The 2026 United States Counterterrorism Strategy affirms that the threat posed by domestic terrorism and violent extremism is significant and pervasive. Domestic terrorism is generally defined as involving criminal acts dangerous to human life occurring in the U.S. that appear intended to coerce a civilian population, influence a policy of a government, or affect the conduct of government. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the terms “domestic terrorism” and “domestic violent extremism” are used interchangeably. Domestic terrorists and violent extremists are individuals based and operating primarily within the U.S. or its territories, without direction or inspiration from a foreign terrorist group or foreign power, who seek to further political or social goals through unlawful acts of force or violence dangerous to human life
The FBI and DHS are the main federal agencies responsible for countering domestic terrorism and preventing violent extremism in the United States. However, they are assisted by many other government agencies and non-governmental partners who have unique roles and responsibilities in sharing terrorism-related information.
There are a number of ways these agencies could improve how they prevent and counter threats of terrorism.
For instance:
FBI and DHS collaboration. The FBI and DHS are required by statute to issue joint annual reports on domestic terrorism through 2025, which should include the domestic terrorist incident data that they have collected. However, each agency collects incident data in different ways and from different sources, and DHS data were not included in these initial annual reports. Additionally, these agencies haven’t fully assessed how effective their Joint Terrorism Task Forces and other formal agreements are in preventing domestic terrorism.
Strategic planning. In 2016, DHS and DOJ led an interagency taskforce on countering violent extremism but lacked both a cohesive strategy with measurable outcomes and a process for assessing overall progress. While the task force was disbanded, the recommendations serve as a reminder that strategic planning can be improved. Additionally, while the White House developed a 2021 National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, the strategy did not fully address many characteristics of an effective national strategy. For example, it did not specify time frames and costs needed to carry out activities or specify how agencies should show they're making progress.
Privacy rights. The DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis collects and shares homeland security data with its partners in law enforcement, the intelligence community, and the private sector. While doing so, it's important to protect U.S. citizens and residents' rights and privacy. But the office hasn't done some required audits that would ensure that its personnel are following policies to protect these rights. For example, auditing the IT systems that contain sensitive data would tell the office whether the personnel who accessed them had the appropriate clearance and permissions.
Illicit financing. Illegal funds from terrorism financing, human or drug trafficking, and other crimes can be moved and transferred through the U.S. financial system. Federal agencies often work together to combat this but do not have joint goals and methods to assess their progress in doing so. Joint goals and methods would help DHS and DOJ be better equipped to address their missions related to countering domestic terrorism. Nonfederal partners could also better align their resources to support federal efforts.
