JUST IN: DHS Reportedly Weighs Monitoring Travel, No Fly List for Potential Domestic Terrorists, White Supremacists

Photo Credit, Timothy A. Clary, AFP via Getty Images

The Department of Homeland Security is considering a number of measures to address the threat of domestic terrorism, from increased travel surveillance to possible inclusion on the No Fly List of potential extremist and white supremacist groups.

According a new story by Politico, DHS could soon enact a number of measures previously used to fight the threat of foreign terrorism for potentially violent groups in the United States.

The department could begin analyzing the travel patterns of suspected domestic extremists, monitor flights they book on short notice and search their luggage for weapons, a senior law enforcement official told POLITICO. There have also been discussions about putting suspected domestic violent extremists — a category that includes white supremacists — on the FBI’s No Fly List, the official said. When suspected extremists travel internationally, officials may be more likely to question them before they pass through customs and to search their phones and laptops.

Earlier this month, FBI Director Christopher Wray had testified to Congress that the violent assault on the Capitol qualified as “domestic terrorism.” And this latest news comes in the wake of a report last summer that found a 300% rise in right-wing domestic terrorism since President Donald Trump took office in 2017.

“Officials at DHS are interested in international travel connected to the kind of ideologically motivated terrorism that inspired the Capitol insurrection,” one official told Politico.  A U.S. intelligence summary was recently declassified that focused on the travel patterns of domestic extremists outside the country.