Government invests more than $20 mln in terror prevention

The U.S. government has invested more than $20 million since 2010 in terrorism prevention and intervention measures and in understanding how radicalization leads to violence.

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) and the National Institute of Justice engage in much of this work.

“We will work to ensure [DHS’s] approach to terrorism prevention is risk-based and intelligence-driven, focused on effectiveness, and provides appropriate support to those on the frontlines whom we rely on to spot signs of terrorist activity,” DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said.

S&T supports state and local terrorism prevention efforts by delivering scientifically rigorous and publicly available research. Research is used to evaluate the effectiveness of intervention and prevention programs, Develop and support tailored interventions with local partners, and understand individuals’ motives both for engaging in and disengaging from violent extremism.

The public can access the Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States Foreign Fighters dataset, which contains identified individual-level information on more than 1,800 violent and nonviolent extremists who adhere to far right, far left, Islamist, or single-issue ideologies in the United States. Information is also available through the Terrorist and Extremist Violence in the United States dataset, which provides information on terrorist events, activities, associates, organizations, and crimes.