By John Friend
On Jan. 27, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), currently led by Alejandro Mayorkas, issued a National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin hyping “a heightened threat environment across the United States” following the inauguration of President Joe Biden. The bulletin, which is merely an advisory that does not identify any specific threat facing the country, is designed to describe current developments and general trends relating to threats of terrorism according to the DHS. It will stay in effect until the end of April.
The bulletin suggests that “some ideologically motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence,” suggesting the bulletin is primarily aimed at Donald Trump supporters and populists who have real questions about the results of the 2020 presidential election and question media-supported narratives, falsely implying such individuals are prone to violence or terrorism.
The DHS is also concerned that Domestic Violent Extremists (DVEs), an Orwellian term recently concocted by the DHS that targets internal critics of the ruling regime, “may be emboldened by the Jan. 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. to target elected officials and government facilities,” once again falsely fueling the media-created narrative that the protests at the U.S. Capitol in early January were some sort of “violent insurrection” rather than a largely peaceful, yet chaotic, protest that was possibly exploited by agents provocateurs and other bad-faith actors.
The bulletin notes that DVEs are motivated by a wide range of issues including the Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions, the 2020 election results, racial or ethnic grievances, and, in one of the only allusions to leftwing extremism and violence, the use of police force, which fueled protests across the country last year. The government is asking the public to “report suspicious activity and threats of violence, including online activity, to local law enforcement, FBI field offices, or their local fusion center.”
The bulletin echoes many of the themes of the previous Homeland Threat Assessment released in October 2020, which specifically identified “white supremacist violent extremists” as the greatest threat facing the nation, an incredibly dubious contention that has largely been promoted and hyped by the mass media and anti-American activist organizations masquerading as independent, objective public policy advocacy organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Unsurprisingly, the bulletin released by the DHS makes no mention of Antifa, Black Lives Matter (BLM) or any other leftwing activist organization or network that has engaged in wanton violence, criminality, and terrorism for years, largely without legal repercussions or mass media scrutiny. Radical leftwing organizations, such as BLM, have, in fact, been praised and elevated by establishment media outlets, while corporate America and the political establishment endorse and fund their objectively violent insurrectionist activities.
Just prior to the release of the DHS bulletin, the incoming Biden administration outlined its strategy to counter DVEs, which it insists emanates from Trump supporters, American patriots, and other populist, America-first conservatives, which will no doubt further divide and
polarize the country.
John Friend is a freelance writer based in California.
