Justice Dept. forms domestic terrorism unit to address growing threat

US Attorney General Merrick Garland arrives to speak at the Department of Justice on January 5, 2022 in Washington, DC. Pool/Getty

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is forming a domestic terrorism unit to help combat a threat that has intensified dramatically in recent years, a top national security official said Tuesday.

Matthew Olsen, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, announced the unit in his opening remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee, noting that the number of FBI investigations of suspected domestic violent extremists — those accused of planning or committing crimes in the name of domestic political goals — had more than doubled since the spring of 2020.

Olsen said Justice previously had counterterrorism attorneys who worked both domestic and international cases and the new unit would “augment our existing approach.”

His testimony comes just a few days after the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, an event that some lawmakers say showed the FBI underestimated the threat posed by domestic extremists and violence-prone members of far-right groups.

"This group of dedicated attorneys will focus on the domestic terrorism threat, helping to ensure that these cases are handled properly and effectively coordinated across the Department of Justice and across the country," Olsen said.

The hearing was convened to assess the threat of domestic terrorism a year after the Jan. 6 attack. It often devolved into partisan bickering over the riot that day, which involved hundreds of Trump supporters who marched to the Capitol after a rally outside the White House, and the violence and looting that erupted at some racial justice protests in 2020.

Senator Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, opened the hearing with a video showing footage and news coverage from the Jan. 6 riot, taking aim at Republicans for not being fully supportive of congressional efforts to investigate the attacks on police officers, threats against lawmakers, and attempts to undo Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

"They are normalizing the use of violence to achieve political goals," Durbin said.

Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa, countered with a video showing unrest in Portland, Ore., and elsewhere. “These antipolice riots rocked our nation for seven full months, just like the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol rocked the nation,” he said.

Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, lambasted Olsen and Jill Sanborn, the head of the FBI’s national security branch, for failing to answer certain questions about Jan. 6-related criminal charges and whether any FBI informants encouraged or participated in the violence.

“Your answer to every damn question is ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know,’ " Cruz railed at Olsen. To Sanborn, he suggested that undercover FBI agents or informants may have spurred on the rioters, an assertion for which there is no revealed evidence but which Sanborn would not categorically rule out.

"Ms. Sanborn, a lot of Americans are concerned that the federal government deliberately encouraged illegal violent conduct on Jan. 6," Cruz said, asking her if that was true.

"Not to my knowledge, sir," she replied.

She and Olson sought to assure lawmakers the Justice Department is investigating and prosecuting all of those who committed crimes, no matter what motivated them. Olsen said authorities had arrested and charged more than 725 people, including more than 325 facing felony counts, for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack.

The FBI is seeking to identify and arrest more than 200 additional suspects.

Sanborn said the bureau had opened more than 800 cases in connection with the riots during the summer of 2020, and arrested more than 250 people.

The bureau assessed racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism and antigovernment violent extremism as being the most “lethal” terrorism threats, Sanborn said. She added that the FBI had recently elevated antigovernment violent extremism as a priority, on par with racially motivated violent extremism, homegrown violent extremism, and extremism planned or inspired by the Islamic State.

Justice and the bureau have faced criticism in recent years for not focusing as intensely on domestic terrorism as they do internationally inspired threats, though officials have insisted they take both matters seriously.

Last year, the White House released a national strategy to address the problem, calling for, among other strategies, new spending at Justice and the FBI to hire analysts, investigators, and prosecutors.

Democrats pressed Olsen to explain why prosecutors had not sought tougher sentences in Jan. 6 cases by seeking enhancements for terrorism. Olsen did not answer the question directly, saying each case had to be evaluated on its particular facts. He pointed to recent remarks from Attorney General Merrick Garland, who suggested such enhancements could come as prosecutors win convictions in more serious cases.

Where precisely to draw lines about who is or who isn’t a domestic terrorist is also a subject of debate. At the hearing, Sanborn said that last year, there were four attacks conducted by domestic violent extremists, resulting in 13 deaths. She did not identify or describe the incidents.

Federal law defines domestic terrorism as criminal acts within the United States that are dangerous to human life and which appear to be intended "to intimidate or coerce a civilian population . . . to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or . . . to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping."

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