The Department of Homeland Security is reviewing the structure and mission of its intelligence division as the US navigates a period of heightened polarization and radicalization, the agency’s intel chief said in an interview with CNN.
Extreme public discourse and divisive politics of recent years is in part to blame for pushing people on the margins of radicalization “over the line,” Ken Wainstein, the DHS Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, said in a wide-ranging interview in the wake of several high-profile mass shootings and an attempted arson attack on a New Jersey synagogue.
“[Y]ou’re hearing sharp-edge commentary directed against different groups and religious groups more. And I think that that kind of language stirs people up,” Wainstein said.
Wainstein, who took on the top DHS intel job in June, called it a “troubling period in American history,” where acts and threats of violence against people for their beliefs are on the rise.
“People say things publicly now, seemingly, with the feeling of being able to say things that they wouldn’t have felt free to say years ago,” he said.
His comments come a year after a hostage situation unfolded at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, an incident that sparked fear among religious communities. On Sunday, a man threw a Molotov cocktail at a New Jersey synagogue in an arson attempt, police and the synagogue said, prompting renewed concern.
According to Wainstein, the United States is also in a “more divided time politically,” which has generated a seeming willingness to engage in more heated rhetoric against local groups.
The DHS intelligence office monitors a range of issues from violent extremism to migration patterns and is the only member of the intelligence community that is required to disseminate information to state and local agencies.
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