Extremism is on the rise in the United States. While law enforcement continues to manage the tail end of the largest mobilization of U.S. jihadist sympathizers in the country’s history, they also have to contend with white supremacists, anti-government actors, anarchist/left-wing actors, and other rising domestic extremist movements.¹ This unprecedented, fractured threat landscape places public safety under immense pressure.

This threat is made more complicated by the variety of external actors who seek to introduce and exacerbate narratives that polarize society. Their greatest tool is the mis-, dis-, and mal-information (MDM) that feeds extremist movements and ideologies. In addition, two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have increased social isolation, grievances, and other factors that are proven drivers of radicalization and mobilization to violence. The unique grievances of individual extremists, the wide array and cross-pollination of extremist ideologies in the current threat picture, and the influence of external actors is a highly combustible mixture that portends violence. It is easy to see why violent extremism is one of the leading security concerns for law enforcement today.