The Biden government has made combating domestic terrorism a priority. Along with the threat assessment, the government is also reviewing what public security and intelligence agencies can do to combat domestic terrorism. The report was released the day after deadly violence at three spas in the Atlanta area, killing eight people, including six women of Asian descent. The sniper’s motives were not immediately clear, but crimes against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are on the rise.
“Whatever the motivation here,” Biden told reporters on Wednesday, “I know that Asian Americans are very concerned. Because, as you know, I’ve been talking about brutality against Asian Americans for the past two months and I find that very, very problematic. “
The Trump administration added the fight against domestic terrorism to its National Counterterrorism Strategy, but Trump has repeatedly been reluctant to denounce the violent extremism carried out by extreme right-wing nationalists and white supremacists, sometimes embracing them and focusing their criticisms on anarchists and other agitators of left.
Trump’s critics accused him of exploiting racial and socioeconomic divisions for political gains and fueling dangerous conspiracy theories that helped incite the events of January 6, when hundreds of his supporters invaded the Capitol. The FBI has accused more than 300 people in connection with the disturbances, including members of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, far-right groups that supported Trump. Others accused include white supremacists.
The rise of domestic terrorism has gradually increased in recent years, as the FBI made fighting white supremacists a priority in 2019 after a series of shootings in Texas, California and Pennsylvania. Last year, the FBI raised the threat posed by anti-government extremists, such as militias and anarchists.
FBI Director Christopher A. Wray was straightforward about the dangers of domestic terrorism, telling Congress this month that the January 6 events were dire.
“This siege was criminal behavior, pure and simple, and it is behavior that we, the FBI, see as domestic terrorism,” Wray said during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding: “The problem of domestic terrorism is becoming spreading across the country for a long time and it won’t disappear anytime soon. “