Domestic terrorismDHS reduces monitoring of non-Islamic domestic terrorism
In May 2009, DHS issues a report saying that the recession and Obama’s election could lead to a “violent radicalization” of extremist groups in the United States; conservative politicians and commentators charged that the report was an attack on conservative ideology and groups opposing abortion and immigration; in response, DHS has eviscerated the analytical unit which issued the report, cut the number of personnel studying domestic terrorism unrelated to Islam, canceled state and local law enforcement briefings, held up dissemination of nearly a dozen reports on extremist groups, and has blocked the dissemination of a digest of domestic terror incidents and the distribution of definitions for terms such as “white supremacist” and “Christian Identity”; state and local law enforcement and security experts are worried
DHS refocuses monitoring operations // Source: conlawelements.com
In May 2009, four months after Barack Obama came to office, DHS issues a report about domestic terrorism in the United States. The report analyzed domestic groups with a tendency for violence, and said that the recession and Obama’s election could lead to “violent radicalization” of some of these groups.
Conservative politicians and commentators criticized the report, charging that it amounted to an attack on conservative ideology and worldview, including opposition to immigration and abortion. The Washington Post reports that as a result of this criticism, the administration has eviscerated the analytical unit within DHS which follows non-Muslim domestic terrorist threats, and that “Much of its work — including a digest of domestic terror incidents and the distribution of definitions for terms such as ‘white supremacist’ and ‘Christian Identity’ — has been blocked.”
The Post notes that DHS has cut the number of people studying domestic terrorism unrelated to Islam, canceled numerous state and local law enforcement briefings, and held up dissemination of nearly a dozen reports on extremist groups.
State and local law enforcement view DHS’s retreat on this issue with alarm. Security experts note that Islamic terrorism has caught the attention of people and should have sufficient resources allocated to tackling it, but that a report issued by DHS last October offers a more nuanced picture. The report found that a majority of the eighty-six major foiled and executed terrorist plots in the United States from 1999 to 2009 were unrelated to al Qaeda and allied movements.
Mike Sena, an intelligence official in California is president of the National Fusion Center Association, a group of seventy-two federally chartered institutions in which state, local, and federal officials share sensitive information. He told the Post that “Having analytical staff, to educate line officers on the extremists, is critical.…This is definitely one area” where more effort is warranted by DHS.
In interviews with the newspaper, current and former officials at fusion centers in Missouri, Virginia and Tennessee expressed similar frustration.
