Official data revealed that domestic terrorism cases in the United States increased by 357% from 2013 to 2021, and the Government Accountability Office urged the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI to do more to combat this issue.

According to statistics provided by the FBI and published by ABC, in 2013 there were 1,981 open domestic terrorism cases compared to 9,940 open cases in 2021.

The GAO report states: “From the year 2010 to 2021, Homeland Security Intelligence tracked a total of 231 domestic terrorist incidents, with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists committing the most violent incidents during this time period, and more specifically, from 2013 to 2016, The total number of domestic cases opened related to terrorism decreased by more than 400 (about 23%) but then increased by more than 7,000 (about 490%) from fiscal years 2016 through 2021.”

Of the 231 incidents, the GAO found that 35 percent were racially motivated, followed by anti-government motives at 32 percent. From 2010 to 2021, prosecutors have charged 1,584 people in 1,255 cases in federal courts related to terrorism and domestic extremism crimes from October 2010 to July 2021.

Since becoming Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorcas has focused department resources on countering homegrown violent extremism, which he describes as one of the most pressing and deadly threats in the United States, and the Government Accountability Office found that deaths by homegrown terrorists have also increased.

“The number of deaths resulting from such incidents ranged from zero in 2011 to 32 in 2019, with the highest number of deaths recorded in 2015 and 2019,” says the GAO report, noting that homegrown extremist attacks “were perpetrated and promoted by wide range of individuals and groups.

FBI agents interviewed by the GAO said more support is needed from state and local governments in reporting incidents that fall under the category of domestic extremism.
Source: The Seventh Day website