New designation a reminder that 1970s cop killer Joanne Chesimard remains a threat 
 
 STAFF WRITER 
 
 The Record 
 
 TYSON TRISH / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER New Jersey State Police Col. Rick Fuentes stands in front of an updated reward billboard during Thursday's press conference at the FBI building in Newark. 
 
 FILE PHOTO Joanne Chesimard is photographed in Cuba. 
 
 She’s been known as a cop killer, a violent black activist and New Jersey’s most notorious fugitive from the law since the 1970s. As of Thursday, Joanne Chesimard is now also officially considered one of the country’s most-wanted terrorists. 
 
 The addition of Chesimard, 65, to a list that has been maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation since 9/11 put a new spotlight on a case that has rankled every level of law enforcement for decades. 
 
 Chesimard took the alias of Assata Shakur and surfaced in 1984 as an exile in Cuba, where she has continued to profess her innocence and attract sympathy from supporters who question the official account of the 1973 murder of Trooper Werner Foerster, who was shot, execution-style, after he stopped Chesimard and two others for a faulty tail light. Thursday was the 40th anniversary of the murder. 
 
 Law enforcement officials said Thursday they have no evidence that Chesimard, a onetime leader of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army, poses any new threat to the United States. Instead, they said, the danger she represents — because of her connections to radical groups abroad and her privileged position in Cuba — has remained constant over the years. 
 
 "To this day, from her safe haven in Cuba, Chesimard has been given the pulpit to preach and profess, stirring supporters and groups to mobilize against the United States by any means necessary," Colonel Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, said at a press conference. 
 
 Chesimard is the 46th fugitive to be added to the list and the first woman, putting her among the ranks of Osama bin Ladin, Boston gangster James "Whitey" Bulger and members of international groups that include Hezbollah and the Taliban. Bulger was arrested in 2011. 
 
 Aaron T. Ford, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Newark Division, did not say why the government waited to give Chesimard the designation other than pointing out that she "has been proven to meet all the metrics" for inclusion. 
 
 "She’s a danger to the American government, and she was part of an organization that used threats to try to intimidate, force and coerce government actions," Ford said. 
 
 He added that the FBI also considers whether an investigation would benefit from the exposure generated by the list, which is distributed internationally. 
 
 Ford’s appearance at the podium served as an unspoken reminder of how much the country has changed since the days of the Chesimard case, when some black militant groups pegged police officers as agents of government oppression. Ford, who was recently named head of the Newark bureau, is African American. 
 
 Chesimard was convicted of Foerster’s murder in 1977, four years after the shoot-out on the New Jersey Turnpike. The case was delayed because she became pregnant while in custody. 
 
 Law enforcement officials said Chesimard fired the first shot at Trooper James Harper, wounding him in the shoulder, and then pursued both officers with a fusillade of gunshots until she was also wounded. 
 
 Foerster, already hurt in his right arm and abdomen, was executed with his own service weapon on the roadside. Chesimard’s jammed handgun was found at his side. 
 
 James Coston, who was shooting from the backseat, was mortally wounded during the fight and was found next to the abandoned vehicle. |||||  The missions were completed under the cover of darkness, in the name of animal activism. Joseph Buddenberg and Nicole Kissaneare accused of vandalizing a family-run fur shop in San Diego, freeing thousands of minks from Idaho to Pennsylvania and trying to flood the home of a fur auctioneer employee in Wisconsin. 
 
 Prosecutors say their alleged actions weren’t merely illegal, but a form of domestic terrorism. 
 
 The Oakland pair was arrested Friday by the FBI, accused of embarking on a 40,000-mile cross-country rampage on the fur industry. Their actions caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego said. 
 
 Kissane, 28, who used to live in Escondido, and Buddenberg, 31, originally from Virginia Beach, have been indicted on charges of conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act. Both were expected to be transferred from Oakland to San Diego to face the charges. 
 
 Vintage furs at Furs by Graf.— Louie Juarez + Read Caption Share Photo  
 
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 “We’ve been targeted over 30 years by these terrorists and we’re pleased law enforcement is able to apprehend people,” said Kimberley Graf, whose family owns the San Diego fur shop that was vandalized. 
 
 The covert road trips occurred the summer and fall of 2013, according to the indictment unsealed Friday. 
 
 It began in June 2013, when they drove from Portland, Ore., to Southern California in a Honda Fit, the indictment states. 
 
 On July 15, 2013, according to the charges, the pair trashed Furs by Graf in Kearny Mesa. The San Diego store was spray-painted – markings that included the words “killer” and “murder” – and the windows were destroyed with etching materials. Acid was sprayed into the shop and glue was put on the door locks. 
 
