THERMCON
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THERMCON was the code name of a FBI operation which targeted members of the environmental organization Earth First! between 1987 and 1989, culminating in the arrest of five following an attempt to destroy powerlines in the Arizona desert. Four of those arrested, activists from Prescott, Arizona, claim to have been only peripherally associated with Earth First!. The fifth, Dave Foreman, was not involved in the powerline incident but was nonetheless charged with conspiracy, on the grounds that he had once given a copy of the book Ecodefense to one of the other four.
Short for "Thermite Conspiracy" - thermite being an incendiary mixture of powdered aluminium oxide and iron oxide - Operation THERMCON employed more than 50 FBI agents and involved the infiltration of an Arizona Earth First! group by FBI agent Michael Fain and informant Ron Frazier. Despite the name "Thermite Conspiracy", cutting torches were the tool of choice for the group in the attempt to down the Arizona powerlines.
According to an FBI field office file released to Earth First! activists Judi Bari and Darryl Cherney in 1996, FBI agents provocateur associated with THERMCON spent two years winning the trust of the small group, actively encouraging them to sabotage powerlines and attempting - unsuccessfully - to convince the group that they should use, and even offering to buy, explosives for this purpose.
FBI agents also selected the site and purchased and transported cutting equipment prior to the sabotage attempt on 30 May, 1989, leading to accusations of entrapment.