Captain Bob Kolenda, director of the Kansas City Regional Terrorism Early Warning Group (KCTEW), confirmed in an interview with Media Matters that an analyst with his group warned more than a year ago of the potentially dangerous consequences of former Alabama militia leader Mike Vanderboegh's novel Absolved.

On Tuesday, the Justice Department announced the arrests of four Georgia men who were allegedly inspired by the book to plot terror attacks against federal employees and civilians. Kolenda, a 34-year veteran of the Overland Park Police Department, responded to the arrests by saying his group's analyst “hit the nail on the head” in highlighting Vanderboegh's novel.

Terrorism Early Warning Groups, also known as fusion centers, bring together local, state, and federal law enforcement as well as public and private organizations to share information and detect and deter terrorist threats. KCTEW has eight full-time employees, received funding from federal grants, and is supported by the Overland Park and Kansas City police departments.

Fox News has repeatedly featured Vanderboegh as an expert on the ATF's Operation Fast and Furious in recent months, mainstreaming a former militia leader who once urged his readers to throw bricks through the windows of Democratic offices. Fox has yet to address their prior promotion of Vanderboegh in their reports on the alleged Georgia terror plot

In Vanderboegh's novel, which was self-published online, underground militia fighters declare war on the federal government over gun control laws and same-sex marriage, leading to a second American revolution. In the introduction to Absolved, Vanderboegh calls the book “a cautionary tale for the out-of-control gun cops of the ATF” and “a combination field manual, technical manual and call to arms for my beloved gunnies of the armed citizenry.” According to the Justice Department, one of the alleged domestic terrorists repeatedly cited the novel as the inspiration for their plot.

In October 2010, an analyst for KCTEW produced a report warning that Vanderboegh's novel could inspire terrorist threats. The report detailed the book's plot, particularly its protagonists' “attacks on government facilities,” highlighted Vanderboegh's history of extremism, and stated (emphasis added):

The stories told by Vanderboegh show that many in the U.S. harbor a belief that the U.S. government is planning, or will plan, a confiscation of firearms from law-abiding citizens. The degree to which he glorifies the killing of law enforcement personnel involved in fictional gun raids also shows the extent many will go to spread their ideology. Vanderboegh's and other works of literature have the possibility to inspire those with extremist beliefs to carry out similar attacks depicted in the writings.

Both the report and Kolenda stressed that possession of Vanderboegh's novel and membership in his extremist Three Percenters organization does not in and of itself indicate a propensity towards domestic terrorism. Nonetheless, Kolenda pointed out that the analyst produced the report because it was “his opinion that it could lead people to do things” of that nature.

Kolenda said that the report had been distributed to local law enforcement so that if they came across the book during their investigations, they would be informed as to its contents and author.