Our picksISIS’ Chemical Weapons Operation | Domestic Terrorism Prevention | Telegram: Media Refuge, for Good and Ill, and more
· Far-Right Groups Are Splintering in Wake of the Capitol Riot
· Prosecutors Fill in Details of Proud Boys Assault on Capitol
· DHS Mandates State and Local Spending on Domestic Terrorism Prevention
· Telegram: A Growing Social Media Refuge, for Good and Ill
· We Have a “Domestic Terrorism” Double-Standard Problem
· Foreign Perpetrators among Fraudsters Shamming State’s Unemployment Systems
· Don’t Blame the Capitol Police for January 6th
· How the Pentagon Got inside ISIS’ Chemical Weapons Operation—and Ended It
· Runaway Schoolgirl Who Joined ISIS Cannot Return to U.K., Top Court Says
Far-Right Groups Are Splintering in Wake of the Capitol Riot (Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times)
Just eight weeks after the Capitol riot, some of the most prominent groups that participated are fracturing amid a torrent of backbiting and finger-pointing. The fallout will determine the future of some of the most high-profile far-right organizations and raises the specter of splinter groups that could make the movement even more dangerous. “This group needs new leadership and a new direction,” the St. Louis branch of the Proud Boys announced recently on the encrypted messaging service Telegram, echoing denunciations by at least six other chapters also rupturing with the national organization. “The fame we’ve attained hasn’t been worth it.” Similar rifts have emerged in the Oath Keepers, a paramilitary group that recruits veterans, and the Groyper Army, a white nationalist organization focused on college campuses and a vocal proponent of the false claim that Donald J. Trump won the 2020 presidential election. The shake-up is driven in part by the large number of arrests in the aftermath of the Capitol riot and the subsequent crackdown on some groups by law enforcement. As some members of the far right exit more established groups and strike out on their own, it may become even more difficult to track extremists who have become more emboldened to carry out violent attacks.
Prosecutors Fill in Details of Proud Boys Assault on Capitol (Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein, Politico)
Members are alleged to have dressed “incognito” on Jan. 6, then fanned out to prevent law enforcement from identifying them en masse.
DHS Mandates State and Local Spending on Domestic Terrorism Prevention (Geneva Sands, CNN)
The Department of Homeland Security will require state and local grant recipients to spend funding on domestic violent extremism prevention efforts, the department announced Thursday. For the first time, the department designated combating domestic violent extremism as a “National Priority Area” for two of its Federal Emergency Management Agency grant programs. FEMA operates several grant programs to assist state and local governments prevent and recover from acts of terrorism and other threats. (Cont.)
