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U.S. lays out plan to confront white supremacist violence

Published 06/15/2021, 06:01 AM
Updated 06/15/2021, 05:51 PM
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A helicopter flies above the U.S. Capitol during the dress rehearsal ahead of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration in Washington, U.S., January 18, 2021. Rod Lamkey/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A helicopter flies above the U.S. Capitol during the dress rehearsal ahead of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration in Washington, U.S., January 18, 2021. Rod Lamkey/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

By Jarrett Renshaw and Jan Wolfe

(Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration on Tuesday unveiled a plan to address the threat of violence posed by white supremacists and militias, five months after members of those groups joined in a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The White House released a 30-page plan for increased information sharing between federal and local officials and social media companies, additional resources to identify and prosecute threats and new deterrents to prevent Americans from joining dangerous groups.

The administration conducted a sweeping assessment earlier this year of domestic terrorism that labeled white supremacists and militia groups as top national security threats. The issue took on new urgency after a Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump who were trying to overturn Biden's election victory.

The new strategy stopped short of calling for new laws to fight domestic threats, and officials on Tuesday did not offer many details on specific new resources.

"We concluded that we didn't have the evidentiary basis, yet, to decide whether we wanted to proceed in that direction or whether we have sufficient authority as it currently exists at the federal level," said a senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the announcement.

In a speech on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the "coming days and months" he would convene an interagency task force dedicated to combating domestic terrorism. Garland said he has already "begun to reinvigorate" that task force.

Garland said the Jan. 6 attack by Trump supporters had shown white supremacists and militia groups to be the country's greatest domestic security threat.

"In the FBI's view, the top domestic violent extremist threat comes from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the white race," Garland said.

In his budget proposal released last month, Biden, who succeeded Trump on Jan. 20, sought $100 million in additional funding to train and hire analysts and prosecutors to disrupt and deter terrorist activity.

"The threat is elevated," the administration official said. "Tackling it means ensuring that we do have the resources and personnel to address that elevated threat."

The administration is also toughening the federal government's screening methods to better identify employees who may pose insider threats. They are looking to share those techniques with private companies.

That effort includes an ongoing review by the Department of Defense over how and when to remove military members who are found to be engaged in known domestic terrorist groups.

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A helicopter flies above the U.S. Capitol during the dress rehearsal ahead of U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration in Washington, U.S., January 18, 2021. Rod Lamkey/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

The Defense Department review is looking at, among other things, how to define extremists, the senior administration official said.

"They are doing this in a way they feel ratchets up the protection but also respects expression and association protections," the official said.

