TERRORISMGreatest Terrorism Threat to U.S.: Racially Motivated, Anti-Government, Anti-Authority, Domestic Violent Extremists Radicalized Online -- FBI

Published 16 November 2022

“The greatest terrorism threat to our Homeland is posed by lone actors or small cells who typically radicalize to violence online and look to attack soft targets with easily accessible weapons,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told Lawmakers. “We see these threats manifested within both Domestic Violent Extremists (“DVEs”) and Homegrown Violent Extremists (“HVEs”), two distinct threats, both of which are located primarily in the United States and typically radicalize and mobilize to violence on their own.”

On Tuesday, 15 November, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before the House Homeland Security Committee on global threats to the United States. The section in his presentation which discussed terrorist threats to the United States summarized an earlier testimony he made before the Senate Judiciary Committee, on 4 August.

Here is the section on terrorism from the 4 August testimony:

Top Terrorism Threats
Preventing terrorist attacks, from any place, by any actor, remains the FBI’s top priority. The nature of the threat posed by terrorism – both international terrorism (“IT”) and domestic terrorism (“DT”) – continues to evolve.

The greatest terrorism threat to our Homeland is posed by lone actors or small cells who typically radicalize to violence online and look to attack soft targets with easily accessible weapons. We see these threats manifested within both Domestic Violent Extremists (“DVEs”) and Homegrown Violent Extremists (“HVEs”), two distinct threats, both of which are located primarily in the United States and typically radicalize and mobilize to violence on their own. Individuals who commit violent criminal acts in furtherance of social or political goals stemming from domestic influences – some of which include racial or ethnic bias, or antigovernment or anti-authority sentiments – are described as DVEs, whereas HVEs are individuals who are inspired primarily by international terrorist actors but are not receiving individualized direction from Foreign Terrorist Organizations (“FTOs”) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (“SDGTs”).

Domestic and Homegrown Violent Extremists are often motivated and inspired by a mix of social or political, ideological, and personal grievances against their targets, and more recently have focused on accessible targets to include civilians, law enforcement and the military, symbols or members of the U.S. Government, houses of worship, retail locations, and mass public gatherings. By selecting these types of soft targets, in addition to the insular nature of their radicalization and mobilization to violence and limited discussions with others regarding their plans, lone actors present a persistent challenge for law enforcement who work to detect and disrupt their activities before they occur.