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“It would also give the United States Government more tools to engage and flag the Americans who contact, support, train, and join these (white supremacist extremist) groups,” said Slotkin, a former CIA analyst who chairs a U.S. House subcommittee focusing on intelligence and counterterrorism. The State Department declined comment. Slotkin’s request has not been previously reported. Slotkin asked the State Department to consider listing over a dozen organizations including the neo-Nazi National Action Group, founded in Britain and banned there in 2016. It was described in a 2018 U.S. counter-terrorism report as a terrorist group promoting violence against politicians and minorities.

Biden Budget Adds $111 Million to Battle Domestic Terrorism  (Rebecca Beitsch, The Hill)
President Biden’s first budget proposal boosts funding to fight domestic terrorism in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The budget calls for an additional $111 million to address the issue between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice. The bulk of the new funding, $101 million, lies within Justice Department, funneling $45 million to the FBI for domestic terrorism investigations and another $40 million to U.S. attorneys offices to manage increasing domestic terrorism caseloads. The two offices have been responsible for the lion’s share of the investigations and cases brought against the more than 300 people arrested in the weeks following the insurrection, which left five dead. Just $10 million of the new funding is slated for DHS, part of an overall $131 million that will be used for “research on the root causes of radicalization.” Another $20 million goes toward grants to “build local capacity to prevent targeted violence and all forms of terrorism.” The uptick in funding comes as the intelligence community in March warned domestic terrorists, and in particular militia groups and white nationalists, pose an elevated terror threat.

California Police Officer Fired over Ties to Proud Boys Extremist Group  (Dennis Romero, NBC News)
A California police officer associated with the far-right extremist group Proud Boys has been fired, officials announced Friday. Rick Fitzgerald, then an officer with the Fresno Police Department, allegedly participated in a Proud Boys counter-demonstration on March 14 outside a theater being sold to a church that protesters said was hostile to the LGBTQ community and marriage equality. Fitzgerald was placed on leave the following day, and his firing was made public Friday by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and police Chief Paco Balderrama, following an investigation. “It is clear to me there were egregious violations of department policy,” Dyer said in a statement. “I am pleased that Officer Fitzgerald will no longer be serving as a police officer with the City of Fresno.” Balderrama, citing the Southern Poverty Law Center, called the Proud Boys a “hate group” and said in a statement, “I stand by and reassert my prior comments in strongly disapproving of any police officer affiliating with hate groups.” Neither Fitzgerald nor the Fresno Police Officers Association could immediately be reached for comment. The day after the demonstration, the police union called the allegation of Fitzgerald’s Proud Boys participation “very troubling” and said it supported an investigation by the police department.