 Acid, paint and paint stripper were also used on the La Mesa and Spring Valley homes of store manager Graf and her parents. Graf said she hopes her family will be able to recover restitution for the damage incurred. 
 
 The court document lays out Buddenberg and Kissane’s alleged cross-country path after that: 
 
 • In Montana, they are accused of releasing a bobcat from Frazier Fur Farm in Plains, then the next day vandalizing the vehicles of the police chief in Darby, who is disliked by animal-rights activists, according to the indictment. 
 
 • In Idaho, they released about 1,800 mink from the Moyle Mink Ranch in Burley and destroyed the breeding grounds there, the indictment alleges. 
 
 • In the Bay Area, they allegedly glued the locks of various animal-related businesses, slashed the tires on several trucks of a meat distributor and broke windows of a market, the indictment says. 
 
 • In Minnesota, they allegedly smashed the windows and glued the locks of Ribnick Fur and Leather in Minneapolis, and later freed about 440 mink from Myhre Mink Ranch in Grand Meadow. 
 
 • In Wisconsin, they are accused of vandalizing and trying to flood the Sun Prairie home of an employee of North American Fur Auctions, and later releasing about 2,000 mink from Bonlander Farms in New Holstein. 
 
 • In Iowa, the indictment says, they freed up to 500 mink from the Donald B. Conrad Fur Farm in Keota. 
 
 • In Pennsylvania, they released 1,000 mink from Rykola Mink Farm in Ebensburg, according to the indictment. 
 
 “Communiqués” publicizing their actions were posted on websites associated with animal-rights extremism, authorities said. In the San Diego attack, a Florida animal-rights website posted a message from the Animal Liberation Front that claimed responsibility for the vandalism. The indictment does not mention whether Buddenberg and Kissane are part of any organization. 
 
 Authorities say the pair carefully planned the excursions and tried to stay off the grid to avoid detection by law enforcement. 
 
 They used only cash during their trips and avoided phones to avoid leaving traces, the indictment says. They are also accused of using encrypted email and public computers to access the Internet while on the road. 
 
 The pair were unemployed – although public records show Kissane has a cosmetology license – and raised money for their road trips by selling items on eBay and Amazon, authorities said. 
 
 In November and December 2013, authorities allege, the pair were in possession of various tools to carry out the crimes, including acid, wire cutters, handwritten lists of fur farms, latex gloves, super glue, walkie-talkies, a knife, encrypted computers and headlamps. 
 
 “Whatever your feelings about the fur industry, there are legal ways to make your opinions known,” U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement. “The conduct alleged here, sneaking around at night, stealing property and vandalizing homes and businesses with acid, glue, and chemicals, is a form of domestic terrorism and can’t be permitted to continue.” 
 
 The alleged spree was investigated by Joint Terrorism Task Forces around the country, said San Diego’s FBI Special Agent in Charge Eric Birnbaum. 
 
 Jerry Vlasak, a press officer with the North American Animal Liberation Press Office, emphasized that the pair are innocent until proven otherwise. 
 
 He said in his opinion, forms of economic sabotage and the liberation of animals are legitimate tactics to use as part of the animal rights movement. 
 
 “Whoever did these actions are heroes in our book. We support them 100 percent,” Vlasak said. 
 
 He added that the “terrorism” label is describing the wrong side. “These people are abusing animals, taking fur-bearing animals, keeping them in cages, anally electrocuting them, skinning them and selling their fur to make a fashion statement and profit. If anyone is terrorizing anyone, it’s those terrorizing these animals.” 
 
 This is not the first arrest for Buddenberg. He and three others were charged in 2009 in connection with violent protests outside the homes of UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley scientists. Buddenberg lived in Berkeley at the time. 
 
 One of the other activists charged was an Oceanside man. The federal case was ultimately dismissed.
– Not all terrorists are foreigners, and not all terrorists are men. The FBI keeps a list of the most-wanted domestic terrorists, defined as "Americans attacking Americans based on US-based extremist ideologies." And five out of the seven people on the list are women, notes Business Insider. A sampling: Donna Joan Borup: During a 1981 anti-apartheid protest In New York City, Borup allegedly tossed an acid-like substance into the eyes of a police officer. She skipped her court trial and has been on the lam ever since. Joanna Deborah Chesimard: A member of the Black Liberation Army, Chesimard shot a state trooper at point-blank rage during a traffic stop in 1973. She was imprisoned in 1977 but escaped two years later. Josephine Sunshine Overaker: The FBI accuses Overaker of attempting to burn down and destroy an energy facility as part of an attack staged by the radical environmental groups Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. Click here for the full list of wanted domestic terrorists, including the males.