White House orders assessment of violent extremism in US

WASHINGTON – President Biden on Friday ordered the Director of National Intelligence to work with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to conduct a comprehensive threat assessment of domestic violent extremism, a sign of the seriousness with which the new administration is taking responsibility. question seriously. after the January 6 riot at the Capitol.

The request comes just days after Avril D. Haines, the new director of national intelligence, promised members of Congress during her confirmation hearing that she would help with just such an assessment.

The new intelligence work began as those accused in the mob attack on the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald J. Trump continued to appear in court. On Friday, a federal magistrate in Dayton, Ohio, ordered Donovan Crowl, an accused rioter linked to the far-right group the Oath Keepers, to be detained until his trial, citing community safety.

Domestic terrorism and violent groups are a thorny issue for intelligence agencies like the CIA, which limit themselves to tracking attempts by foreign governments or organizations to influence extremist groups in America. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have more leeway to investigate national groups and local terrorism.

But Friday’s order will have practical and symbolic importance. Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said the assessment would help Biden refine his policies to tackle violent extremism in the United States.

“This assessment will be based on the analysis of the whole government and, where appropriate, non-governmental organizations,” Ms. Psaki said. “The key point here is that we want factual analysis upon which we can shape policy.”

In recent years, parts of the intelligence community have shifted to focusing more on the threat of domestic terrorism, in particular doing more to keep up with growing foreign influence operations on domestic groups. The CIA also has agents in its counterterrorism section who specialize in tracking down racially motivated violent extremists abroad.

In the last two sessions of Congress, lawmakers passed a measure requiring intelligence agencies to work on annual reports and strategic assessments of national extremism.

“Far-right white supremacist extremism, nurtured on online platforms, has become one of the most dangerous threats to our nation,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and Chairman of House Intelligence Committee.

The domestic terrorism order is the second mission in two days for Ms Haines, which was confirmed by the Senate on Wednesday evening. On Thursday, the White House ordered a new intelligence assessment on Russia and its role in a widespread hacking of government computers.

The new order over national extremism and growing interest in Capitol Hill could also push intelligence and law enforcement agencies to seek ways to work more closely to track and counter extremist groups in the country.

The growing concern for these groups is also reflected in the tough positions judges have taken on those arrested in connection with the January 6 riot.

Mr. Crowl, the suspect deprived of his bail in Ohio, was part of a group dressed in paramilitary equipment who approached the Capitol “in an organized and practiced manner” to move towards the front of the crowd, according to court documents.

In a New York article on the riot, Mr. Crowl, a 50-year-old Ohio resident, admitted he entered the Capitol but claimed he went to Washington to ” ensure the safety “of” VIPs “whom he did not name and that his intentions had been peaceful. But court documents made it clear that prosecutors did not believe this.

“This defendant, by force and violence, tried to disrupt the process in which our country has been engaged for more than 200 years,” prosecutor Nicholas Dingeldein said during Friday’s hearing. “He’s preparing for a literal war because that’s what this organization, the Oath Keepers, told him he had to do.

Judge Sharon L. Ovington noted that Mr. Crowl had a criminal record and said she had seen “clear and compelling evidence” that there were no conditions that could reasonably ensure Mr. Crowl’s appearance in court or community safety.

Citing the weapons authorities found where Mr Crowl suggested he would stay if released, she said: “The suggestion that I release him to a residence containing at least nine guns is a non-starter. “

Another accused rioter, Scott Kevin Fairlamb, was arrested in New Jersey on Friday after various informants submitted evidence to law enforcement. In one video, a man later identified as Mr. Fairlamb pushed and punched an officer on the Western Front of the Capitol, according to an FBI affidavit.In a video posted to Mr. Fairlamb’s Facebook page, he could be seen wearing a stick and saying, “What are the patriots doing?”

Using two expletives, he then continued: we “disarm them and then we storm” the Capitol.

And in New York, a federal investigating judge on Friday denied bail for Jeffrey Sabol, a Colorado geophysicist who has been accused of dragging a police officer down the stairs outside the Capitol and allowing another rioter to beat the officer with an American flag.

During his bail hearing, a prosecutor suggested that Mr. Sabol tried to flee the country after the riot; he had bought a plane ticket to Switzerland, which does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. Mr Sabol also attempted to kill himself after the riot, the prosecutor said, and spent several days recovering in hospital.

Nicole hong and Ben protess contribution to reports.