence has been investigated by the FBI.<\/p>\n Ryan Shapiro. (Beth Clifton collage based on photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ryan Shapiro,\u00a0 elder brother of Paul Shapiro,\u00a0 who directed farmed animal campaigns under Wayne Pacelle at the Humane Society of the U.S. from 2005 to 2017,\u00a0 has for more than 20 years filed Freedom of Information Act requests\u2013\u2013reportedly more than 1,000 in all\u2013\u2013seeking documentation of just who and what the FBI has been looking at within animal advocacy,\u00a0 and why.<\/p>\n In some instances,\u00a0 for example investigations of the multiple incarnations of the \u201cAnimal Liberation Front,\u201d\u00a0 and of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty [SHAC],\u00a0 the motivation has been obvious:\u00a0 the organizations themselves have claimed credit for covert illegal actions,\u00a0 including arsons,\u00a0 break-ins,\u00a0 property damage,\u00a0 and violent threats to people working in animal industries.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Animal Enterprise Protection Act of 1992 and the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act of 2006 [AETA] both specifically encouraged and empowered the FBI to investigate such actions,\u00a0 and likewise encouraged and empowered the Department of Justice to prosecute the perpetrators.<\/p>\n About 20 people,\u00a0 about 40 in all,\u00a0 are known to have been convicted of offenses under the Animal Enterprise Protection Act and AETA.<\/p>\n But the vast majority of animal advocates investigated by the FBI are not known to have had anything to do with anything addressed by either the Animal Enterprise Protection Act or AETA,\u00a0 and if they had anything to do with anyone who did,\u00a0 it was as casual and fleeting as responding to an email or talking to someone met in a hallway after a speaking appearance at an animal advocacy conference.<\/p>\n Dell Cameron.<\/strong><\/em> Dell Cameron of Wired<\/em> made extensive use of the responses to Ryan Shapiro\u2019s Freedom of Information Act requests in compiling his June 3,\u00a0 2025 report \u201cHow the Farm Industry Spied on Animal Rights Activists and Pushed the FBI to Treat Them as Bioterrorists<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHundreds of emails and internal documents reviewed by Wired<\/em>,\u201d\u00a0 Cameron began, \u00a0\u201creveal top lobbyists and representatives of America\u2019s agricultural industry led a persistent and often covert campaign to surveil, \u00a0discredit, \u00a0and suppress animal rights organizations for nearly a decade, \u00a0while relying on corporate spies to infiltrate meetings and functionally serve as informants for the FBI.<\/p>\n \u201cThe documents,\u201d\u00a0 Cameron explained,\u00a0 \u201cmostly obtained through public records requests by the nonprofit Property of the People,\u201d\u00a0 Ryan Shapiro\u2019s organization, \u00a0\u201cdetail a secretive and long-running collaboration between the FBI\u2019s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate and the Animal Agriculture Alliance.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSince at least 2018,\u201d\u00a0 wrote Cameron,\u00a0 \u201cdocuments show the Animal Agriculture Alliance has been supplying federal agents with intelligence on the activities of animal rights groups such as Direct Action Everywhere,\u00a0 with records of emails and meetings reflecting the industry\u2019s broader mission to convince authorities that activists are the pre-eminent \u2018bioterrorism\u2019 threat to the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cThe records further show,\u201d\u00a0 Cameron alleged, \u00a0\u201cthat state authorities have cited protests as a reason to conceal information about disease outbreaks at factory farms from the public,\u201d\u00a0 apparently even when some of those disease outbreaks might have jeopardized public health.<\/p>\n \u201cConfidential documents obtained separately by Wired<\/em>,\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0Cameron wrote,\u00a0 \u201creveal undercover operators for the Animal Agriculture Alliance embedded within [Direct Action Everywhere] fed the trade organization daily reports about protests and meetings, \u00a0as well as photographs, \u00a0audio recordings, \u00a0and other documentation.\u201d<\/p>\n From \u201cSpy versus spy,\u201d drawn for MAD magazine by Antonio Proh\u00edas.<\/strong><\/em> The FBI itself could not legally undertake such surveillance without probable cause of a federal crime being underway,\u00a0 if only in planning,\u00a0 but the Animal Agriculture Alliance,\u00a0 or any non-governmental entity,\u00a0 could.