The final section provides brief policy implications. The third describes additional findings from the data set. The second examines trends in terrorist events in the United States that are related to public demonstrations. The first provides an overview of terrorism and outlines the data set used in this analysis. The remainder of this brief is divided into four sections. However, although there was a historically high level of both far-right and far-left terrorist attacks in 2021, violent far-right incidents were significantly more likely to be lethal, both in terms of weapon choice and number of resulting fatalities. This rise has occurred alongside an increase in violence at demonstrations. While white supremacists, anti-government militias, and likeminded extremists conducted the most attacks and plots in 2021 (49 percent), the percentage of attacks and plots by anarchists, anti-fascists, and likeminded extremists grew from 23 percent in 2020 to 40 percent in 2021. Third, there was an increase in the percentage of attacks and plots by anarchists, anti-fascists, and other likeminded extremists in 2021. security agencies-particularly law enforcement-are increasingly at risk from domestic terrorism. They were most likely to be targeted regardless of perpetrator ideology: they were selected in 48 percent of violent far-left events, 37 percent of violent far-right events, and all Salafi-jihadist events in 2021. The government, military, and especially law enforcement were the primary targets of domestic terrorist attacks and plots in 2021, composing 43 percent of all attacks. law enforcement agencies have increasingly become a target of domestic terrorists from all sides of the political spectrum. This development has created a “security dilemma” in metropolitan areas, where attempts by one side to improve its own security threatens the security of others, leading to further escalation. The result is that some metropolitan areas of the United States-such as Portland, Seattle, New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.-are becoming focal points of domestic terrorism, where extremists from opposing sides square off against each other and against law enforcement agencies. terrorist attacks and plots occurred at demonstrations, but this portion rose to 47 percent in 2020 and 53 percent in 2021. The 2021 data are new, and they yield several main findings.įirst, there was a significant increase in the number and percentage of domestic terrorist incidents at demonstrations in cities in 20. domestic terrorism, CSIS compiled a data set of 1,040 terrorist attacks and plots in the United States between January 1, 1994, and December 31, 2021. 5 The Department of Justice (DOJ) is investigating the attack “as a hate crime and an act of racially-motivated violent extremism.” 6 4 This conspiracy theory-which alleges that immigration is being weaponized to diminish the influence and existence of the white population-has been shared on mainstream platforms with increasing frequency. ![]() Most recently, on May 14, 2022, Peyton Gendron, motivated by the far-right “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, opened fire in a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people and injuring 3. Other acts of terrorism have occurred amid growing political polarization and the mainstreaming of extremist beliefs. 3 Although most demonstrations have been peaceful, some have devolved into violence. 2 These attacks unfolded against a backdrop of nearly two years of heightened protest activity in urban areas of the United States. 1 In August 2020, only four miles away from Normandale Park, Michael Reinoehl, an anti-fascist, shot and killed Aaron “Jay” Danielson, a member of the far-right group Patriot Prayer. One woman was killed, and four people were hospitalized with gunshot wounds. On the evening of February 19, 2022, Benjamin Smith-who had become enraged at the Black Lives Matter movement, Covid-19 restrictions, and the local homeless population-opened fire on protesters that were demonstrating against police violence near Normandale Park in Portland, Oregon. ![]() In addition, the most frequent targets of attacks were government, military, and law enforcement agencies, who are increasingly at the center of domestic terrorism by extremists of all ideologies. In 2021, over half of all domestic terrorist incidents occurred in the context of metropolitan demonstrations. cities between extremists from opposing sides, a major break from historical trends. ![]() The result is escalating violence in U.S. There has been a significant rise in the number of domestic terrorist attacks and plots at demonstrations in the United States, according to new CSIS data.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |