Two things happened concurrently this week that lit up the national security sphere. First, the FBI provided Congress with an updated threat assessment on the QAnon movement. And second, Joe Biden’s administration published its national strategy for countering domestic terrorism. The first document warned that frustrated Q believers may turn to real-world violence given that none of the movement’s predictions––such as Donald Trump imprisoning Hillary Clinton––have come to pass. No longer able to believe that they can “trust the plan,” it’s possible, the agency warns, that Q followers may target “perceived members of the ‘cabal’ such as Democrats and other political opposition” instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop.
The second document gave insight into Biden’s plan to deal with what intelligence officials have called a top national security threat. Born out of an executive order issued shortly after Biden took office, the strategy will center the sharing of information related to domestic terrorism within the government, preventing recruitment efforts and mobilization plans, breaking up extremist activity prior to violent incidents taking place, and tackling long-term problems that contribute to the proliferation of domestic extremism. In a Tuesday speech, Attorney General Merrick Garland said that “in the FBI’s view, the top domestic violent extremist threat comes from racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists, specifically those who advocated for the superiority of the white race.”
“We are focused on violence, not on ideology,” Garland added. “In America, espousing a hateful ideology is not unlawful. We do not investigate individuals for their First Amendment protected activities.”
As my colleague Abigail Tracy reported last month, there has so far been a surprising amount of unity between Biden’s administration and the progressive camp. “I’ll be frank,” one New York lawmaker told her, “I think a lot of us expected a lot more conservative administration.” But Biden’s new order could begin to bring out the cracks. After the January 6 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—who has spoken of her own trauma following the riot—tweeted her opposition to a new round of counterterror legislation. “Our problems on [January 6] weren’t that there weren’t enough laws, resources, or intelligence,” she wrote. “We had them, [but] they were not used.”
A few days later, former FBI agent Michael German made a similar argument. “No new law is necessary,” he said at the time. “There are five federal hate crime statutes. There are 51 federal crimes and terrorism statutes that apply to domestic terrorism. There are organized crime [statutes]. There are conspiracy [statutes]. There’s plenty legal authority to address these crimes…. Law enforcement already has the power to address violent crime. They’re choosing not to. What Congress needs to do and what the new administration needs to do is get to the bottom of why they’re choosing not to.” Shortly thereafter, more than 100 civil rights organizations wrote a joint letter in opposition to a Biden-proposed “sweeping review of how the federal government deals with threats of domestic terrorism.”
In recent years, the FBI’s focus appears to have shifted toward far-right groups and antifa activists. In 2020, the FBI allegedly recruited Joe Biggs, a member of extremist militant group the Proud Boys, to inform on the anti-fascist movement in the U.S., according to the defense attorney representing Biggs. Less than a year after his alleged FBI recruitment, Biggs was charged with breaking into the Capitol building alongside other Proud Boys. One infamous member not apprehended on the scene was Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the group who was an alleged “prolific” FBI informant. (Tarrio has denied cooperation with the FBI.) Tarrio was arrested in Washington, D.C., two days prior to the Capitol Hill riot and charged with possessing two rifle magazines and destruction of property. (Both Biggs and Tarrio have pleaded not guilty.)
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