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I'm certain the US government had more than one of these units prior to this announcement. I sense this is probably more of an organizational realignment more t

I'm certain the US government had more than one of these units prior to this announcement. I sense this is probably more of an organizational realignment more than anything else, kind of like how "The Space Force" was created by carving out elements from the other branches, mainly the Air Force, and calling it something new.

skissane 5y ago
DOJ has a National Security Division, headed by the Assistant Attorney General for National Security. Within the DOJ National Security Division, there is a Counter-Terrorism Section, headed by the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Counter-Terrorism. The Counter-Terrorism Section deals with all cases of terrorism, whether international or domestic. My interpretation of this story, is they are creating a dedicated team of people within the Counter-Terrorism Section to handle "domestic" terrorism, rather than having the same team(s) handle a mixture of "international" and "domestic" cases. It really is a nothing story. It is nothing like the Space Force – that involved a major legal change in the high-level military structure, changing reporting lines for senior officials (the Air Force's space head was elevated to membership of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), this seems to just involve a change in the internal team structure of an existing government office (a section of a division of a department). They just want to make it sound like they are doing something. How do you decide what is "international" and what is "domestic" terrorism anyway? If someone is recruited by Islamic State to commit a terrorist attack, that's international. But if some lone wolf radicalises themselves by spending hours a day watching Islamic State propaganda videos, and that inspires them to commit a terrorist attack – is that "international" or "domestic"? And how is that different from if the lone wolf had spent hours a day watching QAnon videos instead?

skissane 5y ago

DOJ has a National Security Division, headed by the Assistant Attorney General for National Security. Within the DOJ National Security Division, there is a Counter-Terrorism Section, headed by the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Counter-Terrorism. The Counter-Terrorism Section deals with all cases of terrorism, whether international or domestic. My interpretation of this story, is they are creating a dedicated team of people within the Counter-Terrorism Section to handle "domestic" terrorism, rather than having the same team(s) handle a mixture of "international" and "domestic" cases. It really is a nothing story. It is nothing like the Space Force – that involved a major legal change in the high-level military structure, changing reporting lines for senior officials (the Air Force's space head was elevated to membership of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), this seems to just involve a change in the internal team structure of an existing government office (a section of a division of a department). They just want to make it sound like they are doing something. How do you decide what is "international" and what is "domestic" terrorism anyway? If someone is recruited by Islamic State to commit a terrorist attack, that's international. But if some lone wolf radicalises themselves by spending hours a day watching Islamic State propaganda videos, and that inspires them to commit a terrorist attack – is that "international" or "domestic"? And how is that different from if the lone wolf had spent hours a day watching QAnon videos instead?