
New U.S. intelligence report warns domestic terrorism poses "elevated threat"
CBSN
U.S. intelligence agencies believe domestic terrorism poses an "elevated threat" to the homeland in 2021, predicting in a new joint report that social and political factors including the coronavirus pandemic and "emboldening impact of the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol" will "almost certainly" spur domestic violent extremists to engage in further violence.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) issued an unclassified summary of a joint assessment of the national security threat posed by domestic violent extremism, Wednesday. The comprehensive threat assessment provided by ODNI, the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security to the White House and Congress was produced at the direction of President Biden, who solicited the report in the wake of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In the past year, over 135 million passengers traveled to the U.S. from other countries. To infectious disease experts, that represents 135 million chances for an outbreak to begin. To identify and stop the next potential pandemic, government disease detectives have been discreetly searching for viral pathogens in wastewater from airplanes. Experts are worried that these efforts may not be enough.