Summary of Terrorism Threat to the U.S. Homeland

 

The Secretary of Homeland Security has issued a new National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin regarding the current heightened threat environment across the United States.  The Homeland continues to face a diverse and challenging threat environment leading up to and following the 20th Anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks as well religious holidays we assess could serve as a catalyst for acts of targeted violence. These threats include those posed by domestic terrorists, individuals and groups engaged in grievance-based violence, and those inspired or motivated by foreign terrorists and other malign foreign influences. These actors are increasingly exploiting online forums to influence and spread violent extremist narratives and promote violent activity. Such threats are also exacerbated by impacts of the ongoing global pandemic, including grievances over public health safety measures and perceived government restrictions.

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• Subscribe to NTAS Advisories via Email

 

Duration

Issued:  August 13, 2021 02:00 pm
Expires:  November 11, 2021 02:00 pm

Additional Details

• Through the remainder of 2021, racially- or ethnically-motivated violent extremists (RMVEs) and anti-government/anti-authority violent extremists will remain a national threat priority for the United States. These extremists may seek to exploit the emergence of COVID-19 variants by viewing the potential re-establishment of public health restrictions across the United States as a rationale to conduct attacks.  Pandemic-related stressors have contributed to increased societal strains and tensions, driving several plots by domestic violent extremists, and they may contribute to more violence this year.
• Additionally, leading up to the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula recently released its first English-language copy of Inspire magazine in over four years, which demonstrates that foreign terrorist organizations continue efforts to inspire U.S.-based individuals susceptible to violent extremist influences.
• Historically, mass-casualty domestic violent extremist attacks linked to RMVEs have targeted houses of worship and crowded commercial facilities or gatherings. Some RMVEs advocate via online platforms for a race war and have stated that civil disorder provides opportunities to engage in violence in furtherance of ideological objectives. The reopening of institutions, including schools, as well as several dates of religious significance over the next few months, could also provide increased targets of opportunity for violence though there are currently no credible or imminent threats identified to these locations.
• Foreign and domestic threat actors, to include foreign intelligence services, international terrorist groups and domestic violent extremists, continue to introduce, amplify, and disseminate narratives online that promote violence, and have called for violence against elected officials, political representatives, government facilities, law enforcement, religious communities or commercial facilities, and perceived ideologically-opposed individuals. There are also continued, non-specific calls for violence on multiple online platforms associated with DVE ideologies or conspiracy theories on perceived election fraud and alleged reinstatement, and responses to anticipated restrictions relating to the increasing COVID cases.
• Ideologically motivated violent extremists fueled by personal grievances and extremist ideological beliefs continue to derive inspiration and obtain operational guidance through the consumption of information shared in certain online communities. This includes information regarding the use of improvised explosive devices and small arms.
• Violent extremists may use particular messaging platforms or techniques to obscure operational indicators that provide specific warning of a pending act of violence.
• Law enforcement has expressed concerns that the broader sharing of false narratives and conspiracy theories will gain traction in mainstream environments, resulting in individuals or small groups embracing violent tactics to achieve their desired objectives. With a diverse array of threats, DHS is concerned that increased outbreaks of violence in some locations, as well as targeted attacks against law enforcement, may strain local resources.
• Nation-state adversaries have increased efforts to sow discord. For example, Russian, Chinese and Iranian government-linked media outlets have repeatedly amplified conspiracy theories concerning the origins of COVID-19 and effectiveness of vaccines; in some cases, amplifying calls for violence targeting persons of Asian descent.

How We Are Responding

• DHS will continue to identify and evaluate calls for violence, including online activity associated with the spread of disinformation, conspiracy theories, and false narratives, by known or suspected threat actors and provide updated information, as necessary.
• DHS continues to encourage the public to maintain awareness of the evolving threat environment and report suspicious activity.
• DHS is coordinating with state and local law enforcement and public safety partners to maintain situational awareness of potential violence in their jurisdictions and maintain open lines of communication with federal partners.
• DHS is also advancing authoritative sources of information to debunk and, when possible, preempt false narratives and intentional disinformation, and providing educational materials to promote resilience to the risks associated with interacting with and spreading disinformation, conspiracy theories and false narratives. 
• More broadly, DHS remains committed to identifying and preventing terrorism and targeted violence while protecting the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of all persons.

How You Can Help

• Report suspicious activity and threats of violence, including online threats,  to local law enforcement, FBI Field Offices, or local Fusion Center.
• If you know someone who is struggling with mental health issues or may be a danger to themselves or others, support is available.

Be Prepared and Stay Informed

• Be prepared for emergency situations and remain aware of circumstances that may place you at risk.
• Maintain digital media literacy to recognize and build resilience to false and harmful narratives.
• Make note of your surroundings and the nearest security personnel.
• Government agencies will provide details about emerging threats as information is identified. The public is encouraged to listen to local authorities and public safety officials.

If You See Something, Say Something®. Report suspicious activity to local law enforcement or call 911.

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Since New DHS Alert, You're a Potential Terrorist if You Oppose White House Lies

Has our nation sunk to a new low?

BY GENERAL MICHAEL FLYNN

SEE: https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/08/new-dhs-alert-youre-potential-terrorist-if-you-gen-michael-flynn/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

This article originally appeared here at The Western Journal.

