Law Enforcement Failed to See the Threat of White Nationalism

New York Times Magazine (November 3, 2018) has published a new article on White Nationalism in the United States.

Data compiled by the University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database shows that the number of terror-related incidents has more than tripled in the United States since 2013, and the number of those killed has quadrupled. In 2017, there were 65 incidents totaling 95 deaths. In a recent analysis of the data by the news site Quartz, roughly 60 percent of those incidents were driven by racist, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, antigovernment or other right-wing ideologies. Left-wing ideologies, like radical environmentalism, were responsible for 11 attacks. Muslim extremists committed just seven attacks.

 According to a recent report by the nonpartisan Stimson Center, between 2002 and 2017, the United States spent $2.8 trillion — 16 percent of the overall federal budget — on counterterrorism. Terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists killed 100 people in the United States during that time. Between 2008 and 2017, domestic extremists killed 387 in the United States, according to the 2018 Anti-Defamation League report.
--

White Nationalism is a significant concern, but one that is too often ignored.

Groups like Atomwaffen are recruiting on our military installations and are active in our community.

White Nationalists hold conventions in our cities.

The challenge faced by law enforcement is how to identify and prevent criminal activity while at the same time protecting the rights of free speech and assembly. Mass surveillance is not the answer, but neither is turning a blind eye to White Nationalists recruiting members on our military installations.