New DHS Bulletin Warns of Domestic Threats to LGBTQ, Jewish, and Migrant Communities: NBC News
The Department of Homeland Security released a new “Summary of Terrorism Threat to the United States” bulletin on Wednesday and specifically “raised concerns about potential threats to the LGBTQ, Jewish and migrant communities from violent extremists inside the United State,” reported NBC News.
The bulletin noted that “Threat actors have recently mobilized to violence, citing factors such as reactions to current events and adherence to violent extremist ideologies.”
NBC News’s Julia Ainsley asked a senior DHS official “if recent antisemitic remarks by Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, contributed to increased threats to Jewish people.”
Ainsley reported that official replied that any “high-profile official or celebrity trafficking in conspiracy theories only serves to ignite violence among extremists.”
“Certainly the Jewish community seems particularly targeted in recent days by that kind of activity in our discourse,” Ainsley quoted the official as saying.
The bulletin, which consists of the latest summary of national terrorism threats and was last updated in June of 2022, adds:
Threat actors have recently mobilized to violence, citing factors such as reactions to current events and adherence to violent extremist ideologies. In the coming months, threat actors could exploit several upcoming events to justify or commit acts of violence, including certifications related to the midterm elections, the holiday season and associated large gatherings, the marking of two years since the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and potential sociopolitical developments connected to ideological beliefs or personal hostility.
Ainsley noted that “Intelligence officials across the federal government have consistently highlighted the growing threat of American extremists in recent years, while explaining that foreign threats such as the Islamic State terrorist group and Al Qaeda are no longer as persistent as they once were.”
“Some extremists have been inspired by recent attacks, including the shooting at the LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the bulletin noted,” according to NBC News.
