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1 1 (November 7, 2017)

handle is hein.crs/govcgwz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: , . , -iE S .r . i , FBI Categorization of Domestic Terrorism November 7, 2017 In August 2017, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI, the Bureau), reportedly published an intelligence assessment that conceptualized a new form of domestic terrorism, black identity extremism (BIE). In October, Foreign Policy magazine's blog obtained a copy of the FBI assessment and made it publicly available. In recent years, the FBI (the lead federal law enforcement agency charged with counterterrorism investigations) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have delineated a number of ideologies that domestic terrorists use to justify their crimes. Domestic terrorists/extremists commit crimes in the name of animal rights, environmental rights, anarchism, white supremacy, anti-government beliefs (such as those that inspire sovereign citizens and unauthorized militias), black separatism, as well as beliefs tied to abortion. It is unclear whether BIE somehow changes this list for example, adding black identity as an ideology that can inspire extremists. The expression of any of these worldviews minus the commission of crimes-typically involves constitutionally protected activity. As such, many individuals and movements openly and lawfully espousing these beliefs distance themselves from people who use these ideologies to justify their crimes. k, ' It is unclear whether the Bureau holds that some sort of non-extremist black identity ideological movement gives rise to black identity extremism or whether BIE stands alone. The FBI assessment said little of the term's origins. According to media accounts, the assessment notes that black identity extremists draw on BIE ideology, the outlines of which the Bureau has not publicly described in any detail. Open sources have suggested that based on the contents of the assessment, such extremism seems to describe people who combine anti-government, anti-law enforcement, and black separatist views with a penchant for violently targeting police. The FBI assessment reportedly links six violent incidents to black identity extremists, including a much publicized example involving Micah Johnson. He shot and killed five police officers in Dallas, TX, in July 2015. Johnson is said to have liked groups on Facebook tied to black separatism. He purportedly told police that he wasn't affiliated with any groups at the time of the shooting, which ended with police killing him after he was cornered in a local community college building. Media characterizations of the assessment and the scant official information available about BIE leave salient questions for policymakers. Aside from basic issues regarding the exact meaning of black identity extremism, policymakers may be interested in the following points: Does BIE represent a new category of domestic terrorist actor, distinct from the existing black separatist extremist category, or does it subsume and replace the latter, or is it a subset of the latter? Black identity extremism appears to combine black separatist ideas with other ideological elements. Will the FBI now pursue BIE cases, black separatist cases, or both? Aside from adding BIE, is the FBI reconfiguring other strains of domestic terrorism? On occasion, the FBI alters its understanding of domestic terrorist threats. In recent years, the Bureau has switched from anti-abortion extremists to abortion extremism, thus including individuals who may commit crimes to protect abortion rights. In the past, it also used terms such as special interest, right-wing, and left-wing to describe domestic terrorists, but it has shifted away from such usages. Within the current context, is the Bureau considering creating an analogous White Identity Extremism category? What official process was involved in creating the new term from what has been reported as little information-six violent, recent incidents? The FBI has not made such details available. Is the assessment the product of a small group of individuals at the FBI, or does it represent a corporate revision of the domestic terrorist threat? Was the assessment developed with input from outside agencies or experts? More generally, how does the FBI officially categorize or re-categorize domestic terrorist threats (e.g., white supremacist extremism, anarchist extremism, or anti- government extremism) over time? According to DOJ, the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee (DTEC) is designed to coordinate closely with U.S. Attorneys and other key public safety officials across the country to promote information-sharing and ensure an effective, responsive, and organized joint effort. DTEC includes DOJ leaders and is co-chaired by a member of the U.S. Attorney community, the DOJ National Security Division, and the FBI. Did DTEC weigh in on the creation of BIE? Who at the FBI determines exactly what constitutes an extremist ideology? Are there official procedures to identify these ideologies, or are such efforts informal, shaped by the analyses and opinions of investigators and analysts? Do thresholds exist for the identification of ideologies that spawn domestic terrorism? For example, how many crimes, and what type, committed in the name of an ideology make it potentially extremist and susceptible to inspiring terrorism? How does the FBI mitigate against bias in its framing of domestic terrorist threats? This may be particularly salient given concerns, especially from watchdog K~:> gognpo ' -p\qm ggmm g , q 'S a X 11LULKWALiN,

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