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In a new draft document from the Department of Homeland Security, it was depicted that white supremacy poses the greatest challenges regarding domestic safety. In short, the document stated that radicalized and potentially armed white extremists present a “most lethal threat” to the United States through next year.
In a detailed report from Politico, the draft document, which was revised twice by the time of reporting, share a consistent message: white supremacists and far-right extremists are the greatest threats to the Homeland through 2021, although they were categorized under the kinder “Domestic Violent Extremists” heading rather than earlier draft framing the group as “white supremacist extremists.”
From Politico:
The document discusses white supremacists in greater detail when introducing the section titled “The Terrorist Threat to the Homeland.” Once again, language in the earliest draft is slightly stronger than the language in the subsequent drafts. The earliest draft introduces the threat from terrorism this way:
“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,” it reads.
The next two drafts refer to “Domestic Violent Extremists” –– rather than “white supremacist extremists” –– as “the most persistent and lethal threat.” All three drafts contain the following sentence further down in the same section: “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.”
The publication continued in its reporting to put out that in 2019, the document illustrates that “Among DVE [domestic violent extremist] actors, WSEs [white supremacist extremists] conducted half of all lethal attacks (8 of 16), resulting in the majority of deaths (39 of 48).”
Read Politico’s extensive breakdown here.
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