Ryan Gibson Anderson (born 1978), is an American former Washington State National Guardsman convicted by court-martial on September 3, 2004, on five counts of attempting to provide aid to the terrorist network al-Qaeda.
At the time of the court-martial verdict, the jury of nine commissioned officers reduced Anderson's rank to private and gave him a dishonorable discharge.
They monitored his online activities, such as logging onto extremist Internet chat rooms, trying to get in touch with al-Qaeda operatives, and offering the organization information on United States military capabilities and weaponry.
Shortly before his arrest, Anderson was recorded on video surveillance providing tactical information on methods of killing U.S. troops and destroying tanks to undercover agents posing as al-Qaeda operatives.
Shannen Rossmiller, a former municipal judge in Conrad, Montana and amateur cyber spy, is credited with first encountering Anderson in an online Islamist chat room.