US intelligence agencies believe domestic terrorism will pose an “ heightened threat ” to the homeland in 2021, predicting in a new joint report that social and political factors, including the coronavirus pandemic and “ encouraging impact of the violent US Capitol breach, ” are virtually certainly ‘will’. “incite domestic violent extremists to further violence.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released an unclassified summary of a joint assessment of the threat to national security posed by violent domestic extremism on Wednesday.
The comprehensive threat assessment provided by ODNI, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to the White House and Congress was commissioned by President Biden, who requested the report in the aftermath of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
The all-secret report – described by an ODNI official as a “fact-based analysis” that can inform strategy and policy development – was sent to the White House and Congress on Tuesday, according to an ODNI official.
The report came on the same day that DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called domestic violent extremism the “greatest” and “most persistent” threat to the homeland.
“Newer socio-political developments – such as stories of fraud during the recent general election, the encouraging impact of the violent breach on the Capitol, conditions pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, and conspiracy theories promoting violence – will almost certainly be violent extremists) to try to participate in violence this year, ”reads the unclassified summary.
The report divides violent domestic extremists into different groups, including racially or ethnically motivated extremists, anti-government extremists, animal rights and environmental extremists, and abortion-related extremists.
Intelligence agencies found that racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists and violent militia extremists were the “deadliest threats.” According to the unclassified summary, racially motivated extremists were most likely to provoke mass-victim attacks against civilians. In contrast, the threat assessment showed that violent militia extremists tend to target law enforcement officials and government personnel and facilities.
White supremacists in some cases built support networks outside the US, the unclassified summary found, adding that a “small number” have traveled abroad to “network with like-minded individuals.”
Social media platforms, including smaller websites and encrypted chat applications, have been identified as emerging tools for recruiting, planning and disseminating material that ultimately contributes to acts of violence.
The evaluation also noted that “lone offenders” or “small cells” of domestic violent extremists who adhere to different ideologies are more likely to carry out violent attacks than organizations that adhere to a specific ideology.
Mayorkas appeared before Congress on Tuesday, warning that lone wolf extremists who express their “loose connection” to ideologies of hatred and extremism “are prepared to execute them in unlawful, violent and illegal ways.”
The full covert review was coordinated within the intelligence community and law enforcement, according to an ODNI official, using government and nongovernmental organizations as needed.
California Democrat House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff underlined in a statement the “transnational element of the threat of domestic violent extremism.”
“The threat of white nationalism in particular has become a global phenomenon,” he said.
Schiff called Wednesday’s assessment “a good first step,” but urged intelligence agencies to publicly disclose additional details, as mandated by Congress, including “specific information on incidents, investigations, prosecutions, analysis, prioritization. , personnel and resources “.
The full covert review was coordinated within the intelligence community and law enforcement, according to an ODNI official, using government and nongovernmental organizations as needed.
Olivia Gazis contributed to this report.