COLUMBUS (WCMH) – The Biden administration is stepping up its efforts to take on domestic terrorism.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the new strategy at the Department of Justice Tuesday.
Not only is it a new strategy to take on domestic terrorism, but it’s also the first one to be implemented by the Justice Department.
This is happening now because of an increasing concern about homegrown threats. Recent examples cited by Garland include the insurrection at the Capitol, the Congressional baseball game shooting, and the plot to kidnap and kill Michigan’s governor.
The plan has four pillars:
- Improving info-sharing among law enforcement agencies
- Preventing groups from recruiting
- Deterring attacks from happening
- Addressing the long-term causes of domestic terror
Both the Attorney General and terrorism experts said racial and ethnic hatred are the biggest domestic threat.
“This has been exacerbated by things like COVID-19 and rhetoric suggesting that COVID-19 is because of foreigners,” said Bill Braniff, director or the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism. “There’s a lot of anti-immigration rhetoric that has unfortunately put winds in the sails of white supremacists targeting immigrants in the United States.”