On Sept. 17, 2021, our nation will celebrate the 234th anniversary of our beloved U.S. Constitution.

The fact that this document has lasted for such a period is a remarkable feat. Legal scholars have reviewed national constitutions that have been adopted since 1789 and concluded that they lasted an average of only 17 years.

But as I travel the country, Americans are asking me, “How much longer do we have before our constitutional protections are wiped away? How long before our nation descends into a real tyranny?” One friend went as far as saying, “If you criticize this administration, they call it hate speech; if you disagree with their actions, they call you a domestic terrorist.”

My friend wasn’t exaggerating, reading the most recent Department of Homeland Security issuance on Friday of a nationwide terrorism alert message titled “National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin.”

To be frank, I was stunned and found myself asking, have we, the United States of America, sunk to a new low? Although we are approaching the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks against our nation, this terrorism alert does not say one word about Muslim extremism being a threat and it barely mentions al-Qaida.

Rather, this terrorism bulletin focuses on the Bidens’ political opponents. Its sweeping rhetoric was so broad that it could put under suspicion more than half of all Americans. Is the Biden administration redefining domestic terrorism? Will having a pro-American set of beliefs and using the word “patriot” get you labeled a domestic terrorist?

The alert focuses on those who resist the Anthony Fauci COVID-19 narrative, stating that “threats are also exacerbated by impacts of the ongoing global pandemic, including grievances over public health safety measures and perceived government restrictions.” I wonder what “perceived” government restrictions they had in mind — aren’t the real restrictions damaging enough?

The alert also warns that “extremists may seek to exploit the emergence of COVID-19 variants by viewing the potential re-establishment of public health restrictions across the United States as a rationale to conduct attacks.” And it warns against “conspiracy theories concerning the origins of COVID-19 and effectiveness of vaccines.”

So if you are a small business owner who managed to survive the last set of shutdowns and is desperately trying to survive the next shutdown, you could be a terrorist. If you believe that vaccines are an irreversible threat to your health that must be avoided at all costs, as I do, you could be a terrorist.

The alert also warns that domestic violent extremists are motivated by “perceived election fraud.” Therefore, if you believe that the nation overwhelmingly elected Donald J. Trump as president of the United States in November 2020, as I do, you could be a terrorist.

Then finally the nation is warned, “Law enforcement has expressed concerns that the broader sharing of false narratives and conspiracy theories will gain traction in mainstream environments.”

So if you believe whatever narrative is being spun from the White House podium by Jen Psaki, you are automatically protected. If your tweets are never blocked, and your Facebook posts are never removed, you are a loyal American. But if you think the government is often lying and manipulating, you could be a terrorist.

The alert then promises that the government will tell us everything we need to know — by “advancing authoritative sources of information to debunk and, when possible, preempt false narratives and intentional disinformation, and providing educational materials to promote resilience to the risks associated with interacting with and spreading disinformation, conspiracy theories, and false narratives.

The last provision of the alert is so reassuring — that DHS would take action against Americans “while protecting the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of all persons.”

I’m sorry, but DHS leadership must take us all for complete idiots. The real threat appears to be from our own government and their misperceptions of what are very real and dangerous homeland threats we do truly face.

This alert reads like something out of the 1930s. You’re a potential terrorist if you oppose lies coming from the most leftist administration ever to occupy the White House. There is not a word about Antifa, or Black Lives Matter, or any of the leftist groups protected by the Biden White House while they conducted their reign of terror on American cities.

The alert had not one word about the study from Princeton University that violent BLM demonstrations (i.e. riots) occurred somewhere just under 220 locations all across the nation. These are the violent people who Kamala Harris worked to get out on bail through a nonprofit group. What a disgrace.

What can and should we learn from this alert? Much, I think. We can anticipate the next steps by the Biden-Harris administration in suppressing legitimate, constitutionally protected dissent.

This alert foreshadows more lockdowns — probably nationally. The government may be hoping to provoke the American people to actively resist illegal lockdowns, and then to characterize that resistance to tyranny as a clear and present danger — a threat to the very existence of government.

But even if there is no strong pushback to new sanctions, this administration is not above ensuring that there are incidents that it can use to justify grabbing even more power.

This would not be the first administration that used a “false flag” event to gain power.

Every American should know what “false flags” are, and when acts of violence are blamed on American patriots to gain new government powers, especially with this gang in charge of the government and the FBI, this should be the first explanation we look at. Consider the role of the FBI in the claimed effort to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

I had no illusions about who the Democrats put on their national ticket in 2020, but the Biden administration is proving itself to be so much worse than even I thought. We have survived ineffective presidents in U.S. history. This administration is acting recklessly — dangerously — both at home and abroad. And it is acting against our own people.

DHS claims there are calls for violence against officials, law enforcement, government, and religious buildings and people with opposing ideological views — but the bulletin casually admits it has no specific information about any of these threats of violence.

If you wonder about the timing, this bulletin came out the day after Mike Lindell’s cyber symposium in South Dakota ended. Such are the strategies of the rulers we’re now living under. God help us.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn served as national security advisor to President Donald Trump.