The new US President, Joseph Biden, has ordered police and intelligence services to assess the threat of domestic violent extremism in the United States, after a mob of insurgents loyal to current President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol on January 6.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki revealed this on Friday, as a direct official recognition of the danger to national security from American extremists motivated by radical ideology to commit violent crimes.
The involvement in that analysis of the director of the National Intelligence Service, established after the attacks of September 11, 2001 to prevent international terrorism, indicates that the US authorities are looking for a way to suppress the violence of domestic extremists.
The threat assessment, coordinated by the National Intelligence Service, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, will be the basis for developing policy to address the problem, the White House said. In addition, the Government will work on a coordinated approach to social media and radicalization, she said.
"The attack on the Capitol on January 6 and the tragic deaths and destruction underscored what we all know: the rise of domestic violent extremism is a serious and growing threat to national security," said Psaki, adding that the government will confront the problem with means, politically, but with "respect for freedom of speech and political activity protected by the Constitution".
The rebellion at the Capitol, which last Sunday led to the second impeachment process for Trump, raised questions about whether the state security apparatus, which has been aggressively fighting foreign terrorist groups and their followers in America for years, is adequately equipped to respond to the threat of domestic terrorism in the United States. extremism. That question has been raised periodically in the past after various attacks, including the massacre at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, when it was debated whether a special law was needed to combat domestic terrorism.
FBI Director Chris Rye said last fall that the most deadly violence in the past year was the violence of anti-government activists, such as anarchists and members of self-proclaimed "militia."
The state of the police force has come under scrutiny since a violent crowd of Trump supporters overpowered police and stormed the Capitol on January 6, resulting in more than 150 people being charged so far.
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