Some violent extremists have also continued to target law enforcement and the military as well as institutions or members of the U.S. Government.
Earlier this year, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies issued a joint assessment concluding that DVEs “pose an elevated threat” in 2021. DVEs espouse a range of animating ideologies. The top threats we face from DVEs are from those we categorize as Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists (“RMVEs”) and Anti-Government or Anti-Authority Violent Extremists. While RMVEs who advocate for the superiority of the white race were the primary source of lethal attacks perpetrated by DVEs in 2018 and 2019, Anti-Government or Anti-Authority Violent Extremists – specifically, Militia Violent Extremists and Anarchist Violent Extremists – were responsible for three of the four lethal DVE attacks in 2020. Notably, this included the first lethal attack committed by an Anarchist Violent Extremist in over 20 years.
The National Strategy released earlier this summer sets forth for the first time a comprehensive policy to address the many facets of the domestic terrorism threat. The Strategy creates a framework for the Federal Government to understand and share domestic terrorism-related information; prevent recruitment and mobilization to violence; disrupt and deter domestic terrorism activity; and confront long-term contributors to this problem. The Strategy recognizes that activity protected under the First Amendment, including speech espousing an extremist ideology, is not unlawful and that any steps to counter domestic terrorism must therefore be focused on acts or true threats of violence, so as to safeguard Americans’ civil rights and civil liberties. The Department of Justice, including the FBI, has already taken concrete steps to implement the National Strategy, and we will continue supporting our Federal partners and our State, local, Tribal, and territorial (“SLTT”) counterparts to prevent acts of terrorism and to prosecute those who violate our laws.
I.
The National Strategy adopts a whole-of-government approach to preventing domestic terrorism and reducing the factors that fuel it. The Strategy recognizes that, to find sustainable solutions, we must not only disrupt and deter terrorist activities, but also address the root causes of violence. It rests on four essential pillars, which will be implemented across the Federal Government and in coordination with non-federal partners.
First are efforts to understand and share information regarding the full range of domestic terrorism threats. The Strategy recognizes that a thorough understanding of this threat is essential to confronting it effectively. It calls for enhanced domestic terrorism-related research to augment existing analyses that are regularly generated by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), among others. The Federal Government will also seek to enhance efforts to share this threat information as needed, both internally and with non-Federal partners, including by more quickly providing detailed, unclassified information to SLTT counterparts. The Strategy also directs Federal agencies to illuminate the transnational aspect of domestic
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