The number of FBI investigations into suspected domestic violent extremists has more than doubled since the spring of 2020, according to Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.
Summary
- WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is establishing a specialized unit focused on domestic terrorism, the department’s top national security official told lawmakers Tuesday as he described an “elevated” threat from violent extremists in the United States.
- But the issue remains politically freighted and divisive, in part because the absence of a federal domestic terrorism statute has created ambiguities as to precisely what sort of violence meets that definition.
- The U.S. criminal code defines domestic terrorism as violence intended to coerce or intimidate a civilian population and to influence government policy, but there is no standalone domestic terrorism charge, meaning prosecutors have to rely on other statutes.
- The partisan divisions around the domestic terrorism terminology were evident during Tuesday’s hearing.
- The FBI and Justice Department say they treat domestic extremist violence the same regardless of ideology.