Washington, D.C.—Yesterday, Rep. Jamie Raskin, the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, sent a letter requesting that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) provide a briefing to Congress about the infiltration of law enforcement departments by white supremacists.  The FBI repeatedly told the Subcommittee last year that there was no evidence that this was a significant threat. 

“The shocking participation of law enforcement personnel in the January 6 domestic terrorist attack against Congress and our Capitol Police means that the Bureau must level with the American public about the steps it is taking to combat white supremacist infiltration of law enforcement agencies,” Chairman Raskin wrote.

Police officers from law enforcement departments across the country are facing discipline, expulsion, and criminal charges because of their role in the insurrection on January 6, 2021. At least 18 current and former police officers, firefighters, and military servicemembers have been charged in relation to the riot; in some cases, law enforcement chiefs have reported their own officers to federal law enforcement after officers posted about their criminal activities.   

“The conclusion seems inescapable that the federal government has already charged multiple off-duty law enforcement agents for participating in an act of domestic terrorism,” Chairman Raskin added.  “The Bureau must have a comprehensive strategy to assess this threat.”

On March 8, 2021, ABC News released a report on a February 2021 threat assessment from the Bureau’s San Antonio field office warning that white supremacists and other far-right extremists would “very likely seek military and law enforcement affiliation in furtherance of” their goals, and that, as a result, extremists could “gain access to non-public tradecraft and information, enabling them to enhance operational security and develop new tactics.”  

Last year, the Bureau refused to testify at a Subcommittee hearing on the topic.  The Bureau also claimed in a briefing with the Subcommittee that white supremacist infiltration of law enforcement was not a substantiated threat, in contradiction to their own publicly available threat assessment from 2006.

The Subcommittee requests that the FBI provide a Member briefing on this topic no later than March 26, 2021.     

Click here to read the letter.

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