DHS warns of attacks by extremists re COVID-19
24/04/20 06:47 Filed in:
covid-19 | USA | terrorismAX INTEL BULLETIN: DHS warns of attacks by extremists re COVID-19
DATE: 24APR2020
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has warned law enforcement departments across the United States that violent extremists are mobilizing against health restrictions imposed to combat the novel coronavirus. This is the third warning known to have been issued by the DHS in the past month about the potential of violence by domestic violent extremists…
AX INTEL BULLETIN: DHS warns of attacks by extremists re COVID-19
DATE: 24APR2020
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has warned law enforcement departments across the United States that violent extremists are mobilizing against health restrictions imposed to combat the novel coronavirus. This is the third warning known to have been issued by the DHS in the past month about the potential of violence by domestic violent extremists, as America continues to battle the pandemic.
The latest warning was issued on Thursday, 23APR, in the form of a memorandum, which was communicated to law enforcement personnel throughout the US. The memorandum was marked ‘unclassified/law enforcement sensitive’. It comes as a self-styled ‘Liberate’ movement is forming in several American states, which aims to pressure government officials to end lockdowns across the country.
The memorandum states that, “recent incidents and arrests nationwide illustrate how the COVID-19 pandemic is driving violent actors —both non-ideologically and ideologically motivated— to threaten violence”. It goes on to cite arrests of violent extremists who have issued threats against elected and appointed government officials. There have also been threats made against government facilities, including police stations and federal buildings, by people protesting the lockdowns.
A man, described in the DHS report as an “anti-government extremist” was arrested earlier this month after he threatened to kill the governor of New Mexico, Michelle Grisham, over her decision to impose ‘stay at home’ orders. Another man was arrested in Florida after he threatened to take action against the COVID-19 lockdown by blowing up the headquarters of the Orlando Police Department.
Last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uncovered a plot by a white supremacist and anti-government radical to blow up a medical facility in the Kansas City, Missouri, area. On 23MAR, the DHS issued another report stating that American extremists were exploring ways to weaponize the coronavirus as early as January.
The latest DHS memorandum warns that the danger posed by domestic violent extremists will continue to escalate “until the virus is contained and the normal routine of US societal life resumes”.Tags: covid-19, USA, terrorism