Latest comments

First come up with an imaginary threat. We saw this happen in 1930's Germany.
Please shut it
The first step, finding a shred of evidence that "White Supremacist" violence exists, is turning out to be difficult.
BLM can burn cities to the ground but the media insists white supremacists are the monster.
Right wing media spent plenty of hours demonizing BLM
Yet they still haven't provided any examples of this "White Supremacist" violence. What exactly is their definition of a white supremacist? I think they're getting BLM and Antifa mixed up with "white supremacist".
Give them there own country, let us see how well they are going to run it. Blue against Red states, we know who the takers are.
Who are "them"? Who exactly in this country is a "White Supremacist"? What acts of violence have they committed?
That is hilarious.
lies, lies, lies! this is all about power! Suddenly, there are white supremacists everywhere? do believe this ********
Kelly Mayer you didn't believe your lying eyes.. what the world saw and heard on Jan 6, from the insurrectionists the far right militias and the rioters waving the Confederate battle flag, the flag of treason and slavery, tells a different story. this isn't a game. these people want an end to our Constitution and replaced with a fascist regime run by Trump, a well known supporter of rascism and white privilege.
Hey, let's go to the supermarket together. Let's buy some tin foil, and I'll make you a hat.
Getting people to play the race war theatrics. Only works with racists or victims of abuse. Usually these want to recruit everyone else to their holy war agains the perceived abusers. It's either with them or against them. This BLM/White Sup move is only about exploiting mental illness. There were no issues when the US got 8yrs of Obama. Don't let the rad left create reality for you while they milk you dey for your attention and money. Keeping you distracted is the aim. Life will pass you by.
Scot your back how's st Petersburg.
bunney and Shirley...girls, spreading Russian propaganda doesn't work very well anymore. two true believers looking to get a little squezzzzz from their Orange skinned hero, Donald Trump. good Luck girls. maybe you'll get lucky.
You guys below should all oppose any kind of violence. The fact that you all start bringing BLM violence into the equation means you are a white supremacist. It’s like saying, make no comment on violence in football, because there is violence going on in basketbal. Only a violent person will say something like that.
That is hilarious. The fact that there has been no "White Supremacist" violence is kind of a clue.
so many supporters of white supremacist and their brutal militias. supporting insurrection and sedition then trying to equate that to a small group of rioters during overall peaceful demonstrations demonstrating against local police abusing and murdering people, in their cities; then using that as an excuse to support inserection and sedition and the beating and threatening of capital police trying to protect the capital from the rascist antidemocratic thugs that were threatening government officials with harm even death. owlboy and ja pa, mark Manley, demonstrate their support of white and their militias who what to destroy democracy in America and put a authoritarian , Fascist ghoul named Donald Trump, back in power.
When will the BLM mobs return the TVs they looted from the malls caught on cameras?
Your comments show who you are
as does yours
Right. Just ask any police officer, they'll tell you that their main concern is white supremacist violence. Not. Ha ha ha ha. You libs are on a roll today.
the police officers I know would be getting in your face if you tried to spread a lie like that at them.
great, their biggest buddy and ally no longer works at the white house.
It is not usa, it is Biden taking steps. corrected for Reuters free
as he should. let the justice department do their job instead of covering trump's hateful policies like barr did.
Close the boarders first.......
and get free dictionaries...
Anyone who stands for the constitution will be considered a threat. They will be sure to remove them from the military and government
The right to free speech an bear ing arms to deter tyranny is going away
the ones who support the sidition and authoritarianism of the far right. are being remove.
so far every post you’ve made is asinine and is full of spelling errors on basic government terms. Try a little harder. Or at least use spell check
Long overdue
how about death threats does that count. how about police officers being beaten and their lives threatened felipe you are a supporter of authoritarian fascists garbg. that tried to bring down democracy on jan6
the ones beating police officers are Antifa and BLM
Felipe Daniel.. still carrying out the big lies of the fascist anti-American program you support. you support the brutal beatings of capital police by your friends the proTrump antidemocratic militias, the attacked and brutalized the Capitol. an attack instigated by a president who attempted to commit election fraud. and tried to take control of the government through sidition and inserection and attempted to attack elected government officials carrying out their constitutional responsibilities. we know where your loyalties are, and there not with America and it's Constitution.
labeling political opponents "terrorists" in order to weaponize the justice system against them...move straight out of the communist handbook. i use to vote democrat, but they have gone way too far left...straight up communist tactics like china and north korea, and the media is complicit.
Anyone who stands for the constitution will be seen as a threat
LMAO such a big threat from the right that in the past 5 months there has not been any other thing for them to talk about than January 6?! Can they name one other example of right-win domestic terrorism in the past 5 months? All they have is January 6 where there is literally video of Capitol police saying that they could come in, be in the building, and the people inside saying that they were there to peacefully be heard...also revelations of multiple left-wing agitators in the crowd. Meanwhile, leftists such as BLM/ANTIFA have been burning down cities nonstop. The primary people attacking state Capitol buildings across the country have been left-wing groups. Biden wont do anything because he knows that if he goes after domestic terrorists it will be all leftists. Same as when they did the anti-asian hate crime bill and it ended up revealing that most anti-asian hate crimes were being done by black people.
"right-wing domestic terrorism"...should be in quotes, as it is just leftist newspeak
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