Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the Biden administration plans to combat domestic terror Tuesday morning.
Details on the plan can be found here.
Administration officials said the Department of Justice had also implemented a new system to “methodically track” domestic terrorism cases nationwide within the FBI.
“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.
The Justice Department was also evaluating whether the administration should recommend Congress pass a specific domestic terrorism law. Right now, the Justice Department relies on other statutes to prosecute ideologically motivated violence by people with no international ties.
“We are focused on violence, not on ideology,” Garland said. “In America, espousing a hateful ideology is not unlawful. We do not investigate individuals for their First Amendment protected activities.”
The government’s new plan also includes an effort to identify government employees who may pose a domestic terrorism threat, with a number of federal agencies working on new policies and programs to root out potential domestic extremists in law enforcement and in the military.