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https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5yjkb/dhs-just-finally-recognized-white-nationalism-as-a-major-terror-threat
DHS Just Finally Recognized White Nationalism as a Major Terror Threat
Its the first time the department has placed major emphasis on countering the threat of white nationalism coming from inside the U.S.
by Tess Owen
Sep 20 2019, 2:12pm
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Department of Homeland Security is finally, officially recognizing white supremacist terror as a major national security threat in the U.S. — a threat that’s coming from the inside.
Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan on Friday unveiled the department’s new counterterrorism strategy, which for the first time places major emphasis on countering the threat of white nationalism coming from inside the U.S.
The news will come as some relief for national security and extremism experts, who for years and with increasing urgency have sounded the alarm about the threat of white nationalist terror. After the Christchurch mosque attacks in March, President Donald Trump himself shrugged off the idea that white nationalist terror posed a major security threat. His administration has also defunded and dismantled DHS programs that were designed to counter violent extremism, including far-right extremism. At a House committee hearing earlier this week, experts stressed that the U.S. was woefully ill-equipped to counter the threat.
DHS was created in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and since then its counterterrorism strategy has been largely focused on the threat posed by foreign groups, like ISIS and al Qaeda. Friday’s announcement and formal recognition of white supremacist terror marks a major turning point for the department.
McAleenan, speaking at a Brookings Institute event, said that after the attack at a synagogue in Poway, California, he organized a subcommittee to explore how to secure faith-based organizations from similar attacks. From there, he said, they started to devise a “strategic framework that would build on our success against foreign organizations and incorporate lessons learned.”
After a white nationalist targeted Hispanics shopping at Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in August, leaving 22 dead, McAleenan said he was even more confident that DHS needed a new counterterrorism strategy.
Many of the priorities listed in the 41-page document align with what extremism and counterterrorism experts have suggested during various recent hearings on domestic terrorism before congress.
For example, the report notes that national-level statistics on terorrism and targeted violence are inadequate, and so the department will work closely with state and local agencies, plus academic and non-governmental organizations, to improve their data collection and analysis.
Other measures include using fusion centers — intelligence hubs for federal, state and local law enforcement — to share information about terror threats. They also plan to spearhead initiatives to raise awareness about disinformation, and “halt the spread of information operations intended to promote radicalization to violent extremism or mobilization to violence.”
“The United States faces an evolving threat environment and a threat of terroroism and targeted violence within our borders that is more diverse than at any time since the 9/11 attacks,” McAleenan said on Friday. “We are acutely aware of the growing threat from enemies, both foreign and domestic, who seek to incite violence in our nation’s youth, disenfranchised, and disaffected, in order to attack their fellow citizens.”
Cover: Gun rights advocates gather outside the Texas Capitol where Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a round table discussion, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019, in Austin, Texas. Abbott is meeting in Austin with officials from Google, Twitter and Facebook as well as officials from the FBI and state lawmakers to discuss ways of combatting extremism in light of the recent mass shooting in El Paso that reportedly targeted Mexicans. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
abcnews.go.com
FBI arrests Army soldier who allegedly discussed plans to bomb major news network
ABC News
3 minutes
The FBI has arrested a U.S. soldier who allegedly discussed plans to bomb a major American news network, planned to travel to Ukraine to fight with violent far-right group Azov Battalion and allegedly distributed information online on how to build bombs. He also allegedly suggested targeting Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke.
According to charging documents in the case, Jarrett William Smith, who transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas, in July, joined the U.S. military only after first expressing his desire to fight in Ukraine.
On Aug. 19, 2019, Smith allegedly spoke with an FBI informant in an online chat group and discussed a plan for an attack inside the U.S., his search for more "radicals" like himself, and the possibility of killing members of the group Antifa.
In suggesting that the headquarters of the major news network could be a target, Smith allegedly said: "A large vehicle bomb. Fill a vehicle full of [explosives] then fill a ping pong ball with [commonly available chemical] via drilling then injection. Put the ball in the tank of the vehicle and leave. 30 minutes later, BOOM."
