Perspective: Domestic terrorismDHS: Domestic Terrorism, Particularly White-Supremacist Violence, As Big a Threat as ISIS, al-Qaeda
Domestic terrorism and mass attacks are as great a threat to the United States today as foreign terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security said in a new strategy report unveiled Friday. The strategy recognizes that foreign terrorist groups continue to plot against the United States but notes there has been a disturbing rise in attacks motivated by domestic terrorist ideologies — and that white supremacy is one of the most potent drivers. “In our modern age, the continuation of racially based violent extremism, particularly violent white supremacy, is an abhorrent affront to the nation,” acting homeland security secretary Kevin McAleenan said in a speech Friday in Washington, saying the trend “has no place in the United States of America, and it never will.”
Domestic terrorism and mass attacks are as great a threat to the United States today as foreign terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security said in a new strategy report unveiled Friday.
Ellen Nakashima writes in the Washington Post that the strategy recognizes that foreign terrorist groups continue to plot against the United States but notes there has been a disturbing rise in attacks motivated by domestic terrorist ideologies — and that white supremacy is one of the most potent drivers.
“In our modern age, the continuation of racially based violent extremism, particularly violent white supremacy, is an abhorrent affront to the nation,” acting homeland security secretary Kevin McAleenan said in a speech Friday in Washington, saying the trend “has no place in the United States of America, and it never will.”
The report’s framework builds on a 2018 White House national counterterrorism strategy, describing the evolving threat and fleshing out DHS’s role in preventing terrorism and “targeted violence” — attacks that lack a clear political or ideological motivation.
What’s changed since 9/11 is the diversity of terrorist threats — from al-Qaeda and the Islamic State to ethnically motivated and anti-authority violent extremism, dangers on the digital landscape, and more sophisticated and easily available weapons such as drones.
The strategy document places the growing threat of white supremacy in a transnational context. It notes that, similar to how the Islamic State inspired and connected with potential recruits online, violent white supremacists link with like-minded individuals on the Internet. Conspiracy theories about the “ethnic replacement” of whites as the majority ethnicity in Western countries are prominent on social media platforms such as Gab, 8chan and EndChan, it said.
In El Paso, “the attacker sought to kill Hispanics, and his online manifesto was rife with references to multiple hate-based ideologies,” McAleenan said, speaking at an event co-hosted by the Brookings Institution and Heritage Foundation. The tragedies “reinforced our confidence in the focus of the strategy,” he said.
