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Rescuers attend a commemorative ceremony in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. The attack killed 168 people, including 19 children, injured hundreds of others and caused hundreds millions of dollars in damage. (Bill Waugh / AP)
Devlin Barrett
A journalist specializing in national security and law enforcement
Lawmakers worried about domestic terrorism in the United States want the FBI and the Justice Department to provide a comprehensive account of the threat, after recently revealed data reveal that arrests in such cases now exceed those of the investigations in the US. international terrorism cases.
Representative Bennie Thompson (D-Mademoiselle), Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, wrote this week to senior law enforcement officials to request a briefing from those responsible for enforcing the law. of the law. The letter refers to the FBI's internal figures, reported for the first time by the Washington Post last week, showing that during fiscal years 2017 and 2018, the authorities arrested more terror suspects than those inspired by Islamist extremists.
[Arrests in domestic terror probes outpace those inspired by Islamic extremists]
"Recent acts of violence and high-profile violence have underscored the urgency of understanding and developing solutions to the growing threat of domestic terrorism," Thompson told Attorney General William P. Barr and the FBI director. , Christopher A. Wray.
Thompson's letter was distributed to the media on Thursday, a few hours before 49 people were killed in a terrorist attack on mosques in New Zealand. Authorities in this country are examining a manifesto whose author, according to officials, has expressed contempt for Muslims and immigrants and exasperated well-known far-right extremists, including Dylann. Roof, which killed in 2015 nine loyal worshipers at the Charleston, BC church
The congressman's request is part of a growing public debate over whether the federal government's application of the law is too focused on Islamic terrorism and whether attention is not given to the rise from the extreme right.
Thompson's letter is the third in recent months in recent months. He complained to the FBI to want more information about the current state of the threat of violent extremists.
The last letter dated Wednesday calls for a classified briefing to his committee later this month. Thompson also announced plans to hold a public hearing soon on the issue.
According to FBI figures shared with The Post, during fiscal year 2017, about 110 people were arrested in the United States after an investigation for acts inspired by foreign terrorist groups such as the Islamic State. and al-Qaeda. Of these, about 30 faced terrorism charges. The others were charged with guns, drugs, fraud or immigration.
Last year, out of a hundred arrests, only nine defendants were charged with terrorism charges – a decrease due in part to the decline in the number of people who tried to get away with it. go abroad to join the Islamic State, said a senior official of the forces of order.
According to fiscal year 2017, FBI investigations have resulted in the arrest of about 150 terrorism suspects, according to law enforcement officials. The following year this figure was about 120.
But since federal law does not designate national groups as terrorist organizations, no corresponding terrorist crime applies to such suspects. And while the number of arrests of this type declined last year, the top law enforcement official pointed out that, overall, a greater number of suspected terrorists are arrested.
About a quarter of those arrested as part of counter-terrorism activities are arrested by state and local authorities – not by the FBI, said a senior law enforcement official.
The figures show that the majority of the FBI's counterterrorism work is done under the radar, even in cases of arrest. Each year, thousands are the subject of an investigation. Hundreds are accused of crimes. But the media and the public see only dozens.
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