Then, in a Telegram conversation with an undercover FBI agent on Sept. 20, Smith allegedly had this exchange:
FBI: You got anyone down in Texas that would be a good fit for fire, destruction and death? SMITH: Outside of Beto? I don't know enough people that would be relevant enough to cause a change if they died.
Smith has allegedly been in communication with another American, Craig Lang, who traveled to Ukraine and fought with another far-right group, the Right Sector.
They were in contact since 2016. On Dec. 8, 2018, Smith allegedly led a group chat on Facebook with Lang that included discussing Smith's ability to build bombs.
Smith allegedly said, "Oh yeah, I got knowledge of IEDs for days. We can make cell phone IEDs in the style of the Afghans. I can teach you that."
Smith was arrested on Sept. 21, and he allegedly admitted to the FBI that he provides people online with instructions for building bombs.
According to charging documents, at least one of the instructions he allegedly provided in recent days would not have resulted in a viable explosive device.
He has been charged in Kansas with distributing information relating to weapons of mass destruction.
:geniustrump:
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/j5yjkb/dhs-just-finally-recognized-white-nationalism-as-a-major-terror-threat
DHS Just Finally Recognized White Nationalism as a Major Terror Threat
Its the first time the department has placed major emphasis on countering the threat of white nationalism coming from inside the U.S.
by Tess Owen
Sep 20 2019, 2:12pm
Share
Tweet
Department of Homeland Security is finally, officially recognizing white supremacist terror as a major national security threat in the U.S. — a threat that’s coming from the inside.
Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan on Friday unveiled the department’s new counterterrorism strategy, which for the first time places major emphasis on countering the threat of white nationalism coming from inside the U.S.
The news will come as some relief for national security and extremism experts, who for years and with increasing urgency have sounded the alarm about the threat of white nationalist terror. After the Christchurch mosque attacks in March, President Donald Trump himself shrugged off the idea that white nationalist terror posed a major security threat. His administration has also defunded and dismantled DHS programs that were designed to counter violent extremism, including far-right extremism. At a House committee hearing earlier this week, experts stressed that the U.S. was woefully ill-equipped to counter the threat.
DHS was created in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and since then its counterterrorism strategy has been largely focused on the threat posed by foreign groups, like ISIS and al Qaeda. Friday’s announcement and formal recognition of white supremacist terror marks a major turning point for the department.
McAleenan, speaking at a Brookings Institute event, said that after the attack at a synagogue in Poway, California, he organized a subcommittee to explore how to secure faith-based organizations from similar attacks. From there, he said, they started to devise a “strategic framework that would build on our success against foreign organizations and incorporate lessons learned.”
After a white nationalist targeted Hispanics shopping at Walmart in El Paso, Texas, in August, leaving 22 dead, McAleenan said he was even more confident that DHS needed a new counterterrorism strategy.
Many of the priorities listed in the 41-page document align with what extremism and counterterrorism experts have suggested during various recent hearings on domestic terrorism before congress.
For example, the report notes that national-level statistics on terorrism and targeted violence are inadequate, and so the department will work closely with state and local agencies, plus academic and non-governmental organizations, to improve their data collection and analysis.
Other measures include using fusion centers — intelligence hubs for federal, state and local law enforcement — to share information about terror threats. They also plan to spearhead initiatives to raise awareness about disinformation, and “halt the spread of information operations intended to promote radicalization to violent extremism or mobilization to violence.”
“The United States faces an evolving threat environment and a threat of terroroism and targeted violence within our borders that is more diverse than at any time since the 9/11 attacks,” McAleenan said on Friday. “We are acutely aware of the growing threat from enemies, both foreign and domestic, who seek to incite violence in our nation’s youth, disenfranchised, and disaffected, in order to attack their fellow citizens.”
