Chip Berlet

Who is Chip Berlet?

John Foster "Chip" Berlet is an American investigative research analyst, Scholar, Investigative Journalist, photojournalist, writer and activist specializing in the study of extreme right-wing movements in the United States, particularly the religious right, white supremacists, homophobic groups, antisemitism, paramilitary organizations, and the various groups led by Lyndon LaRouche. He also studies the spread of conspiracy theories in the media and on the Internet, and political cults on both the right and left of the political spectrum. Since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, Berlet has often appeared in the media to discuss extremist news stories.

He was a senior analyst at Political Research Associates, a non-profit group that tracks right-wing networks, and is known as one of the first researchers to have drawn attention to the efforts by white supremacist and antisemitic groups to recruit farmers in the Midwestern United States in the 1970s and 1980s. He is the co-author of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort and editor of Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash.

Berlet, a paralegal, was a vice-president of the National Lawyers Guild.