The meeting was critical in influencing the young American militia movement and sparking the transition in radical right and white supremacist violence in the United States towards leaderless resistance.[10][11][12]
The Rendezvous lasted for three days. The proceedings were audio-recorded and compiled into a "Special Report" by Peters.[2][14]
Events included meetings in multiple subject-matter committees. Proposals ranged from circulating petitions to holding unofficial citizen grand juries.[9] In particular, the "SWAT" ("Sacred Warfare Action Tactics") committee was responsible for hearing the essay on methods of leaderless violence presented by Beam. In Beam's explanation, "leaderless resistance" is an avenue where "a thousand different small phantom cells" could effectively overwhelm Federal forces in place of a vulnerable pyramidal hierarchy.[8][15][16] The essay was reproduced in whole in the meeting report.[10]
The attendees of the Rocky Mountain Rendezvous also drafted and sent an open letter to the family of Vicki and Samuel Weaver, the civilian casualties of Ruby Ridge, that acknowledged their "mortal sacrifices."[8]
Religious underpinnings
The Rendezvous placed a special emphasis on Christian theology.[11] In multiple references to the Bible, the SWAT committee identified that perpetrators of lone wolf attacks are actors under the command of Jesus Christ.[8] The introduction to the Special Report by Peters quoted Book of Numbers 35:33:
So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.
Paradoxically, some attendees criticized the meeting's support for Randy Weaver, widower and father of Vicki and Samuel Weaver, for having "a poor reputation as a Christian man." This criticism was disregarded as irrelevant.[9]
Legacy
The Rocky Mountain Rendezvous was a "watershed" in right-wing extremism.[10] The Rendezvous placed leaderless resistance at the forefront of right-wing extremist strategy and provided a blueprint for future violent action—in part a brainchild of Beam. Leaderless resistance shifted violence away from the "robes of the KKK and the uniforms of the Aryan Nations."[1][4] Thus, lone wolves and small, secret cells are relied on.[10]