National Socialist Resistance Front
The National Socialist Resistance Front was the final organizational iteration of the Atomwaffen Division lineage, founded by Ryan Hatfield in September 2022 as a successor to the National Socialist Order and formally dissolved in November 2024.
The National Socialist Resistance Front (NSRF) was the fourth organizational name in a lineage running from Atomwaffen Division (AWD, 2015) through AWD's dissolution, the National Socialist Order (NSO, 2020), and a split within NSO to the NSRF (2022). It was founded and led by Ryan Hatfield (alias "Ryan Arthur") and operated primarily through the propaganda website American Futurist. NSRF was formally dissolved on November 8, 2024.
Founding
On September 7, 2022, American Futurist severed ties with the NSO. On September 12, 2022, Hatfield announced the formation of NSRF via a blog post, citing displeasure with Order of Nine Angles (O9A) ideological infiltration of NSO as the reason for the organizational break. The NSRF explicitly identified itself as a return to the original AWD mission before the Tempel ov Blood infiltration that began in 2017.
Russell's Recruitment Activity
AWD founder Brandon Russell, then on supervised release in Orlando, Florida following his August 2021 prison release, attempted to recruit a confidential FBI informant (Christopher Jackson) into NSRF in fall 2022, telling Jackson that prospective members included individuals from Maryland and the Carolinas. This recruitment activity was presented at Russell's 2025 trial as evidence of his continued organizational involvement in the AWD successor network during the same period he was planning the Baltimore substation conspiracy.1
Dissolution
Ryan Hatfield announced NSRF's formal dissolution on November 8, 2024, via American Futurist, citing organizational difficulties and characterizing the dissolution as the end of the AWD lineage as an organizational structure, while maintaining that the ideological project would continue in dispersed form.
Sources
- SPLC Hatewatch, Hannah Gais. "Leaked Chats, Documents Show Atomwaffen Founder's Path to Terror Plot." February 2023. https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hatewatch/leaked-chats-documents-show-atomwaffen-founders-path-terror-plot/; Tracking Terrorism. "National Socialist Order Announces Reformation as National Socialist Resistance Front." September 12, 2022. https://trackingterrorism.org/chatter/national-socialist-order-nso-reforms-as-national-socialist-resistance-front-nsrf-trac/; Counter Extremism Project. "Atomwaffen Division / National Socialist Order / National Socialist Resistance Front." https://www.counterextremism.com/supremacy/atomwaffen-division-national-socialist-order ↩
Local network
National Socialist Resistance Front's direct connections. Click any node to navigate, drag to pan, scroll (or pinch) to zoom. + 2‑hop expands the neighborhood one level further.