White supremacy is 'most lethal threat' to the US, DHS draft assessment says
By Geneva Sands, CNN
Tue September 8, 2020
Washington (CNN)White supremacists will remain the most "persistent and lethal threat" in the United States through 2021, according to Department of Homeland Security draft documents.
The most recent draft report predicts an "elevated threat environment at least through" early next year, concluding that some US-based violent extremists have capitalized on increased social and political tensions in 2020.
Although foreign terrorist organizations will continue to call for attacks on the US, the report says, they "probably will remain constrained in their ability to direct such plots over the next year."
The threat assessment -- which also warns of continued disinformation efforts by Russia -- is especially notable as President Donald Trump has often employed race-baiting tactics in his quest for reelection and frequently downplayed the threat from white supremacists during his term in office. The Trump administration has portrayed Antifa and anarchists as a top threat to the US, with the President tweeting this summer that the US will designate Antifa as a terrorist organization.
The recently released draft reports, which were made public by Lawfare Editor in Chief Benjamin Wittes and first reported by Politico, asses a host of threats, including cyber, foreign influence and irregular migration.
All three drafts state that white supremacist extremists are the deadliest threat. However, the placement and language about white supremacy in three versions of the DHS draft documents differ slightly.
The earliest available version of the "State of the Homeland Threat Assessment 2020" drafts reads: "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."
The lead section on terror threats to the homeland is changed in the latter two drafts to replace "white supremacist extremists" with "Domestic Violent Extremists presenting the most persistent and lethal threat."
The reports, however, all contain this language: "Among DVEs [Domestic Violent Extremists], we judge that white supremacist extremists (WSEs) will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland through 2021."
Wittes published the documents because he wanted there to be a "benchmark about what the career folks at DHS actually assessed the threats to be against" the final product that is released by the department.
He told CNN that "the most striking thing is in this political atmosphere; they have said what they said" -- that white supremacist violence is the threat they are most concerned about.
"I don't want to criticize them when that language is there. That said it is somewhat different in the first draft than the subsequent two and I do think the nature of the change is notable as a reflection of the political pressure they are under," he said.
more:
http://www.cnn.com/2020/09/08/politics/white-supremacy-dhs-draft-assessment/index.html
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