Sinclair writes: "The threat of white nationalist violence in the U.S. is at least as big a threat as that posed by terror groups such as ISIS, the FBI revealed Wednesday."
Many white supremacist group leaders have praised Trump, who has given their cause more momentum than any other person or event in recent history. (photo: Erik S. Lesser/EPA)
White Nationalism Is as Much a Threat to US as ISIS, According to FBI Investigations
28 September 17
he threat of white nationalist violence in the U.S. is at least as big a threat as that posed by terror groups such as ISIS, the FBI revealed Wednesday.
Director Chris Wray told the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee that there are currently 1,000 open investigations into domestic terror groups and another 1,000 probes into groups with radical Islamist ideology.
But the similar numbers did not satisfy some members of the panel, with several complaining of a double standard in how attacks from white supremacists were investigated compared to those carried out by people who identified as having radical Islamic ideology.
The number of attacks carried out by white supremacists were “almost triple” those of those carried out by people who identified with groups such as ISIS, said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). And government data obtained by The Hill suggests the number of white supremacist attacks compared to those from radical Islamic groups was as many as two to one.
“We have had zero hearings on the threat of domestic terrorists and the threat they pose and our response to it,” McCaskill said, explaining there had been a number of hearings about ISIS, but none about white supremacists.
But said white nationalism is no more or less of a priority for the FBI that threats from terrorist organizations.
“We take both of them very, very seriously,” The Hill reported Wray as saying. “Our focus is on violence and threats of violence against the people of this country. That’s our concern; it’s not ideology.”
Wray also explained domestic and international terrorism was investigated differently, with crimes such as shooting typically only classified as terrorism if there is a link with an international organization or ideology.
“A lot of the [domestic terrorism] cases we bring, we’re able to charge under gun charges, explosive charges, all manner of other crimes,” Wray explained.
“We also work a lot with state and local law enforcement who can sometimes bring straightforward, easy-to-make cases; homicide cases, things like that,” he added.
His comments on the open investigations at the department come as the Department of Justice announced there were “systemic” problems within the FBI that included failure to properly tackle allegations of serious misconduct, and FBI employees failing polygraph tests.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