Cover: Gun rights advocates gather outside the Texas Capitol where Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a round table discussion, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2019, in Austin, Texas. Abbott is meeting in Austin with officials from Google, Twitter and Facebook as well as officials from the FBI and state lawmakers to discuss ways of combatting extremism in light of the recent mass shooting in El Paso that reportedly targeted Mexicans. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
It’s about time.
Chief accused of slamming black teen’s head into door: Trump is ‘last hope for white people’
A former New Jersey police chief standing trial for allegedly slamming a black teenager’s head into a door jamb reportedly called President Trump “the last hope for white people” before the 2016 election.
“I’m telling you, you know what, Donald Trump is the last hope for white people, cause Hillary (Clinton) will give it to all the minorities to get a vote,” said Frank Nucera Jr., former chief of Bordentown Township, according to NJ.com’s reporting of a transcript displayed at trial this week. “That’s the truth! I’m telling you.”
Nucera, 62, is charged with a hate crime, deprivation of the suspect’s rights and making false statements to the FBI in connection with the September 2016 arrest of an 18-year-old black man.
Two officers were escorting the handcuffed teenager from a hotel into a police car when Nucera approached the teen from behind and slammed his head into a metal door jamb, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in New Jersey.
The incident was part of what prosecutors alleged to be a “significant history” of racist behavior in which Nucera referred to African Americans with the n-word, compared them to the Islamic State, said he’d like to shoot them on a firing squad and tried to use police dogs to intimidate them. Bordentown, located outside the state capital of Trenton, is 77 percent white and 13 percent black.
The allegations represent striking racism from a municipality’s top law enforcement officer and nod at the racial tensions underlying the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s campaign rallies were overwhelmingly white, while Clinton, the Democratic nominee, emphasized racial issues during some of the biggest speeches of her campaign.
[N.J. police chief said black people are ‘like ISIS’ and he’d like to be ‘on the firing squad,’ feds say]
Nucera’s comment about Trump came after a sergeant brought up the teenager’s arrest as he covertly recorded the chief, according to NJ.com. Sgt. Nathan Roohr and the FBI decided to tell Nucera a falsehood that the teenager’s family planned to sue the police department.
Roohr mentioned Nucera allegedly had slammed the teen’s head into a door jamb and said the teen’s family had recorded the incident, NJ.com reported.
“If they took that video and screen-shotted it with your hand on his head, that’s ugly,” Roohr said on the audio recording, according to NJ.com.
“Remember they’re the ones that started the fight and hurt Shawn, and Shawn went to the hospital,” Nucera reportedly responded, referring to another officer involved in the arrest. “He was resisting.”
Rocco Cipparone, an attorney for Nucera, told The Washington Post he asked the jury to distinguish between criminal justice and social justice. Nucera losing his job and being vilified by the public constitute the social-justice response to his racist words, Cipparone said. But criminal justice only applies if Nucera slammed the teen’s head for racially motivated reasons.
“What I told the jury is that I think the prosecution wants to keep shoving the words down the jury’s throat to deflect from the inadequacies of proof that Frank Nucera ever laid hands on (the teenager)," Cipparone said.
The arrest in question began when the manager at a Ramada hotel in Bordentown called police to say two young people had failed to pay for their room the previous night and were now swimming in the pool, the criminal complaint says. Two police officers went to the hotel and tried to question the 18-year-old and a 16-year-old girl, the complaint says, but the conversation became a physical altercation.
The teenagers allegedly resisted arrest, and an officer used pepper spray on the 18-year-old. Nucera and other officers arrived at the Ramada as backup and placed the teens under arrest.
As officers guided the 18-year-old toward the stairwell door, the complaint says he stopped and shouted at the officers. One officer put his hand on the teen’s back and pushed him forward. Then Nucera allegedly grabbed the teenager’s head and slammed it into the door jamb, although the teen had not been struggling, according to the complaint.
The teenager later complained of head pain and a possible concussion, but ultimately declined to go to the hospital.
Nucera resigned from the police department in early 2017 when he discovered the FBI was investigating him, NJ.com reported. He was arrested months later.
Nucera collects an annual pension of nearly $106,000, public records show.
