Key Points
- The Department of Justice is going after “domestic terrorists” —despite recommendations from members of congress.
- There is no specific federal domestic terrorism statute, creating First Amendment concerns.
- Former FBI agent Chris Swecker believes it’s a response to Jan 6, may focus on right-wing only.
The Department of Justice is going after “domestic terrorists” —despite recommendations from members of congress that resources would be better spent at the border or going after international threats from countries like Iran and North Korea.
According to Axios, “While there is no specific federal domestic terrorism statute, the federal government defines domestic terrorism as criminal acts dangerous to human life that appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or the policy of a government. It can also use other criminal charges when pursuing domestic terrorists.”
The lack of specificity creates a dangerous precedent, says Former Assistant Director of the FBI Chris Swecker. “This is an area that’s fraught with First Amendment concerns,” Swecker told FOX News Radio. “It’s very easy to slip across that line and start investigating ideology and thoughts and not just violent behavior and the type of conduct and activity that steps over the line.”
“I don’t think [the new unit] is necessarily called for given that they already have a national security division, as does the FBI, and another section that covers counterterrorism,” Swecker told FOX News Radio’s Jessica Rosenthal on “The Fox News Rundown Podcast” Wednesday.
Swecker also believes the push for the new unit was “driven” by the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
“I think that is by far what’s responsible for the spike in the caseload in domestic terrorism or what they call domestic violent extremist activities,” he said.
GOP Senators shared their concerns about the new unit during a recent committee hearing; Lindsey Graham in particular thought the resources could be better spent in other places.
…places like the southern border.
“How many people have come across our southern border from special interest countries?” Graham asked. “It’s been three to four thousand. We’ve had dozens of people on the terrorism watch list come across the southern border. Here’s some advice – if you need more resources, you’ll get them from me, but if I were you, I’d go to the border and check out what’s going on, because it’s just a matter of time, in my humble opinion, that the broken southern border is going to be an entryway for international terrorists who are going to come here and kill a lot of Americans if we don’t change the policy.”
Swecker agrees. International terrorism, like threats posed by North Korea and Iran, is “by far” a greater threat than what the new domestic terrorism unit intends to investigate.
“I think most counterterrorism experts would tell you that,” he added.
Common sense…not so common anymore.
