White Supremacists, Domestic Terrorists Pose Biggest Threat Of Lethal Violence This Election, DHS Assessment Finds – My Comments
[Well, the good news is that we are seen as a force … a potential force. Of course the reality is that we don't have plans as a group for violence. Their real fear are the Lone Wolves… The fact that BLM and ANTIFA are smashing things and threatening lives and have done almost $2 billion of damage goes unnoticed. But at least whites are seen as a potential force… even though we don't have a fraction of the money or support that ANTIFA and BLM have, who have unlimited access to Jew Soros money and to Chinese weapons, etc. The whites should be seen for what they really are: PATRIOTS FFS! Jan]
TOPLINE
As the Trump administration continues to publicly downplay the role of the far-right in inciting violence, a recent Department of Homeland Security assessment leaked to The Nation describes “lone offender white supremacist extremists” as posing “the greatest threat of lethal violence” in the 2020 election.
Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
GETTY IMAGES
KEY FACTS
The assessment, from the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis and dated August 17, was published Friday by The Nation along with comments from a former senior DHS I&A intelligence officer, who corroborated claims made last week from the division’s former head that analysts had been instructed by political appointees to play down the threat of violent white supremacists.
White supremacists and other lone offender domestic terrorist actors “with personalized ideologies” pose a physical threat to the 2020 election, the assessment concluded, noting a rise in white supremacist extremist shootings spurred by “immigration-related grievances” since 2018.
While ideologically-based grievances have spanned multiple election seasons, the assessment warns that “violence related to government efforts to mitigate the Covid-19 pandemic and amidst otherwise ongoing lawful protests have likely exacerbated the typical election-season threat environment.”
The assessment details nonlethal attempts by violent actors to capitalize on current events, as well as threats of lethal violence.
“Since early May 2020, multiple individuals have used Covid-19 restrictions to justify attacks or threats of lethal violence,” says the assessment, explaining that “a range of violent extremists” have encouraged violence against minorities, including encouraging the spread of Covid-19 within minority communities on social media and threatening to recruit infected individuals to spread the virus at political rallies.
CHIEF CRITIC
“As soon as Trump came in, counterterrorism ended,” said the anonymous DHS I&A intelligence officer in an interview with The Nation, referencing Trump’s dissolution of the DHS domestic terrorism division.
KEY BACKGROUND
President Trump has repeatedly pinned violence amid the protests on antifa, who he said he would designate a terror group, while ignoring the rise of far-right extremists. Brian Murphy, a former head of the DHS intelligence branch, said in a whistleblower complaint that he was ordered this spring by Acting Secretary Chad Wolf to stop processing assessments on Russian interference in the 2020 election, and instead refocus on China and Iran. Additionally, Murphy alleged the agency’s number two, Kenneth Cuccinelli, ordered him to modify intelligence assessments to make the threat of white supremacy appear “less severe” and include more information on “left-wing” groups and antifa.
SURPRISING FACT
While antifa has been involved in illegal activities, an NPR analysis of federal court records in June found “no signs of anti-fascist links” in cases brought because of the protest-related unrest, while a subsequent review found the majority of the hundreds of federal charges against protesters in Portland, Oregon, were misdemeanors and none of the court documents from federal cases referenced antifa or any broad anti-fascist movements.
BIG NUMBER
- The number of murders over the past 25 years that have been linked to far-right extremists, according to a recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Not one murder in the U.S. was linked to antifa during the same time period.