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The
Justice Department is creating a new position to organize
investigations into domestic terrorism, a "clear and present danger" to
the public.
DOJ pivots from ISIS to U.S. anti-government groups with new division 
American accused of terror plot 'perfect fit' for ISIS 04:27
Story highlights
Washington (CNN)Domestic terror groups pose a greater threat to America than ISIS or al Qaeda, a Justice Department official said Wednesday.
To
help combat them, the department has created a new division that will
coordinate the investigation and prosecution of anti-government and hate
groups.
Assistant
Attorney General John Carlin, who oversees national security at the
Justice Department, announced the new division -- the Domestic Terrorism
Counsel -- following a number of violent attacks or plots against the
U.S. that he said were motivated by "anti-government views, racism,
bigotry and anarchy, and other despicable beliefs."
More
Americans have died at the hands of domestic terror than the
international terror groups that federal law enforcement focuses so much
attention on, Carlin said, pointing to such high-profile attacks as the
racially motivated Charleston church shooting in June or the murder of two Las Vegas police officers by anti-government extremists last year.
"Looking
back over the past few years, it is clear that domestic terrorists and
homegrown violent extremists remain a real and present danger to the
United States," he said. "We recognize that, over the past few years,
more people have died in this country in attacks by domestic extremists
than in attacks associated with international terrorist groups."
While
many similarities exist between domestic and international terror
groups, such as recruitment and reach on social media, one difference
lies in the way the Justice Department is able to prosecute them.
Groups
such as ISIS and al Qaeda, who are inspired by religious extremism, are
designated by our federal government as terror organizations, which
makes it illegal to support or assist them. But no such statute exist to
prosecute white supremacists, the Ku Klux Klan or anti-government
extremists, forcing federal law enforcement to find more concrete
charges to lock them up.
"What causes
some confusion is that 'domestic terrorism' is not an offense or a
charge," Carlin said. Therefore, domestic terror groups or actors must
be prosecuted with firearms or explosives offenses, hate crimes or
murder.
It is the hope of the Justice
Department that the counsel will not only help to coordinate the
prosecution of domestic terrorists, but also "to identify trends to help
shape our strategy, and to analyze legal gaps or enhancements required
to ensure we can combat these threats," Carlin said.
The
Justice Department identified white supremacists as the most violent of
the domestic terror groups and Carlin raised concerns that the narrow
focus the U.S. has on Islamic extremist terrorism can take the attention
away from threats which warrant more resources.
"I
do worry sometimes that the coverage hypes the threat in such a way
that it induces the fear that the terrorist is attempting to
accomplish," Carlin said. "Yet, while we continue to address this
evolving international threat of violent extremists, we have not lost
sight of the domestic terrorism threat posed by other violent extremists."
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Thursday, October 15, 2015
Justice Department creates new position to handle domestic terror cases
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