HARRIET TUBMAN-SARAH CONNOR BRIGADE DISARMAMENT ACTION: Before dawn on May 10, 1992, Keith Kjoller, a peace activist, graphic artist and cinema worker from Santa Cruz, CA; and Peter Lumsdaine, a father, peace worker, writer from Santa Cruz, entered a secure area of the Space Systems complex at Rockwell International in Seal Beach, CA, wearing Rockwell shirts and work clothes. They entered Building 86 where they used wood-splitting axes to break open steel-mesh reinforced windows and a door of two dust-free "clean rooms" containing nine NAVSTAR global positioning satellites, which were being readied for delivery to the U.S. Air Force. Delicate components in the seven uncompleted satellites were also exposed to potentially damaging unfiltered air as well as tiny fragments of metal and glass. One completed NAVSTAR was struck 60 times with an ax. (This satellite, awaiting shipment to the NAVSTAR launch complex at Cape Canaveral, had to be completely disassembled by Rockwell technicians to assess and repair the damage, which totaled $2.75 million). As they were about to ax another satellite, Peter was seized at gunpoint while Keith was assaulted and choked unconscious by Rockwell personnel-- despite both activists declaring themselves unarmed and intending not to threaten or struggle with them. They were then taken into police custody. 
    The NAVSTAR GPS system, is increasingly used for guiding advanced U.S. weapons and military/police assault teams to their targets -- from bombers and cruise missiles during the Gulf War to counterinsurgency/search-and-destroy operations throughout the Third World. NAVSTAR is central to Pentagon preparations for launching a nuclear first-strike. Keith and Peter named their disarmament effort "The Harriet-Tubman Sarah Connor Brigade," honoring the historical conductor of the "underground railroad" and the fictional nuclear resistance fighter of the popular movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day. In their action they sought to commit maximum damage, thereby challenging plowshares and the wider disarmament movement to go beyond symbolic witness in addressing the war machines key technologies. Unlike other disarmament or plowshares actions, they also intended to flee Rockwell if they were able to following their action. 
    Held initially on $1 million bond and "preventive detention," their case was assigned to an FBI "investigation and terrorism" agent; and they were charged with damaging property manufactured for the U.S. government, a felony carrying up to ten years. Choosing to direct resources toward resistance organizing rather than a trial by an unjust government, they entered into a "guilty" plea agreement. Their bond was reduced to $50,000 and they were released in mid-June for four weeks under electronic monitoring. On September 21, 1992, in accordance with the "guilty" plea agreement, Peter was sentenced to two years prison, and Keith to eighteen months: with three years probation and $15,000 restitution being ordered for each of them by U.S. Judge Gary Taylor, who acknowledged the historical legacy of civil disobedience in his court room. Keith was released on parole from Lompoc Federal Prison in late September 1993 and Peter was transferred to a halfway house in December 1993 and in March 1994 was released on parole.