Domestic terrorists, and especially militia groups and white nationalists, pose a great terrorist threat, the intelligence community said on Wednesday in a new report ordered after the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
“Reports of fraud during the recent general election, the encouraging impact of the violent intrusion on the American Capitol, conditions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and conspiracy theories promoting violence – will almost certainly incite some. [domestic violent extremists] to try to commit violence this year, ”according to the report.
The report, compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of Justice, comes to President Biden
Joe BidenBiden and Congress must act with boldness to prevent violent extremism. The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Biden faces immigration and filibuster offensive Democrats. a comprehensive review of domestic terror threats ordered a few days after taking office.
The report emphasizes that only wolf actors and small groups of extremists will carry out the most likely attacks, and warns that they “often radicalize independently by consuming violent extremist material online and mobilizing without the command of a violent extremist organization, which detects and make disruption difficult. ”
The report comes as Minister of Internal Security Alejandro Mayorkas
Alejandro Mayorkas The Hill’s Morning Report – Presented by Facebook – Biden faces immigration from GOP and offensive filibuster Democrats play defense against borderline crisis. Biden tells migrants ‘do not overcome’ amid upheaval at the border. issued a similar warning to lawmakers on Wednesday about the risks posed by small groups of extremists.
“At this time, domestic violent extremism, the lone wolf, the licentiousness of individuals who follow ideologies of hatred and other ideologies of extremism that are willing and able to take those ideologies and act on them in illegal, illegal, violent ways. feed. our biggest threat in the homeland at the moment, ”he said.
Tuesday’s shooting in Atlanta was an all-too-fresh reminder of the dangers of lone attacks.
The shooting at three massage parlors killed eight people, including six Asian women, though police said Wednesday it was too early to determine the shooter’s motive.
“One-off offenders will continue to face challenges for detection and disruption, due to their ability to independently radicalize violence, their ability to mobilize discreetly and access to firearms,” the report said.
Wednesday’s assessment warned that racially motivated extremists and militia groups pose the deadliest threat, with the first likely mass casualties targeting civilians, while militia groups focus on government and law enforcement targets.
The report also focused specifically on the threat posed by white nationalist groups, saying that they had ‘the most persistent and transnational ties’.
The assessment is largely in line with pressure from Democratic lawmakers, who have argued that the intelligence community should focus its efforts on white nationalists as well as right-wing extremists.
In a letter to the FBI last month, Democrats in the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the agency to further divide its categories for different types of extremists, arguing that broad categories such as racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists threaten white supremacist and far-right violence. ”
The sentiment was reiterated by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff
Adam Bennett Schiff House Panel to take over the 2002 war authorization in the coming weeks, the House Democrats will silence opposing views, and not ‘fake news’. The White House does not defend the Saudi crown prince over Khashoggi; (D-California) on Wednesday.
“Today’s report underscores how we face the greatest threat from violent extremists, especially white supremacists, and military violent extremists,” he said in a statement.
‘This violence is not just limited to lone wolves carrying out mass shootings or attacks, but also more sophisticated cells and conspiracies. “Nevertheless, lonely actors like the most difficult challenges to detect, because they can keep their plans to themselves or find like-minded people in private chat rooms,” he said.
The assessment noted the same challenges, and identified social media as a recruiting tool, while the accused blamed encrypted messaging applications for making it more difficult to monitor how groups recruit and plan.
In a recent appearance before lawmakers, Christopher Wray, director of the FBI, said that teasing serious threats online while trying to monitor the communications of serious actors are some of the agency’s biggest challenges.
“If you’re trying to figure out who’s just saying, ‘you know,’ What we need to do is X ‘or’ Everyone should do X ‘to the person who does it and actually gets traction and then gets followers. And of course we assume they ‘We do not communicate through encrypted channels about all these things, is one of the most difficult things that can be done in the world today,’ ‘he said.