Domestic Violent Extremists Pose ‘Elevated Threat’ to U.S. in 2021, Intelligence Agencies Say in New Report

An unclassified summary of the new report was released this week by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Justice Department, and DHS.

March 18, 2021

riot — Image via Getty/Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post
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A new report sees multiple U.S. intelligence agencies concluding that “domestic violent extremists”—certainly better described as domestic terrorists—pose an “elevated threat” to the country in 2021.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released an unclassified summary of their joint comprehensive threat assessment on domestic violent extremism on Wednesday.

The executive summary of the report notes that recent sociopolitical developments—namely “narratives of fraud in the recent general election,” the impact of the violent Capitol riot, the pandemic, and various conspiracy theories—will “almost certainly” spur some domestic violent extremists to attempt to engage in violence this year.

The summary makes special mention of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, referred to in the report as RMVEs, as currently presenting the most lethal threats and those most likely to conduct “mass-casualty attacks against civilians.” More specifically, those whose efforts revolve around attempting to promote an ideology of white supremacy are determined to be the domestic violence extremists “with the most persistent and concerning transnational connections.”

President Biden, as pointed out in a CBS News report, called for this report following the fatal Capitol riot in January. The report was shared with the White House and Congress earlier this week.

The report notably arrives the same week of the shooting deaths of eight people, the majority of whom were Asian Americans, in three Atlanta-area spas. That suspect has since been charged with multiple counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault, police confirmed to Complex on Wednesday.

Also this week, a 31-year-old Texas man was arrested outside VP Kamala Harris’ official residence. An AR-15 and ammunition was recovered from the man’s vehicle.