The Extremism Roundup

Islamist & Anti-Muslim Extremism 

• Violence broke out at the Islamic Center of Tucson (ICT) on Christmas morning, leaving a broken window and one man with a black eye.
• Two members of the ICT were attacked while heading to morning prayers by a belligerent group of young men and women who attacked them before vandalizing the building.
• Surveillance footage captured the incident outside the back entrance of the building.
  

• A federal court charged Mirsad Hariz Adem Ramic, 31, a dual U.S.-Bosnian citizen living in Bowling Green, Ky. with providing material support to ISIS.
• In June 2014, Ramic and two co-conspirators each departed the United States for Istanbul, Turkey to support ISIS.
• Ramic attended an ISIS training camp where he received weapons and physical training and fired an AK-47.
• Ramic faces a maximum penalty of 50 years in prison, a fine of $750,000 and term of supervised release up to life.
  

Alt-Right & Alt-Left Extremism

• Antisemitic fliers, claiming Jews are responsible for COVID-19, were found in at least eight states over the weekend.
• The leaflets were part of a “coordinated flier drop,” by the antisemitic Goyim Defense League (GDL).
• The GDL, founded by Jon Minadeo of Petaluma, Calif., frequently engage in antisemitic stunts to troll and harass Jews, including showing up at Jewish events in a van marked with swastikas and shouting profanities.

• The FBI set up extensive surveillance operations inside Portland’s protest movement.
• Federal teams were initially dispatched in July 2020 to protect the city’s federal courthouse after protesters lit fires, smashed windows and lobbed fireworks at law enforcement personnel in the area. 
• Police officers made more than 1,000 arrests during the course of the protests, and more than 200 people ultimately faced criminal prosecution.

Hostile Foreign Influence Operations

• Harvard University professor Dr. Charles Lieber was found guilty on all counts on charges that he concealed his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program.
• Charges included two counts of filing false tax returns, two counts of making false statements and two counts of failing to file reports from a foreign bank account in China.
• Lieber signed a contract with the Wuhan University of Technology for $50,000 a month and over $150,000 in living expenses.

• In 2019, Congress directed the creation of a Foreign Malign Influence Response Center to lead efforts to stop election interference by foreign adversaries.
• Two years later that center still is not close to opening, as the intelligence community and Congress remain divided over the center's mission, budget and size.