Representative Elissa Slotkin last week sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking him to take the unprecedented decision to designate 13 extremist movements as foreign terrorist organizations, saying that such a decision “will help apply more stress to reduce these violent organizations ”and the ability of their leaders to operate their groups. “
But of the 13 groups listed in his letter, which his office provided to BuzzFeed News, at least four are missing, one is an American club founded in California that broke up and rebranded, and another changed the name used in Slotkin’s letter six years ago. when he became part of the national guard of an allied nation.
“It was a great list – in 2018,” Matthew Feldman, director of the London-based Center for Analysis of the Radical Right, told BuzzFeed News. “Each of the [the listed groups] was active. Everyone was dangerous.
Feldman praised Slotkin’s efforts and the motivation behind the list, saying they were a step in the right direction. But he also said it served as an example of the US government’s slowness in recognizing the threat posed by violent far-right extremists at home and abroad.
Biden has signaled his intention to fight domestic violent extremists – especially white supremacists like those who were part of the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and whom the FBI sees as a major threat. The head of the Department of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, told lawmakers last month that domestic violent extremism “constitutes the deadliest and most persistent terrorist threat to the homeland today”.
But experts say it’s also important to tackle foreign extremist groups, who often communicate, coordinate and inspire their American counterparts.
If the Biden administration were to list groups like those suggested by Slotkin, a Michigan Democrat, as Official Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), or even the slightest designation of Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), it would help curb them. dangerous white supremacist organizations, the congressman argued in his letter, which was previously reported by Reuters.
“It would also give the US government more tools to engage and report Americans who contact, support, train and join. [white supremacist extremist] groups, ”Slotkin wrote.
But Elizabeth Neumann, former assistant secretary for counterterrorism and threat prevention in the Department of Homeland Security under the Donald Trump administration, told BuzzFeed News the process was long and difficult.
“The FTO process is a pretty high bar,” she said. “I was frustrated that we could only get the Russian Imperial Movement. This is not the only group we have looked at. “
In April 2020, the United States appointed RIM and three of its SDGT leaders – the first time such a classification was used.
When asked about Slotkin’s letter, a State Department spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, “In general, we do not comment on Congressional correspondence or comment on nominations or deliberations related to potential nominations.” But Blinken said MSNBC Meet the press Sunday, that the designation of overseas white supremacist groups as foreign terrorist organizations is “something we are examining.”
A former CIA analyst who focused on foreign terrorist organizations in the Middle East, Slotkin wrote that she was “struck by the threat posed by these white supremacist groups, the amount of contact they have with them. extremists in the United States, minimal intelligence and diplomatic reports. we have on these groups, and the relative lack of scrutiny taken by the US government. “
Among those Slotkin has said deserve terrorist designations is the National Action Group, a neo-Nazi organization founded in the UK and banned in 2016 that targeted British youth. A 2018 American Counterterrorism report described it as a terrorist group promoting violence against politicians and minorities. A Metropolitan Police officer named Ben Hannam was condemned of membership on April 1.
Another is the neo-Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement, which in 2018 in the United States report described as an anti-Western transnational organization behind violent attacks, especially against Muslims and leftist groups.
But not all of the groups she has asked the government to focus on are currently active.
Kacper Rekawek, a Slovakian-based researcher at the non-profit Counter Extremism Project, said Slotkin’s list was the type of list someone looking for far-right extremist groups on Google could put together.
“Representative Slotkin’s effort is commendable. The designations, underused in the European context, should help counter the threat of violence from far-right organizations, ”Rekawek told BuzzFeed News. “However, this needs to be informed by a thorough analysis of local far-right scenes which include a plethora of actors who often talk but don’t work as far as violence is concerned.”
Neo-Nazi groups Division Feuerkrieg, Sonnenkrieg Division, Atomwaffen Division Deutschland and Northern Order – all on Slotkin’s list – are gone, Rekawek and Feldman said. The members of the groups – all of whom were inspired by the American division Atomwaffen and the American neo-Nazi James Mason.Siege culture, ”- were linked to violence or violent plots Great Britain, United States, Germany, Canada, and elsewhere.
Rise Above Movement (RAM), a white supremacist fighting club founded in Southern California and linked to neo-Nazi groups in Ukraine and the Balkans, was also more or less dissolved after three of its members were jailed for participating in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017. RAM founder Robert Rundo, from New York, has been charged in another federal violence case at multiple protests across California. The charges were dismissed in June 2019 but restored last month.
It is now would have hiding from the Bosnian authorities after being banned from Serbia following a Bellingcat report that said he was trying to plant roots in the land.
Another problematic group on Slotkin’s list is the Ukrainian Azov Battalion. The paramilitary force was formed in 2014 by far-right extremists who volunteered to take up arms against Russian-backed forces when war in eastern Ukraine broke out. In January 2016, he became a member of the country’s National Guard and has since been known as the Azov Regiment.
Its political wing, the National Corps, has been called a “nationalist hate group” by the State Department. But designating the regiment as a foreign terrorist organization is likely to pose challenges, especially given its commitment to the state and the fact that Ukraine is an ally of the United States.
BuzzFeed News has reached out to Slotkin for comment on the list. An aide said they were made aware of Azov’s status and the disbanded groups after the representative’s letter was reported by Reuters. But, the assistant said, they plan to move forward with at least the groups on the list that remain active.
“We are confident that we can get a certain level of designation,” said the assistant.
Read Slotkin’s full letter.
