WASHINGTON —
The U.S. faces a “heightened risk setting” from home extremists and folks impressed by international terrorist teams with the method of the vacation season, the Division of Homeland Safety warned Wednesday.
Whereas DHS stated it had no credible data on a selected risk, the company warns in its newest nationwide terrorism advisory bulletin that mass gatherings for the upcoming spiritual holidays might be potential targets, together with from individuals and organizations looking for to take advantage of resentment over pandemic lockdowns and up to date occasions such because the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.
“The Homeland continues to face a various and difficult risk setting,” it stated.
That is the fourth time this 12 months the company has issued a bulletin, highlighting the perceived hazard from a risky mixture of home extremists, typically motivated by racially or ethnically motivated hate, and homegrown extremists impressed by abroad teams. It displays a shift from the concentrate on al-Qaida and different organizations following the creation of DHS after the assaults of Sept. 11, 2001.
It additionally is available in an setting that has been super-charged by on-line propaganda and conspiracy theories in addition to anger over the financial turmoil brought on by the pandemic. DHS warned that extremists will pose a “important risk” at the least into 2022.
The language of this newest bulletin is just like the earlier ones however provides language based mostly on latest occasions. It warns that international teams corresponding to al-Qaida and the Islamic State celebrated the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and should use it to encourage violence by their supporters.
On the identical time, some home extremists have sought to make use of the resettlement of Afghan refugees within the U.S. to fire up anti-Muslim hatred.
From 2010 via 2020, racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists advocating for the prevalence of the white race have dedicated 18 deadly assaults in the USA, killing 70 individuals in assaults that sometimes targeted on homes of worship, together with in Charleston and Pittsburgh, in response to the FBI.