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Homeland Security Dept. Affirms Threat of White Supremacy After Years of Prodding
Homeland Security Dept. Affirms Threat of White Supremacy After Years of Prodding
By Zolan Kanno-Youngs
Oct. 1, 2019
“In our modern age, the continuation of racially based violent extremism, particularly violent white supremacy, is an abhorrent affront to the nation,” said Kevin McAleenan, the acting director of homeland security.Erin Scott/Reuters
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is beginning to address white supremacist terrorism as a primary security threat, breaking with a decade of flagging attention after bigoted mass shooters from New Zealand to Texas took the lives of nearly 100 people in the last six months.
In a little-noticed strategy document published last month to guide law enforcement on emerging threats and in recent public appearances by Kevin K. McAleenan, the acting secretary of homeland security, the department is trying to project a new vigilance about violent white nationalism, beating back criticism that the agency has spent a decade playing down the issue.
“I would like to take this opportunity to be direct and unambiguous in addressing a major issue of our time. In our modern age, the continuation of racially based violent extremism, particularly violent white supremacy, is an abhorrent affront to the nation,” Mr. McAleenan said during an address last month, describing white nationalism as one of the most dangerous threats to the United States.
The department’s new stance contrasts that of President Trump, who has repeatedly dismissed white supremacy as an insignificant fringe movement. But beyond words and documents, many officials trying to combat the threat throughout the country remain skeptical that the full weight of federal law enforcement is finally being used to give bigoted domestic terrorism the attention it deserves.
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Mike Sena, who manages one of 79 information-gathering “fusion centers” across the country partially funded by the Department of Homeland Security, said he has witnessed the rise of hate speech and white supremacist terrorism on the internet — and the reluctance of some in local law enforcement to pursue it.
“If it’s ISIS, they’re jumping to it and saying, ‘I got this,’” said Mr. Sena, the president of the National Fusion Center Association. “But if it’s not, they say, ‘What do I have to do with this?’”
Local police officials in turn hope the belated admission by the Homeland Security Department will lead the agency to share more and richer information on the threat.
Mr. Sena said the department’s moves are a good sign. “This is a huge affirmation for what we’ve been trying to do the last 18 years,” he said.
White supremacists marching through the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 2017. A rally the next day turned fatal.Edu Bayer for The New York Times
The department’s new public stance is a break with the skepticism that has been rooted within the federal government for years and that Mr. Trump has openly expressed — most prominently, after the fatal white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Va., and the deadly rampage at two mosques in New Zealand. (He did denounce white supremacy after the mass shooting this summer in El Paso.)
While the Islamic State and Al Qaeda can still inspire homegrown terrorism in the United States, the “Strategic Framework For Countering Terrorism and Targeted Violence” asserts that the leadership at Homeland Security must adapt to the rise of domestic terrorism. The department will invest in counter-messaging campaigns and engage the private sector to combat hateful rhetoric online, according to the report.
Highlighting domestic terrorism is a major shift for a Homeland Security Department that has been accused of underplaying the threat in the aftermath of the department’s 2009 report that warned that economic dislocation and the election of a black president could fuel right-wing extremism and identified newly discharged service members as potential recruits. The political backlash was fierce, and the report was withdrawn.
An earlier recognition of the white supremacist threat could have been felt in communities across the country, according to Daryl Johnson, a former senior analyst for the department who wrote the 2009 report. Such a decision by the department, he said, might have led to trainings for local police departments to scout indicators of potential threats, undercover operations focused on the white nationalist movement and additional investment into organizations that reach out to those who have shown signs of committing violent acts.
Instead “the backlash to my report created a chilling effect across government at all levels,” Mr. Johnson said. “Everyone was kind of afraid or hesitant or didn’t even want to look at this issue.”
Even as the threat shifted from foreign-born terrorist cells to those inspired by racist propaganda on the internet, the department cut resources for programs that former officials say were tasked with analyzing the emerging threat and supporting outreach organizations.
