PerspectiveAddressing the National Security Threat of White Supremacist Terrorism

In 2018, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tracked 50 extremist-related murders, 49 of which were committed by far-right extremists and the majority specifically perpetrated by white supremacists. In the past decade, far-right extremists were responsible for 73 percent of extremist-related murders in the U.S. The Aug. 3 shooting in El Paso took the lives of 22 people, making it the most violent white supremacist attack in 50 years.

Jonathan Greenblatt and George Selim write in Lawfare that white supremacist violence is on the rise—but it is not new. Nearly 25 years ago, Timothy McVeigh used a truck bomb to destroy the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, murdering 168 people and wounding around 700 others. “While McVeigh’s act was inspired by hatred of the federal government, he also took cues from white supremacist literature such as the notorious Turner Diaries, an anti-Semitic and racist screed written by a well-known neo-Nazi,” they write. “Yet, even after that horrific act, the government failed to develop an integrated response. The country has not since seen an act of domestic terror of this magnitude, but government and civil society need to act now before the death toll climbs even higher.”

They add:

Not unlike groups such as the Islamic State that are attempting to push back on modernity, white supremacists rage against trends like demographic change and globalization. Their core ideology is predicated on a desire for a white nation and a worldview that sees immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees as enemies who seek to change their culture. Their anger toward outsiders typically is racial in nature, as they rail against “brown” or “black” people, as well as others of different faiths—essentially anyone who does not conform to their idealized notion of white people. They scapegoat those “others” as a way to simplify complex social and economic phenomena. They perceive the Jewish people as their ultimate enemies, responsible for a global conspiracy that includes “open borders,” “multiculturalism” and “globalism” as strategies to engineer “white genocide.”

There is no single cause that motivates individuals to radicalize. Similar to other extremist ideologies espoused by groups like the Islamic State or al-Qaeda, white supremacy results from the interplay of multiple forces. As such, there is no single solution that will solve this problem.

As with any national security crisis—such as responding to the attacks on 9/11 or the threat from the Islamic State—there are some measures that only the government can undertake.

Some elements of the threat can be mitigated by traditional government bodies, such as law enforcement agencies. Others necessitate the involvement of nongovernmental actors that are equipped to execute different strategies. This might include the private sector, which has a pivotal role to play—starting with social media platforms that have enabled the spread of extremist networks. Nonprofit organizations can also serve as a crucial, close-to-the-ground resource in helping prevent radicalization and building resilience in communities that may be vulnerable or targeted. Finally, this effort would benefit from cross-sector alliances with these actors working together on certain initiatives. Such public-private partnerships can enable the government to confront this problem from the outside-in.

This problem has been building for some time. But, as the death toll increases, it is time for everyone to step up.