We still aren’t spending enough to address homegrown extremist terrorists. Via Salon:
A new investigation by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee into the rise of domestic terrorism has found that the federal government is failing to adequately address domestic terror attacks, which are predominantly perpetrated by white supremacists and anti-government extremists.
Although the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have identified domestic terrorism, specifically white supremacist violence, as “the most persistent and lethal terrorist threat,” the federal government has continued to allocate resources to focus on international terrorist threats instead, according to the report.
The 128-page report is the culmination of a three-year investigation, which relies on public testimony and interviews with federal law enforcement officials and executives from Meta (formerly Facebook), Twitter, YouTube and TikTok, as well as more than 2,000 “key documents” that offer insight into the most significant terror threats facing the U.S.
I understand why Trump didn’t want to spend money on extremist threats. But why hasn’t that changed?
A study by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses on Terrorism found that, in 2016 alone, social media played a role in the radicalization process of nearly 90 percent of extremists in the United States.
Federal agencies have failed to adapt to the shifting landscape of social media and adequately address domestic terrorist threats online, said Patrick Riccards, the CEO of Life After Hate — a nonprofit that helps deradicalize people from violent far-right groups and other extremist organizations.
“These groups are incredibly smart, incredibly savvy,” Riccards added. “When you look at their skill and abilities with regard to the digital universe, in terms of recruiting, organizing and executing action, they are a generation or two ahead of where the FBI was.”
