Feds respond to SPLC, revive domestic terrorism working group

We’ve just received word that the Justice Department is reviving its domestic terrorism working group – a direct response to our concerns about the rise in far-right violence.

The special task force was created after the Oklahoma City bombing. It was scheduled to hold one of its monthly meetings on Sept. 11, 2001, but did not for obvious reasons.

In fact, because so much of the government’s attention since 9/11 has focused on the threat of Islamic terrorism, the task force never met again.

We’ve been urging the government for years to take the rising threat of domestic terrorism more seriously – just as we did six months before Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people in Oklahoma City.  

In April, after a neo-Nazi killed three people at Jewish facilities in Kansas, we once again pointed out the lack of a coordinated effort at the highest levels to combat the threat.

In his recent announcement about the revitalized Domestic Terrorism Executive Committee, Attorney General Eric Holder echoed many of our points. 

The killings in Kansas – and the many attacks and plots by far-right extremists in recent years – remind us that the threat is very real.

With the help of our supporters, we’re tracking hundreds of potentially violent hate groups across the country, many with members who are willing to shed blood for their cause. And we’re providing key intelligence and training to help law enforcement combat violent extremists.