While the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have already released assessments that say domestic terrorism is the greatest threat we face at the moment, a new report from the intelligence community says more of the same thing.
The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) has delivered a classified report to the White House that outlines threats posed by white supremacists and militias.
The unclassified version of the report is still relatively explicit and hints that domestic terrorists are getting help from overseas.
Racially motivated violent extremists, such as white supremacists, were most likely to conduct mass casualty attacks against civilians while militias typically targeted law enforcement and government personnel and facilities, the report said. Lone offenders or small cells of extremists were more likely than organizations to carry out attacks, it said. [...]
The report noted that white supremacists had “the most persistent and concerning transnational connections because individuals with similar ideological beliefs exist outside of the United States.” In addition, it said that a small number of white supremacists had “traveled abroad to network with like-minded individuals.”
It also added that “several factors could increase the likelihood or lethality” of domestic terrorist attacks in 2021 and beyond, including “escalating support from persons in the United States or abroad.”
Reading this specific passage, I couldn't help but recall that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was mocked in the media in 2016 when she said Russian President Vladimir Putin was leading a global white supremacist movement. And yet that's exactly what we've seen happen over the past decade and particularly under Trump. Trump led a white supremacist movement here in the United States, but Putin guided Trump.
American Republicans and conservatives revere Putin for his style and brutal government. They're particularly fond of the fact that Putin has made being gay or transgender all but illegal in a country that is also overwhelmingly white. Russia also holds sham elections that coronate Putin's white oligarchy into power and if you take a look around the country right now you'll find Republicans moving legislation to suppress minority votes here in the United States.
No one should expect the threat of domestic terrorism will diminish anytime soon if it ever does in our lifetimes because the world is not going to stop changing. Change is only going to accelerate in parts of the world where being different isn't outlawed.