Press Releases

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) today welcomed the Biden-Harris Administration’s announcement of a new National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism. Beyer, who authored the recently-enacted Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act hate crime legislation, led oversight efforts in the House seeking coordinated action to combat domestic terrorism and criticizing the Trump administration’s intentionally weakened response to white supremacist violence.

“President Biden’s National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism is a strong and comprehensive approach to countering a major threat to Americans’ safety and security,” said Beyer. “This strategy is something we needed for years, but as documents and former officials have made clear, Donald Trump and his henchmen prevented efforts to step up the national fight against white supremacist violence for political reasons. Trump’s actions put American lives at risk, and we need look no further than his response to Charlottesville or the presence of prominent white nationalists among his closest advisers to understand why. I am very encouraged to see President Biden and his team make a smart response to domestic terrorism a high priority, and look forward to working with my colleagues to support their efforts.”

The newly announced National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism is a government-wide effort to combat the threat of domestic terrorism in the United States by:

• Sharing information across government agencies to help identify and understand threats;
• Preventing the recruitment and mobilization of violent extremists;
• Disrupting and deterring domestic terrorist activities; and
• Confronting long-term contributors to domestic terrorism.