For decades, the United States' counterterrorism policy has focused on combatting foreign terrorism, but the country has seen a steady uptick in homegrown terrorist acts, particularly from far-right extremists. Just last year, the Department of Homeland Security warned that white supremacist terrorism was "the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland[.]"
That same report emphasized the prevalence of white supremacist terrorism in another section:
"We judge that ideologically-motivated lone offenders and small groups will pose the greatest terrorist threat to the Homeland through 2021, with white supremacist extremists presenting the most lethal threat."
President Joe Biden recently reiterated the Homeland Security Department's concerns in a recent speech commemorating the 1921 Black Wall Street Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Biden said:
"[A]ccording to the intelligence community, terrorism from white supremacy is the most lethal threat to the homeland today, not ISIS, not Al-Qaeda, white supremacists."
This immediately drew criticism from right-wing media personalities like far-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who falsely accused him of calling white Republican men "more dangerous than ISIS."
Fortunately, it doesn't look like the Biden administration paid Carlson's words much heed, because the White House unveiled its national strategy for combatting terrorism this week, and it represents a major departure from Biden's predecessors.
The 32 page plan relies on four key goals: expediting the sharing of information across various law enforcement agencies, investigating extremist organizations, hindering their recruitment, and addressing the root causes of domestic terrorism in the first place.
Biden said in the plan:
"We cannot ignore this threat or wish it away. Preventing domestic terrorism and reducing the factors that fuel it demand a multifaceted response across the federal government and beyond."
People welcomed the change in strategy.
Some could think of one guy the administration's domestic terror specialist may want to keep an eye on.