<\/p>\n \u201cAt a regulatory conference in early 2018,\u201d\u00a0 Cameron recounted, \u00a0\u201cthe Animal Agriculture Alliance delivered a talk on \u2018Bioterrorism and activist groups.\u2019 \u00a0Internal Animal Agriculture Alliance documents show that, \u00a0within a few months, \u00a0the FBI contacted the Animal Agriculture Alliance with a request.\u201d<\/p>\n Quoted Cameron from an Animal Agriculture Alliance memo,\u00a0 \u201cThey reached out to us a few weeks ago and asked for records of activist incidents on farms. \u00a0At the same meeting, \u00a0members discussed their difficulty getting prosecutors to charge activists with crimes, \u00a0with one industry representative saying the issue was their lack of legal standing.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe rep suggested calling on law enforcement to deploy \u2018terrorism\u2019 charges instead\u2014as one national pork producer had reportedly considered. \u00a0The Animal Agriculture Alliance had already \u201cbeen in contact with the FBI about this situation,\u201d the notes claim.<\/p>\n \u201cIn an email to Wired<\/em>, \u201c\u00a0 Cameron wrote,\u00a0 \u201cAnimal Agriculture Alliance spokesperson Emily Ellis denied the organization has a formal relationship with the FBI.\u201d<\/p>\n Ellis acknowledged,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 that \u201cIn the course of our work to support a secure food system, \u00a0we have occasionally communicated with authorities to flag concerns where there is a potential risk to people, \u00a0animals, \u00a0or critical infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cThe Alliance cannot speak to how law enforcement officials choose to communicate or act on information,\u201d \u00a0Ellis told Cameron. \u00a0\u201cWe do not direct the actions of any government agency,\u00a0 and we categorically reject the suggestion that the Alliance instructs or influences the FBI or any such organization.\u201d<\/p>\n Countered Cameron,\u00a0 \u201cRecords show that in the spring of 2019, \u00a0the Animal Agriculture Alliance moved to establish a firmer connection with the FBI.<\/p>\n \u201cIn an email to the bureau that May,\u00a0 the group\u2019s then-president and CEO, \u00a0Kay Johnson Smith,\u00a0 noted having met with Stephen Goldsmith, \u00a0a veterinarian at the FBI\u2019s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate.<\/p>\n (Brother Wolf vegan doughnuts)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cSmith then called on the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate to help the Animal Agriculture Alliance share information about Direct Action Everywhere \u2018with law enforcement officials nationwide,\u2019\u00a0 claiming the group is planning an \u2018extremist campaign.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n As an alleged example of the Direct Action Everywhere \u201cextremist\u201d campaign,\u00a0 Cameron mentioned,\u00a0 \u201cSmith passed along an alert about an upcoming Direct Action Everywhere protest, \u00a0a march from a local police station to a nearby grocery store.\u201d<\/p>\n A march from a cop house to a grocery store would not normally alarm law enforcement unless the cops perceived some risk that the marchers might eat all the doughnuts.<\/p>\n Agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins is in charge of chickens in the Donald Trump White House.\u00a0 (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Cameron noted,\u00a0 however,\u00a0 that \u201cThe Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate issued an intelligence memo roughly three months later titled \u2018Animal Rights Extremists Likely Increase the Spread of Virulent Newcastle Disease [vND] in California,\u2019 \u00a0citing with \u2018high confidence\u2019 claims that violent extremists were \u2018likely\u2019 to \u2018spread virulent Newcastle disease.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Newcastle disease is longtime menace to the poultry industry,\u00a0 especially in California, \u00a0spread chiefly for more than 50 years by cockfighters.<\/p>\n \u201cAnalysts at the Northern California Regional Intelligence Center (NCRIC), a multi-agency hub that supports law enforcement, \u00a0soon threw cold water on the FBI\u2019s claims,\u201d\u00a0 Cameron continued.