WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden has directed his intelligence community to study the threat of domestic extremism in the United States, an undertaking being launched weeks after a violent mob loyal to Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol.
The disclosure Friday by White House press secretary Jen Psaki is a stark acknowledgment of the national security threat that officials see as posed by American extremists motivated to violence by extremist ideology.
The involvement of the director of national intelligence, an office created after the September 11, 2001, attacks to prevent international terrorism, suggests that American authorities are examining how to pivot to a more concerted focus on violence from radical extremists at home.
FBI Director Chris Wray has said that, over the last year, the most lethal violence has come from anti-government activists, such as anarchists and militia-types.
“The rise of domestic violent extremism is a serious and growing national security threat," Psaki said.