U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin will chair the 117th Congress's first public hearing of the House Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism on Wednesday, focusing on the growing threat of domestic terrorism and how states are working to address it.
A former CIA analyst, National Security Council staffer and a top official and the Pentagon, Slotkin has distinguished herself on Capitol Hill as an expert voice on security issues and a leading advocate for an enhanced focus on the threat of violent extremism here at home.
Slotkin has maintained that "the greatest national security threat is posed by those who seek to exploit our own, internal divisions." She has warned of the threat domestic terrorist groups pose for months:
- In September 2020, her questioning of FBI Director Christopher Wray solicited his first on-the-record description of the outsize threat posed by white supremacist extremists.
- Just last week, she pressed DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the same topic, leading to his statement that, "Right now, domestic violent extremism … is our greatest threat in the homeland right now."
Slotkin, whose district encompasses Lansing, has seen firsthand the consequences of this growing threat: last year, federal law enforcement officials managed to disrupt a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer just months after armed protestors stormed the state capitol building.
The first I&C Subcommittee hearing will feature testimony from state law enforcement officials grappling with similar threats including Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel; Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford; and Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm.
ICYMI
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- Mayorkas said at the hearing that the domestic threat of a "lone wolf" is greater than the foreign threat at this time, when pressed by Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, although he pointed out it is always evolving.
Jewish Inside: Slotkin: Internal divisions are fueling domestic terrorism
- Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) warned that domestic divisions that enable and embolden domestic terrorism are "the single greatest threat to American security."
- Prior to winning election to Congress in 2018, Slotkin, the new chair of the Committee on Homeland Security's Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee, had an extensive career tackling foreign terrorist threats working for the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council and the Department of Defense.
- Now, she said, she's turning that expertise to the home front.
- "I am a militia and terrorism expert, particularly in Iraq," she continued. "I'm struck that those skills are relevant in a very different context here in the United States."
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- A former CIA and Pentagon official, Slotkin felt a sense of foreboding as she and her husband walked to the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6, passing demonstrators gathering to protest the certification of the 2020 election.
- "We recognized lots of different groups that we had seen in my own community. It felt very familiar," says Slotkin, who plans to focus on domestic extremism as chairwoman of the House Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee. "We had seen this movie before."
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- "Right now, one of the most important things we can do is try to learn some of the lessons from the post-9/11 era and bring them forward," said Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., who before joining Congress in 2019 worked for years at the Pentagon and CIA as a counterterrorism specialist focusing primarily on Iraq.
- In a call with reporters, Slotkin outlined her initial thinking about how best to approach domestic extremism in her new role as chairwoman of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism.
- Rep. Elissa Slotkin calls domestic terrorism the "single greatest threat to American security."
The State News: Rep. Slotkin: domestic terrorism "not just a Washington problem"
- Slotkin said that there needs to be a top-down approach to handling domestic terrorism's infiltration into law enforcement. She said federal suggestions applied at the local level are a start, but states are going to need to act as well.
- "So, it's not just a Washington problem. It is threatening average Americans, and we need to think about the longer term."
The Military Times: Lawmakers expect quick response from Pentagon on issue of military extremist ties
- In a meeting with reporters on Thursday, Slotkin outlined a host of plans by committee officials and other members of Congress to deal with the issue of extremism in America today, which gained enhanced public attention after the violent attack on the Capitol building on Jan. 6 by supporters of former President Donald Trump upset with the results of November's election.
- Those ideas include a possible independent commission to review intelligence and operations mistakes leading up to the attack, the role of social media in allowing extremist groups to organize, and better recognition of signs of domestic terrorism before violence occurs.
Original source can be found here.
