A U.S. Senate bill aims to address the growing threat of white supremacists and other violent right-wing extremists by requiring federal law enforcement agencies to regularly assess this threat and provide training and resources to officers.
The bill, the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, would require the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Bureau of Investigation to monitor, analyze, investigate, and prosecute domestic terrorist activity.
The agencies would issue joint annual reports to the House and Senate Judiciary, Homeland Security, and Intelligence Committees. The agencies would then focus their resources on the most significant domestic terrorism threats as determined by the report.
“The rise of white supremacy is an undeniable threat to the safety of our communities,” U.S Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), who cosponsored the bill, said. “In 2017, violent white supremacists brought their hate to Virginia when they marched through the streets of Charlottesville. As the threat of violent white supremacy continues to mount, we must do more to ensure law enforcement has the training and resources they need to detect, deter, and investigate these acts of terrorism.”
The bill also would require the agencies to provide training and resources to state, local, and tribal law enforcement to help them understand, detect, deter and investigate domestic terrorism.