Before Barack Obama became the 44th U.S. President, there was a plot by members of a Wayward, Fla., chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in September 2008 to assassinate him, according to the New York Post.
The plan involved meticulously tracking Obama’s motorcade schedules, securing .50-caliber rifles, and arranging getaway vehicles to be destroyed after the attack. However, their plot was foiled from within.
Joe Moore, an insider who had been initiated into the Klan a year prior, had earned their trust with an embellished military record and expert marksmanship. He was chosen to be the one to pull the trigger. Unbeknownst to his fellow Klansmen, Moore was a counterterrorism informant working to thwart their assassination plot.
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“I had to follow my orders and do whatever it took to prevent the assassination of Barack Obama,” Moore writes in his memoir, White Robes and Broken Badges. “Because I was the only one who could.”
As a patriotic American who despised bullies, Moore played a critical role in the FBI’s first-ever undercover operation targeting the KKK. He participated in every activity, from cross burnings to witnessing acts of violence and eerie rituals, all while wearing a recording device. During his time undercover, Moore encountered numerous law enforcement officers and government officials who were secretly aligned with the Klan.
Moore’s decision to mislead his Klan comrades ultimately saved Obama’s life, paving the way for him to become the first Black president of the United States. Moore, originally from Jacksonville, endured years of rubbing shoulders with devout racists.
He recalls one member showing him bunkers filled with firearms and tactical gear, while another gave him a tour of a backyard incinerator he referred to as “my own personal crematorium.”
Living a double life took a toll on Moore, who had to practice various techniques to maintain his cover, including listening to specific music and wearing an American flag-embroidered cap to help him get into character.
However, keeping his realities separate was a constant challenge. “The deeper I became entrenched in the Klan, the more of a challenge it became to leave all that at the door when I went home to my wife and son,” writes Moore, who relied on breathing techniques from his military days to cope.
After Obama was elected and following the protests over Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, the Klan saw a surge in membership. Despite the risks, Moore went undercover again in 2013, infiltrating another Klan chapter in Bronson, Fla. His first undercover mission ended prematurely to protect his cover, but by then, Moore had already implicated four prominent Klan members in a conspiracy to murder a Black man named Warren Williams over a personal grudge.
The fallout from Moore’s work was significant. A gun battle in 2015 outside a Home Depot in Alachua, Fla., forced Moore and his family into hiding, taking on new identities. “I’d lie awake nights thinking that my payback for the most successful infiltration of the Ku Klux Klan in FBI history was losing my house, almost all my possessions, my friends, and by all accounts, my future,” Moore recalls.
His efforts were not in vain. In 2017, the four Klan members were sentenced to prison, and Moore’s work dealt a significant blow to the organization. However, he notes that many former Klan members migrated to other extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.
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“I take great pride in dealing a hateful organization a devastating near deathblow,” writes Moore, who now lives with his family in an undisclosed location. “The overall movement in general, though, was far, far from dead or even in decline.”
Reflecting on his past, Moore criticizes the state of America, pointing to former President Donald Trump for contributing to the nation’s current divisions. He draws a line from the Klan to modern white nationalist groups and the January 6 insurrection, emphasizing the ongoing threat to democracy.
“The Klan and the like-minded groups it has produced have learned to balance bullets with bluster and pistols with paper, both of which have the potential to do far more irrevocable damage on the state of our democracy than the former,” Moore writes. “With the 2024 election looming, and democracy itself on the ballot… we should be very afraid.”
