Less Than 1 In 5 FBI Terror Cases Target White Supremacists, Stats Show
In the face of a global increase in white supremacist terrorism like the twin massacres in two Christchurch, New Zealand, less than a fifth of the FBI’s open terrorism investigations focus on people without connections to international extremist organizations. It’s a proxy figure that highlights what former counterterrorism officials consider an insufficient focus on far-right violence.
Out of about 5,000 open terrorism investigations, 900 probe domestic terrorism, according to FBI data reviewed by The Daily Beast. “Domestic terrorism” is an umbrella category that includes far more than just far-right terrorism, but functions as the most granular data available to indicate how federal law enforcement targets white supremacist violence.
Former FBI and Department of Homeland Security officials say that the New Zealand attacks, which left at least 49 people dead at two mosques, are a bloody reminder of the growing threat worldwide of white supremacist terrorism. (A suspect in custody declared “I am a racist” in an online manifesto packed with Islamophobic invective.)
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