The Department of Justice released the Inspector General's report titled, "Audit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Efforts to Identify Homegrown Violent Extremists through Counterterrorism Assessments". The audit unearthed some pretty terrifying information:
The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) efforts to identify homegrown violent extremists (HVE) through counterterrorism assessments. Our objectives were to review the FBI’s HVE-related casework and resource management and evaluate its policies and processes to assess HVE threats from October 2012 through September 2018.
Key Results:
Since September 11, 2001, HVEs have carried out over 20 attacks in the United States, some of which occurred after the FBI closed a counterterrorism investigation or assessment on the individual.
We further found that the FBI has experienced a substantial influx of reports of suspicious incidents, but has not developed comprehensive strategies for addressing t he challenges associated with the potential cross-over between terrorist threats and other categories of threats, for example, those posed by individuals with mental health issues and crim inal threats to life.
According to the FBI, between January 2015 and December 2018, it arrested 65 individuals who allegedly planned to conduct terrorist attacks in the United States.
The most alarming discovery was that the US received at least six known attacks by HVEs that were previously investigated or identified by the FBI. Among those included was the Pulse Night club attack in 2016, the Fort Hood incident in 2009, and the Boston Marathon bombing back in 2013.
You can view detail on each attack in a tweet released on Twitter:
According to a new DoJ IG report on Homegrown Violent Extremists (HVE), there were "at least six attacks committed in the US by individuals who the FBI had previously assessed or investigated." pic.twitter.com/qzteqN6pu6
— Dementiacrats Kneel to the Mob, Anarchy - Stu Cvrk (@STUinSD) March 4, 2020
The report offers some insight into how real a homegrown threats really are. Each attack resulted in the deaths of many Americans, knowing that the might have been twarted isn't exactly comforting to know.
It's unclear at this time if the Inspector General's office will launch separate probes to find out who dropped the ball but I can't imagine that not being in the works. If nothing else, to prevent this from happening so often in the future.