CNN reports:

White supremacists will remain the most “persistent and lethal threat” in the United States through 2021, according to Department of Homeland Security draft documents.

The most recent draft report predicts an “elevated threat environment at least through” early next year, concluding that some US-based violent extremists have capitalized on increased social and political tensions in 2020.

Although foreign terrorist organizations will continue to call for attacks on the US, the report says, they “probably will remain constrained in their ability to direct such plots over the next year.”

The threat assessment — which also warns of continued disinformation efforts by Russia — is especially notable as President Donald Trump has often employed race-baiting tactics in his quest for reelection and frequently downplayed the threat from white supremacists during his term in office. The Trump administration has portrayed Antifa and anarchists as a top threat to the US, with the President tweeting this summer that the US will designate Antifa as a terrorist organization. [Continue reading…]