Dear John,

On January 6, Americans watched as an insurrection fueled by violent conspiracy theories and white supremacy gripped the nation and attacked our democracy. This was a predictable act of political violence fueled by years of increasing extremism, including the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories.

In response to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and the increasing threat of domestic terrorism, ADL has just announced PROTECT, a comprehensive plan to address this ever-present danger while protecting the civil liberties of all Americans. Together, the actions in this plan should significantly help prevent and counter domestic terrorism — more so than any one policy or law.

I presented this plan on Capitol Hill today at a public hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security, outlining what is not a Republican problem, or a Democratic problem, but a national problem that needs bipartisan solutions. We are calling for action against domestic terrorism by the Biden-Harris administration during its first 100 days, and from federal and state legislators and tech companies. You can help make this happen! Today, add your voice to the PROTECT Plan by signing the ADL petition urging the White House and your local elected leaders to act now against domestic extremism.

The need for this is clear in the findings of our new report on Murder and Extremism, which shows that right-wing extremists were linked to at least 16 of the 17 extremist-related murders in the United States in 2020. Nine of those were committed by white supremacists. The remainder were tied to adherents of the new anti-government boogaloo movement and other groups and individuals. Overall, right-wing extremists have been responsible for 75 percent of the hundreds of murders committed by extremists in the last ten years.

While there were fewer extremist-related killings in the past year, these deadly attacks represent merely the tip of an iceberg of extremist violence in the United States. Overall extremist incidents — which include acts that fall short of violence — nearly doubled. Moreover, extremists engage in a wide variety of violent and criminal acts related to their causes, which is why our PROTECT Plan takes aim at violent conspiracies, hate attacks, terroristic threats, campaigns of intimidation and harassment both online and off, and other offenses.

The PROTECT Plan priorities include:

• Adopting a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to prevent and counter domestic terrorism while protecting civil liberties.
• Passing the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act to authorize offices to address domestic terrorism and ensure they have resources proportionate to the threats. Passing similar legislation on the state level that combats domestic terrorism and provides resources without violating civil rights and liberties.
• Taking steps to ensure that individuals associated with violent extremist movements or engaged in violent extremist activity are deemed unsuitable for positions of influence in government at the federal, state and local levels — and to keep extremists out of law enforcement and the military. Certainly supporters of violent extremist groups and ideologies should not be given security clearances.
• Investigating any complicity between social media companies and extremists, removing extremists and extremist content from platforms, and making social media platforms more transparent and accountable for dangerous content.

To disrupt extremists like those who threatened democracy on Jan. 6, and those who are planning future acts of violence, speak out today by calling on our elected leaders to act now against domestic extremism. With one click, you can send a message to the White House and your Governor about the need for them to implement the PROTECT Plan countering domestic terrorism.

Thank you,

Jonathan Greenblatt

CEO and National Director

ADL