<\/p>\n \u201cThe agency further noted,\u201d\u00a0 Cameron said, \u00a0\u201cthat despite law enforcement\u2019s claims that Direct Action Everywhere \u2018almost certainly\u2019 violated biosecurity protocols, \u00a0police reports showed activists had taken \u2018biosecurity precautions to prevent contamination or spread of disease.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Also in late 2019,\u00a0 Cameron added, \u00a0\u201cGoldsmith\u2019s chemical-biological countermeasure unit within the Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate quietly circulated a presentation to state law enforcement officials pointing to \u2018unsubstantiated reports\u2019 that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals had played some sort of role in the 2015 avian flu outbreak\u2014allegedly collecting \u2018contaminated carcasses\u2019 in an effort to spread the virus.<\/p>\n \u201cGoldsmith had already previously dismissed a similar claim while working for the same unit four years prior,\u201d\u00a0 Cameron learned.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cMichael Payne, \u00a0an outreach coordinator at the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security,\u201d\u00a0 at the University of California Davis campus,\u00a0 Cameron reported,\u00a0 months later \u201cissued a memo under the rural taskforce\u2019s letterhead encouraging his \u2018FBI colleagues\u2019 to read an article translated and amplified by a Beijing-based podcast host.\u00a0 The article concerns a Chinese \u2018swine stir-fry syndicate\u2019 purportedly using drones to spread African swine flu in an alleged scheme to manipulate the price of pork.<\/p>\n \u201cPayne suggested weaponizing the allegations,\u201d\u00a0 Cameron summarized, \u00a0\u201cto achieve specific policy goals such as allowing farmers to declare livestock facilities \u2018no fly zones,\u2019\u201d\u00a0 to avoid drone photography of their operations.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cPayne\u2019s email notes that he forwarded the article to a slew of local sheriffs\u2019 departments, as well as the state\u2019s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate office, \u00a0\u2018which in turn passed it on to FBI headquarters,\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Cameron said.<\/p>\n \u201cGoldsmith circulated the Animal Agriculture Alliance\u2019s tips to several FBI agents, \u00a0as well as a supervising special inspector in the animal health branch of the California Department of Food & Agriculture,\u201d\u00a0 Cameron detailed.<\/p>\n \u201cSeveral federal agencies and at least 27 state and local police departments received the email.\u00a0 At least 10 agricultural trade groups and lobbyists were copied,\u201d\u00a0 Cameron recounted.<\/p>\n Cameron went on to describe several other examples of Animal Agriculture Alliance efforts to persuade the FBI that animal advocates in general and Direct Action Everywhere are threats to national security.<\/p>\nWayne Pacelle sees sunny days ahead for the historically stormy relationship between animal advocacy & the FBI<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nAnimal Agriculture Alliance<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nFederal anti-cruelty laws need enforcement<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nDream Team for animals<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nDogfighters & cockfighters<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPacelle to Patel & Bondi:\u00a0 \u201cSeize the moment!\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNeed to change the culture of the FBI<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nRyan Shapiro files FOIAs<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nAnimal Enterprise Protection Act & AETA<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(DellCameron.com photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nDell Cameron<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cBioterrorism threat\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Wikipedia image)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nAnimal Agriculture Alliance allegedly did what FBI could not<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cDeploy terrorism charges instead\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWhat every cop fears most<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNewcastle disease<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPETA accused of spreading bird flu<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nChinese \u201cswine stir-fry syndicate\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nForwarded info to \u201cslew of local sheriffs\u201d<\/h2>\n