Atomwaffen Division (AWD)

Overview

Atomwaffen Division (AWD), or National Socialist Resistance Front, is an international neo-Nazi terrorist organization founded by Brandon Russell in 2015 after announcing its formation on the now-defunct neo-Nazi internet form IronMarch.org. AWD has cells across Europe and North America, with most of its members residing in the United States. AWD members are known to have simultaneous memberships and affiliations with other neo-Nazi groups such as The Base, Order of Nine Angles (O9A), and others. Since its founding, AWD members have been implicated in almost a dozen murders around the world.

Ideology

Much of AWD’s ideology draws from James Mason, a former member of the American Nazi Party (ANP) and leader of the National Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF), whose collection of essays known as SIEGE advocated for an all-white American ethnostate through the use of terrorism. Encouraging current and prospective members to read SIEGE is known as “Siege-pilling.” AWD also draws inspirational influence from esoteric Nazism and the occult, as their recommended reading list includes works from Savitri Devi, Charles Manson, and David Myatt (aka Anton Long), founder of the Satanic neo-Nazi group Order of Nine Angles. Some members of AWD have sympathized with Salafi and jihadist terrorists, often citing their culture of martyrdom and insurgency as inspiration for their tactics and propaganda.

AWD began recruiting young men in 2017 by canvasing university campuses such as the University of Chicago, the University of Central Florida, and Boston University, urging students to “join their local Nazis.” In addition to college students, AWD often targets veterans and current members of the U.S. military to train recruits in firearms and military tactics.

Prominent Figures

Brandon Russell

First appearing on Iron March in March 2014, founder Brandon Russell made international contact with fellow neo-Nazis from organized groups, stating that AWD is “a very fanatical, ideological band of comrades who do both activism and military training.” Growing up in the Bahamas, Russell began attending the University of South Florida in 2012 as a nuclear physics student and joined the Florida Army National Guard. Shortly after AWD’s founding, Russell traveled to a neo-Nazi event in Russia in 2015, where he made contact with organizations such as Greece’s Golden Dawn, the Nordic Resistance Movement, and designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM).

Notable Events and Activities

In May 2017, after the murder of two of Russell’s roommates by fellow AWD member Devon Arthurs, FBI investigators discovered a large amount of explosive materials in his garage, prompting his arrest and the discovery of multiple rifles, body armor, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Prosecutors alleged that Russell planned to target civilians, synagogues, and nuclear facilities with the explosives. In September 2017, Russell pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered destructive device and was sentenced to five years in prison in January 2018.

AWD members have been linked to nearly a dozen murders and terrorist attack plots. In December 2017, Nicholas Giampa shot and killed his girlfriend’s parents over a dispute regarding his neo-Nazi ideology. Giampa died in August 2024 while in custody in Virginia. A month later, in January 2018, Samuel Woodward murdered Blaze Burnstein, an openly gay Jewish college student in Orange County, California. Woodward allegedly attended multiple AWD events and training camps prior to the murder.

In February 2023, following his release from prison in August 2021, federal prosecutors indicted Russell along with his girlfriend and co-conspirator, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, for planning attacks on electric substations in Baltimore, hoping to cause a “cascading failure.” In September 2024, Clendaniel received an 18-year sentence in federal prison for her role in the plot. In February 2025, Russell was convicted of conspiracy to damage an energy facility. Russell's sentencing is set for June 17, 2025, where he faces a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.

Symbology and Iconography

Trefoil

The Atomwaffen flag prominently features the trefoil industrial symbol, representing radiation from an atom. The use of this symbol is reflected in the group's name, which is German for "nuclear weapons."

Totenkopf

Atomwaffen also frequently uses the totenkopf, or "death's head" in German. The totenkopf underwent multiple iterations throughout Germany history, but was adopted by the Nazi leader Julius Schreck, head of the Schutzstaffel (SS), the organization responsible for administering concentration camps during the Holocaust.