Aryan Nations (AN) is an umbrella group for factions of the Klan and other right-wing extremists.   Aryan Nations founder Richard Butler dubbed Aryan Nation's headquarters in Hayden Lake, Idaho, the "international headquarters of the White race," (ADL, 245), and the white supremacist community seems to agree.  The RAND Institute describes Aryan Nations as the "first truly nationwide terrorist network." <p>  Aryan Nations advocates Christian Identity, white supremacy, and neo-Nazism.  Its goal is to form "a national racial state.  We shall have it at whatever price is necessary.  Just as our forefathers purchased their freedom in blood so must we.  We will have to kill the bastards." (Butler, quoted in ADL, 244) <p>  Until Aryan Nations lost its Hayden Lake property in 2000, the compound was the site of regular white supremacist festivals known as the World Congress of Aryan Nations.  The festivals trained attendees in urban terrorism and guerilla warfare and gave prominent white supremacists a chance to network.  The group ran an "Aryan Nations Academy" in the early 1980s to teach young people the principles of white nationalism.  The group has been reaching out to prisoners with a message of white supremacy since 1979.

During the 1990s, Aryan Nations suffered from internal struggles, and several key leaders departed.  In September of 2000, a jury awarded Victoria and Jason Keenan $6.3 million in damages because the two had been chased and shot at by Aryan Nations guards outside the Idaho compound.  Butler and Aryan Nations were bankrupted, and the Idaho compound was seized.  The group has currently splintered into three factions: one headed by Butler (since deceased), one located in Pennsylvania and led by August Kreis and Charles Juba, and a group calling itself The Church of the Sons of YHVH/Legion of Saints (Church of the Sons of Yahweh), led by Ray Redfeairn (since deceased) and Morris Gulett.

The FBI was not actually aware of the existence of the ARA until one of its members was apprehended, since the group had not claimed responsibility for any of its robberies.  When Richard Lee Guthrie was arrested in January of 1996 as a suspect in one of the 22 robberies that the ARA had committed, he told police about the ARA and gave them the location of four of his accomplices.  Police then arrested Pete Langaan, Mark Thomas, Scott Stedeford, and Kevin McCarthy.  Mike Brescia was arrested a year later.  Guthrie hanged himself in his cell soon after fingering his associates.  The other five members of ARA were all sent to prison for their crimes.  <br /><p>No further crimes have been connected with members of the Aryan Republican Army, and, as far as authorities know, the group ceased to exist when its six known members were arrested.  According to Mike Reynolds of the Southern Poverty Law Center, however, it is likely that associates of the group remain at large.  "These people had a support system.  They had safe-houses and very good false documents.  They were clearly preparing for something beyond bank robberies."<br />