White supremacist terror threat is ‘on the rise’ after year of high-profile attacks worldwide, State Department warns

THE terrorism threat from white supremacist groups is “on the rise” after a year of high-profile attacks across the globe, the State Department has warned. The threat of “racially or ethnically motivated terrorism, particularly white supremacist terrorism” remains a challenge globally, according to the department’s 2019 report on terrorism. The department said the high-profile 2019 […]

THE terrorism threat from white supremacist groups is “on the rise” after a year of high-profile attacks across the globe, the State Department has warned.

The threat of “racially or ethnically motivated terrorism, particularly white supremacist terrorism” remains a challenge globally, according to the department’s 2019 report on terrorism.

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The department said the high-profile 2019 attacks – including the shooting at a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand in March, the shooting in an El Paso, Texas, Walmart last summer, and a shooting in a synagogue in Halle, Germany last fall – continue a troubling trend that began in 2015.

The counter terrorism bureau has increased its efforts to combat racially/ethnically motivated terrorism as violence seems to be both “on the rise and spreading geographically,” it added.

Targets of these white supremacist groups can include “immigrants; Jewish, Muslim, and other religious minorities; lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender and/or intersex (LGBTI) individuals; governments; and other perceived enemies,” according to the department.

“The CT Bureau is working with our law enforcement and foreign partners to take concrete actions to address this growing threat,” the report said.

The department’s top counterterrorism official, Ambassador Nathan Sales, said that the threat of white supremacy has been put “at the top of the queue” for the Trump administration, according to the New York Post.

“It took this administration coming into power to really prioritize stepping up efforts against this threat here in the case of the FBI and DHS, but also abroad where this department comes into play,” he said during a press conference about the report.

Earlier this year, this US gave a white supremacist group the terrorist label for the first time. The group, St. Petersburg-based Russian Imperial Movement, reportedly offers training to neo-Nazis and white supremacists. The group was allegedly recruiting members from Europe and the US, according to the Post.