Last year, intelligence officials stressed the danger of homegrown extremists. This year, they went virtually unmentioned during the hearing. The assessment takes them on, noting that for now, they appear to be disorganized, and not showing any tendency to unite or work together to carry out any attacks within the US.
“At least in the near term,” the threat in the United States from what intelligence officials call “homegrown violent extremists” – whom they have dubbed “HVEs” – will consist of mainly lone actors perhaps inspired by Al Qaeda, but “not formally affiliated with it or other related groups.”
What’s more, most HVEs “are constrained tactically by a difficult operating environment in the United States.”
