Justice Dept. forms new domestic terrorism unit to address growing threat

The Justice Department is forming a new domestic terrorism unit to help combat a threat that has intensified dramatically in recent years, a top national security official said Tuesday.

Matthew G. Olsen, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, announced the unit in his opening remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee, noting that the number of FBI investigations of suspected domestic violent extremists — those accused of planning or committing crimes in the name of domestic political goals — had more than doubled since the spring of 2020.

Olsen said the Justice Department already had counterterrorism attorneys who worked both domestic and international cases, and that the new unit would “augment our existing approach” to prosecuting those cases.

His testimony comes just a few days after the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, which some lawmakers view as evidence that the FBI was not taking sufficiently seriously the threat posed by domestic extremists and violence-prone members of far-right groups.

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