WASHINGTON: A Department of Homeland Security report warns against the possibility of violence by unnamed "right-wing extremists" concerned about illegal immigration, increasing federal power, restrictions on firearms, abortion and the loss of US sovereignty and even mentions returning war veterans as potential threats.
The April 7 report, entitled "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment" states that "threats from white supremacist and violent anti-government groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts."
The report, which was released to law enforcement last week, also claims the recession, the election of an African American president, rumors of new gun restrictions and the inability of veterans to reintegrate create fertile ground for radicalizing and recruiting right-wing extremists.
DHS' Office of Intelligence and Analysis called these factors "unique drivers for right-wing radicalization and recruitment" but stressed that it has no specific information that domestic right-wing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence.
The report does cite the April 4 shooting deaths of three police officers in Pittsburgh as an example of what may be coming, claiming the alleged gunman held a racist ideology and believes in anti-government conspiracy theories about gun confiscations, citizen detention camps and "a Jewish-controlled 'one-world government.'"
The DHS report defines right-wing extremism in the US as "divided into those groups, movements and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups) and those that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration."
The assessment also states that the current economic and political climate has some similarities to the 1990s when right-wing extremism experienced a resurgence fueled largely by an economic recession, criticism about the outsourcing of jobs and the perceived threat to US power and sovereignty by other foreign powers.
The report also suggests that returning veterans are attractive recruits for right-wing groups looking for "combat skills and experience" so as to boost their "violent capabilities."
This "could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks."
"Proposed imposition of firearms restrictions and weapons bans likely would attract new members into the ranks of right-wing extremist groups ... The high volume of purchases and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition by right-wing extremists in anticipation of restrictions and bans in some parts of the country continue to be a primary concern to law enforcement," the report says.
The assessment notes that right-wing recruitment grew in the 1990s but subsided after increased scrutiny by the government following the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings.
"Nevertheless, the consequences of a prolonged economic downturn-including real estate foreclosures, unemployment and an inability to obtain credit could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past," reads a key finding in the assessment.
The report warned law enforcement agencies to watch for suspicious individuals who may have bumper stickers for third-party political candidates such as Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin.
Some critics have said the DHS is equating conservative libertarian views to right-wing terrorism, but a DHS official countered that in January the department issued a mirror intelligence assessment of left-wing extremist groups. Last year, the FBI called members of the far-left ecological and animal-rights movements "eco-terrorists" and "the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat."
"This is the job of DHS, to assess what is happening in this country, with regard to homegrown terrorism, and determine whether it's an actual threat or not, and that's what these assessments do. This is nothing unusual. These assessments are done all the time.
This is about awareness," the official told reporters.
