Ethan Meltzer, now 24, was a member of a neo-Nazi and pro-jihadist organization called the Order of the Nine Angles (O9A). The federal prosecutors in his trial defined the organization as “neo-Nazi, Satanist and jihadist, which advocates white supremacy and extreme violence” and its ultimate goal is “to bring about the downfall of Western society.”
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He enlisted in 2018 and a year later was stationed in Italy, as part of the 173rd Airborne Division of the US Army. During his service, Meltzer began browsing extremist forums on the Internet, which included videos of jihadist attacks against American forces and far-right and neo-Nazi propaganda. The prosecutors in his trial stated that from the beginning he enlisted in order to serve in a “mole” for the organization.