• Serves as a news outlet and propaganda machine for such domestic terrorist groups as the Animal Liberation Front (ALF)
• Publishes communiqués received from ALF detailing bomb and death threats

Established as the public face of the secretive Animal Liberation Front (ALF), the North American Animal Liberation Press Office (NAALPO) acts as a clearinghouse for information about underground animal-rights activities, detailing and glorifying the philosophies, strategies, and destructive deeds of ALF activists. NAALPO was officially established in 2004 to serve as a news outlet and propaganda machine for the ALF terror group: "Because the individuals who engage in underground actions cannot reveal their identities to anyone," explained NAALPO, "a North American Animal Liberation Press Office has been created to try to answer some of the questions as to why these actions may have been carried out, and to place the actions in a historical and philosophical context."

Based in Canoga Park, California, NAALPO maintains an extensive website that features a monthly newsletter, promotes upcoming conferences, and disseminates ALF "communiqués." Lauding the actions of ALF as the vital work of foot soldiers in a global "war" for animal rights, NAALPO blends education with advocacy -- by both reporting on and crusading for the complete "liberation" of animals from meat producers, pharmaceutical-testing facilities, and even circuses and zoos. 

The NAALPO website's "introduction" page contains a section titled "Guidelines of the Animal Liberation Front," which tells readers how they can become ALF members. These guidelines include calls for "[liberating] animals from places of abuse" and "[inflicting] economic damage to those who profit from the misery and exploitation of animals." The guidelines further note, "Any group of people who are vegetarians or vegans and who carry out actions according to these guidelines have the right to regard themselves as part of the Animal Liberation Front."

On the "history" page of its website, NAALPO draws a connection between contemporary ALF members and "freedom fighters" of the past: "The men and women of the Animal Liberation Movement pattern themselves after the freedom fighters in Nazi Germany who liberated war prisoners and Holocaust victims and destroyed equipment -- such as weapons, railways, and gas ovens that the Nazis used to torture and kill their victims. Other comparisons would include the Apartheid movement, led by Nelson Mandela, who used and supported violence in the fight for liberation in South Africa, and the current struggle by Palestinians against their Israeli oppressors."

NAALPO's press officers have recently advocated the use of physical violence as a weapon in the war for animal liberation. Most notable is NAALPO co-founder Jerry Vlasak, who says, "I think there is a use for violence in our movement. And I think it can be an effective strategy. Not only is it morally acceptable, I think that there are places where it could be used quite effectively from a pragmatic standpoint." A publication titled The ALF Primer, which teaches animal-liberation extremists how to construct incendiary devices, calls arson "by far the most potent weapon of direct action." 

The NAALPO website promotes Marxist professor Ward Churchill's book Terrorists or Freedom Fighters: Reflections on the Liberation of Animals -- which was edited by NAALPO press officer Steven Best. In this book, Churchill condones violence against the meatpacking industry and argues that groups like ALF need to consider using methods more violent than mere vandalism -- such as murder -- to make their presence felt.