Ohio Defense Force

This article is about the privately-organized militia in Ohio. For the state defense force of Ohio, see Ohio Military Reserve.

The Ohio Defense Force (ODF) is a right-wing privately organized militia in the state of Ohio. The Ohio Defense Force is not a part of the US Military, the Ohio National Guard, nor Ohio's similarly named State Defense Force.^[1] Rather, it is organized, led, and staffed by private citizens. The Southern Poverty Law Center lists the Ohio Defense Force as an anti-governmental organization.^[2]

Ohio Defense Force

Abbreviation	ODF
Formation	1989
Type	private non-governmental paramilitary militia
Location	Ohio
Membership	300 (claimed by ODF)
Key people	William B. Alexander (founder)

The Ohio Defense Force, originally named the Southeastern Ohio Defense Force, was founded in 1989 as a non-profit corporation. In 2004, the organization decided to expand statewide and was renamed the Ohio Defense Force.^[3][4] TIME journalists conducted extensive interviews with members of the group during a training exercise in their piece "The Secret World of Extreme Militias".^[5]