The Department of Homeland Security does not take the lead in terrorism investigations. The agency’s role is rather to analyze data, inform local law enforcement agencies of emerging threats and issue grants to local law enforcement to combat terrorism. The fusion centers are key to its information sharing.
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Under the current administration, former and current homeland security officials have expressed concern that the agency formed to combat terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has been relegated largely to enforce Mr. Trump’s restrictive immigration agenda.
“You would think D.H.S. is really just the department of the southwest border,” said Janet Napolitano, a former homeland security secretary under President Barack Obama. “The responsibilities are so much broader than that, and they include both foreign terrorism and also now domestic terrorism.”
A memorial was set up to remember the victims of a racially-motivated mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, last month.Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times
Current department leaders acknowledge an exclusive focus on immigration will not keep the country safe.
“Border security cannot stop violence originating from within America,” the department’s new mission report states.
The domestic terrorism threat has grown clearer as Homeland Security’s capacity to address it has atrophied. Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, told Congress in July that the bureau had arrested as many domestic terrorists as foreign terrorists this year and many of them were white supremacists.
The department’s mission report also highlights recent attacks committed by white supremacists, including mass shootings at synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, Calif., the Christchurch mosque massacre in New Zealand and the deadly shooting at a Walmart in El Paso.
It remains unclear how the Department of Homeland Security will translate its recognition of the threat into action to combat it. Agency officials said they will release an implementation plan in the coming months, and Mr. McAleenan has committed to making it public. But law enforcement officials say simply identifying the threats in an official terrorism report was needed — and overdue.
After Ms. Napolitano rescinded the 2009 report on right-wing extremism, Obama administration officials feared legitimizing white supremacists’ views with more attention. Under the Trump administration, the office tasked with paying out grants and coordinating local police departments to prevent threats has shriveled.
That office, which has been renamed multiple times, went from a budget of more than $20 million in the Obama administration to less than $3 million, according to the House Appropriations Committee and former homeland security officials. A department official said the $20 million figure was mostly grants and other funds that were not part of the program’s core budget.
A midyear budget request by Mr. McAleenan earlier this year was held up by Democrats who worried the administration would use the added resources to target Muslims.
Mr. Johnson, who tried to sound the alarm in 2009, said the new agency document gave him a “glimmer of hope.”
“Better late than never, but we’ve had a threat that’s been around for 10 years, and if we acknowledged this and my report was released, we would be much more ahead on strategies,” he said.
In addition to clearly identifying white nationalism as a pressing threat, the department also warns of the rise of “targeted violence” by those who do not display a clear motivation or hatred for a particular group of people.
The report highlights how hateful posts on the internet, including those that are part of disinformation campaigns by foreign states, have incited violent acts in the United States. Officials said they hope the report cements a resolve in police agencies to better investigate leads issued by fusion centers, even if they do not yet meet the definition of probable cause or do not fall into the traditional definition of terrorism.
Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which represents the police departments that would be on the receiving end of the information gathered by the Homeland Security Department, said calling out domestic terrorism merely brings the department and its fusion centers to the current reality.
“What’s evolved is a recognition that it doesn’t matter if somebody is ideologically driven or just targeting people. We need to know who they are,” Mr. Wexler said. “The challenge in a democracy is the First Amendment. People say things on the internet.”
Law enforcement officials said the Homeland Security Department now needs to give police departments more latitude with grants often seen as restricted to combating foreign-born terrorism.
Some police officials have requested additional federal investment in research to identify warning signs of potential attackers and organizations that conduct outreach to those who may espouse hateful views — no easy task for investigators who must weigh First Amendment rights with public safety.
While officials remained skeptical that the Trump administration would truly invest in combating the new threat, Mr. Sena is optimistic.
“This gives us the ability to look at the threats across America,” he said. “It’s not just finding the terrorist with the pipe bombs and two end caps, the guy espousing Al Qaeda rhetoric.”
A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 2, 2019, Section A, Page 15 of the New York edition with the headline: New Focus at Homeland Security on Domestic Terrorism. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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