Armed forces to get anti-radicalization training when they retire to ‘stop white supremacy’ in domestic terror fight

RETIRING service members in the US will have to undergo "anti-radicalization" training in an effort to "stop white supremacy" as Joe Biden announced his plans to battle domestic terrorism in America.

The National Security Council announced the strategy plan on Tuesday – six months after Donald Trump fans and QAnon conspiracists stormed the US Capitol to protest the election results.

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Biden, who arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, this afternoon ahead of the NATO summit, also confirmed the creation of the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism.

He released the blistering statement decrying "domestic terrorism" in the USA as a "stain on the soul of America" – and as part of this strategy, the Pentagon will reportedly start coaching the retiring members.

"The Department of Defense is incorporating training for service members separating retirements in the military, who may potentially be targeted by those who seek to radicalize them," said an official, per the Daily Mail.

“We’ve based this strategy on hard evidence,” a administration official told the Wall Street Journal, adding their approach was “to counter those who seek to use violence to achieve their political ends" on the left and right.

The report stated: "Domestic terrorist attacks in the United States also have been committed frequently by those opposing our government institutions.

"In 1995, in the largest single act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history, an anti–government violent extremist detonated a bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people – including 19 children – and injuring hundreds of others.

"In 2016, an anti–authority violent extremist ambushed, shot, and killed five police officers in Dallas. In 2017, a lone gunman wounded four people at a congressional baseball practice.

"And just months ago, on January 6, 2021, Americans witnessed an unprecedented attack against a core institution of our democracy: the US Congress."

In his statement, Biden said this homegrown terrorism is "driven by hate, bigotry, and other forms of extremism" and is "against everything our country strives for and it poses a direct challenge to our national security, democracy, and unity."

"To meet this serious and growing threat, on my first day in office I directed my national security team to confront the rise in domestic terrorism with the necessary resources and resolve," he said.

"Today, I am releasing the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism. 

"It lays out a comprehensive approach to protecting our nation from domestic terrorism while safeguarding our bedrock civil rights and civil liberties – values that make us who we are as Americans.  

"We have to take both short-term steps to counter the very real threats of today and longer-term measures to diminish the drivers that will contribute to this ongoing challenge to our democracy."

Biden said he intended the project to "unite all Americans."

"Together we must affirm that domestic terrorism has no place in our society," he continued. "We must work to root out the hatreds that can too often drive violence. 

"And we must recommit to defending and protecting our basic freedoms, which belong to all Americans in equal measure, and which are not only the foundation of our democracy – they are our enduring advantage in the world."

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence report confirmed that domestic violent extremists posed an increased threat in 2021.

White supremacist groups and anti-government militias were revealed to pose the highest risk, officials said.

Biden's strategy includes enhancing the government’s analysis of domestic terrorism, as well as improving the information that is shared between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

White House officials said the Justice Department implemented the new system to “methodically track” domestic terrorism cases nationwide within the FBI, noted AP.

The new strategy allocates $100million for the DOJ, the FBI and the DHS to fund their analysts, lawyers, and investigators.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department was evaluating whether the Biden should recommend Congress pass a specific domestic terrorism law.

This legislation does not currently exist and without domestic terrorism laws, the DOJ is largely reliant n other statutes to prosecute domestic terrorists.

This has made it difficult to ascertain whether this violent ideologists are driven by religious, racial or anti-government bias commit violence in the US.

It's also the reason it is hard to develop a universally accepted domestic terror definition but critics of domestic terrorism laws say lawyers have all the tools they need to persecute.

The new strategy includes efforts to identify government employees who are a domestic terror threat as federal agencies work on new policies and programs to root out culprits from law enforcement and in the military.

The announcement comes after the deadly January 6 insurrection, which resulted in the deaths of five people.

The riot fatalities included the loss of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, whose death is still under investigation.