The spy network that took on America's Nazi groups

American white supremacist movements have historically utilized grievance politics and media-savvy stunts to recruit disaffected individuals, a trend that persists from post-World War II groups like the Columbians to contemporary organizations. Jewish advocacy groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, historically countered these threats by infiltrating extremist cells to gather intelligence when federal authorities, such as J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, refused to intervene. The recent Justice Department indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center for its use of paid undercover informants mirrors these historical tensions, raising questions about the ethics and necessity of private surveillance. Author Steven J. Ross, who documents this legacy in *The Secret War Against Hate*, argues that these extremist movements are not new but represent a cyclical, ongoing challenge that thrives when government oversight fails to protect vulnerable populations from organized hate.