WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — The Department of Homeland Security issued a national terrorism alert for the first time in over a year Wednesday, warning of potential attacks by violent domestic extremists.
The bulletin suggested the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol may embolden extremists and set the stage for additional attacks.
“Information suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence,” the bulletin said.
The department did not cite a specific threat but pointed to “a heightened threat environment across the United States” that it believes will continue for weeks despite President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
These individuals, DHS said, “could continue to mobilize a broad range of ideologically-motivated actors to incite or commit violence.
The DHS advisory said so-called domestic violent extremists were motivated by issues including anger over COVID-19 restrictions, the 2020 election results and police use of force.
The previous terrorism advisory was issued more than a year ago on Jan. 18, 2020. The bulletin warned over potential retaliation by Iran for the killing of Iranian military general Qasem Soleimani.
The alert was issued by acting Homeland Security Secretary David Pekoske. Biden’s nominee for the Cabinet post, Alejandro Mayorkas, has not been confirmed by the Senate.
The alert is set to expire at the end of April.
You can read the full bulletin below:
DHS typically issues only one or two advisory bulletins in a year. The bulletins have mostly warned of threats from foreign terrorist groups.
The last one, issued by the Trump administration in January 2020, declared Iran a state sponsor of terrorism and designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization.