Posted on Aug 9, 2019
'Blood on their hands': the intelligence officer whose warning over white supremacy was ignored
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Ten years ago, the Department of Homeland Security sent American law enforcement agencies an intelligence briefing warning of a rising threat of domestic rightwing extremism, including white supremacist terrorism.
The economic recession and the election of America’s first black president would create fertile ground for rightwing radicalization, the 2009 report concluded. Military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, in particular, would be attractive targets for recruitment.
The economic recession and the election of America’s first black president would create fertile ground for rightwing radicalization, the 2009 report concluded. Military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, in particular, would be attractive targets for recruitment.
'Blood on their hands': the intelligence officer whose warning over white supremacy was ignored
Posted from theguardian.comPosted in these groups: 
US Department of Homeland Security
Terrorism
Law Enforcement
Intelligence
Republicans
US Department of Homeland Security Terrorism Law Enforcement Intelligence Republicans
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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How do we account for the fact that no white supremacy organization has been held directly accountable for the organizing, planning, and execution of any of mass shootings in the last 10 years?
I'm all for finding ways to getting rid of these organizations, but in order to do so legally, we have to be able to tie them to illegal activity. Also, I'm confused when it says:
"The small team of domestic terrorism analysts who had produced the report was disbanded, and analysts were reassigned to study Muslim extremism, according to Daryl Johnson, the career federal intelligence analyst who had led the team. By the next year, Johnson says, he had been forced out of the DHS altogether."
Why would President Obama, who was president, over the DHS at the time, and who echoed these conclusions, disband the team? Because the Republicans didn't like their conclusions? Really? I do recall that issue back then and what they (the GOP) took issue with was the suggestion that military veterans were likely recruitment subjects. 10 years later the data does not support his claim, as mass shootings have come from people all over the place (and very few Veterans recruited by White Supremacist orgs). In fact, I could only find one significant shooting from a Veteran who was also a white supremacist. All of this is of course predicated on what defines a mass shooting and taking into account the motivations and objectives of the shooter.
So blood on "their" hands? Really? Domestic terror has not been ignored. The problem is, unlike groups like ISIS, where the Federal Government can more easily take the fight to the source directly, you can't do the same from within.
I'm all for finding ways to getting rid of these organizations, but in order to do so legally, we have to be able to tie them to illegal activity. Also, I'm confused when it says:
"The small team of domestic terrorism analysts who had produced the report was disbanded, and analysts were reassigned to study Muslim extremism, according to Daryl Johnson, the career federal intelligence analyst who had led the team. By the next year, Johnson says, he had been forced out of the DHS altogether."
Why would President Obama, who was president, over the DHS at the time, and who echoed these conclusions, disband the team? Because the Republicans didn't like their conclusions? Really? I do recall that issue back then and what they (the GOP) took issue with was the suggestion that military veterans were likely recruitment subjects. 10 years later the data does not support his claim, as mass shootings have come from people all over the place (and very few Veterans recruited by White Supremacist orgs). In fact, I could only find one significant shooting from a Veteran who was also a white supremacist. All of this is of course predicated on what defines a mass shooting and taking into account the motivations and objectives of the shooter.
So blood on "their" hands? Really? Domestic terror has not been ignored. The problem is, unlike groups like ISIS, where the Federal Government can more easily take the fight to the source directly, you can't do the same from within.
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