DHS launches domestic violent extremism initiative

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently initiated a new Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) to address domestic violent extremism.

DHS Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro N. Mayorkas stated that the initiative would enhance the agency’s ability to combat terrorism and targeted violence, consistent with privacy protections, civil rights, and civil liberties.

“CP3 will help build local prevention frameworks to provide communities with the tools they need to combat terrorism and targeted violence,” Mayorkas said. “Individuals who may be radicalizing, or have radicalized, to violence typically exhibit behaviors that are recognizable to many but are best understood by those closest to them, such as friends, family, and classmates.”

CP3 would replace the Office for Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention, ensuring the agency is grounded in an approach to violence prevention leveraging behavioral threat assessment and management tools while also addressing early-risk factors leading to radicalization to violence.

In order to combat domestic violent extremism, DHS maintains it must build trust, partnerships, and collaboration across all levels of government, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, and varied communities within the service realm.

Mayorkas also introduced a dedicated domestic terrorism branch within the DHS’s Office of Intelligence & Analysis (I&A), ensuring the development of expertise necessary to produce sound, timely intelligence needed to combat threats posed by domestic terrorism and targeted violence.