FBI Agents Association Statement on the White House’s National Strategy For Countering Domestic Terrorism

For Immediate Release

Washington, D.C.:  FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) President Brian O’Hare issued the following statement on the White House’s release of the National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism: 

“The FBI Agents Association welcomes today’s release of the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism.  For the past several years, FBIAA has been engaged in efforts to make domestic terrorism a federal crime with a penalty, and we are encouraged that the Department of Justice will examine new legislative authorities to disrupt domestic terrorism plots and hold perpetrators accountable.

As the plan points out, “domestic terrorism” is defined by federal law. Despite this definition, domestic terrorism is not a federal crime with a penalty. Penalties are required for the definition to be an effective deterrent for would-be perpetrators and an effective tool for law enforcement. Making domestic terrorism a federal crime would not result in the targeting of specific ideas or groups. Rather, it would target acts of violence that have no place in the political discourse secured by our Constitution and Bill of Rights.  

FBIAA looks forward to working with the Administration, the Justice Department and Congress on combating threats of domestic terrorism by taking the important step of attaching a penalty to its definition.  The federal government should establish a baseline principle for our democracy – political violence, regardless of origin, is unacceptable. Making domestic terrorism a federal crime would ensure that perpetrators of political violence, regardless of ideology, face appropriate consequences.”