Understanding Hate and Violent Extremism as a Long-Term Domestic Terrorism Threat
Violent extremism has been on our radar for a long time; however, the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 brought the threat of domestic terror into sharp relief. This should not have been surprising to those who reviewed the October 2020 U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Homeland Threat Assessment which concluded that “racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists—specifically white supremacist extremists (WSEs)—will remain the most persistent and lethal threat in the Homeland.” How did we get here? The U.S. has a long sordid history of domestic terrorism. However, for the past four decades, we have been more focused on international terrorism. The October 23, 1983 truck bombings of U.S. and French military barracks in Beirut, Lebanon claimed a total of 295 lives. This shocking attack stood as the most deadly act of terrorism at the time. In 1988, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and the resulting crash in Lockerbie Scotland gave the world a shockin