VOA — The easing of restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic has U.S. counterterrorism officials holding their breath, worried an increasingly lax environment could make it easier for a variety of extremists to try to launch new attacks across the country.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued the updated alert Friday, warning the threats environment had grown “increasingly complex and volatile.”
“Violent extremists may seek to exploit the easing of COVID-19-related restrictions across the United States to conduct attacks against a broader range of targets after previous public capacity limits reduced opportunities for lethal attacks,” according to the bulletin.
The alert does not cite any specific threats but notes that a range of ideologically motivated extremists – including those classified as Domestic Violent Extremist (DVE) and racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) – have historically targeted houses of worship, crowded gatherings and government facilities.
It also warns that a range of extremists have continued to push out propaganda on a variety of online and social media sites, and that a growing number of online narratives are seeking to exploit “racial justice grievances and police use of force concerns.”
Overseas actors
While some of the narratives are being pushed by homegrown actors, others are being pushed from overseas, both by terror groups like Islamic State and al-Qaida and by countries like Russia and China.
“We are advising the public to be vigilant about ongoing threats to the United States, including those posed by domestic terrorism, grievance-based violence, and those inspired or influenced by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in statement. “In this evolving threat environment, DHS is redoubling our efforts to detect and disrupt all forms of foreign and domestic terrorism and targeted violence, while safeguarding privacy protections, civil rights and civil liberties.”
The updated terror alert comes just days after DHS announced it had created a new unit tasked specifically with focusing on domestic violent extremism.
The unit, located within the department’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, aims to galvanize “the expertise necessary to produce the sound, timely intelligence needed to combat threats posed by domestic terrorism and targeted violence,” according to a statement by DHS this past Tuesday.