Domestic Terrorism

Domestic terrorism attacks, particularly by white supremacist and anti-government extremists, are rising and security officials are on heightened alert. Between 2015 and 2020, far-right extremists were involved in 256 attacks or plots that killed 90 people in the United States, while there were 62 attacks by far-left extremists that killed 19 people. Terrorism experts say rising social and political tensions over police violence, immigration and government restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic have spurred extremists to use violence to accomplish their goals. Despite the increase in incidents, there is sharp disagreement among lawmakers, terrorism experts and civil liberties groups on causes and solutions, including whether or how much political leaders' rhetoric incites people with extreme views, whether new criminal laws could stem the violence and whether citizens can be deterred from adopting conspiracy theories. Other experts argue that domestic extremist groups should be listed as terrorist groups much like international terrorist groups.