As Senate Report Alleges DHS, DOJ “slow to adapt” to Domestic Terror Threat, Scrutiny of Federal Law Enforcement Officers Likely to Increase

Last month, the chief Senate oversight committee released a report titled “The Rising Threat of Domestic Terrorism,” which urges the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security to reexamine how they tackle domestic extremism, specifically white supremacy and anti-government extremism. The report alleges that federal law enforcement agencies, along with major social media companies like Meta, YouTube, and TikTok, are not doing a good enough job collecting and analyzing data on the issue. Experts say that the threat of violent domestic extremism has been growing for years, but arrests and federal charges had been steadily declining until the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Since then, action against domestic extremism has spiked, but this has been mostly related to the Capitol riot investigation.

While social media has become an increasingly important tool for extremists to disseminate content, facilitate relationships, and share ideas, the Senate report alleges that federal agencies have been slow to adapt to the public planning of extremist violence online. Despite being required by federal law to systematically track and report data on domestic terrorism incidents, the report contends that federal law enforcement agencies have not allocated the appropriate resources to match the growing threat of domestic extremist violence. Additionally, the report alleges that there are inconsistencies with how FBI field offices across the country use data about domestic extremism. The FBI works with a company called ZeroFox, which identifies potentially concerning posts from social media platforms and generates automatic alerts for FBI to investigate further. From there, each field office uses the data at their own discretion, which allows for different field offices to handle the data in different methods.

The chief Senate oversight committee’s report is sure to incite scrutiny and calls for accountability within federal law enforcement agencies. Even if your actions or inactions followed your agency’s guidelines, you are not immune to allegations of wrongdoing, misconduct, and even criminal or civil rights violations, requiring the need to hire and pay for outside counsel, even if the allegation is ultimately disproved. These allegations can be made by anyone – members of the public, colleagues, subordinates, politically motivated officials, special interest groups, or other entities/individuals.

Federal law enforcement officers can protect themselves against investigations with a FEDS Protection PLI policy. FEDS Protection offers policies with $1 million, $2 million, or $3 million in civil liability protection for attorney’s fees and indemnity costs in the event you are sued in your civil capacity for actions taken within the scope of your employment. Our policy also includes $200,000 of legal representation coverage per incident for administrative actions and $100,000 of coverage for criminal defense costs arising out of actions taken within the scope of your employment. Annual premiums for FEDS Protection PLI start at $290, which is less than it would typically cost to hire a federal employment lawyer for an hour. LEOSA coverage for off-duty incidents is also available for qualified law enforcement officers. Additionally, federal law enforcement officers are eligible for a reimbursement of up to 50% of the cost of their PLI policy through their agency. To learn more about how a FEDS PLI policy can protect you and your career, visit www.fedsprotection.com or call (866) 955-FEDS, M-F 8:30am-6pm to speak directly to a representative.

*This article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.