Thread by @VeraMBergen

Analysts at the FBI and DHS have been warning the US urgently needs to refocus resources on domestic extremism and white supremacist violence for a decade.

Time after time their efforts were stifled by politics, de-funded, understaffed.

My first @TIME cover story, with @wjhenn

https://twitter.com/TIME/status/1159443206200811520

In recent days, most stories about this issue have focused on the Trump administration's drastic cuts to the DHS office focused on domestic terrorism. But our reporting highlights how the real problems are much deeper than that, and predate Trump. /1 time.com/5647304/white-…

Today, FBI officials say just 20% of the bureau’s counterterrorism field agents are focused on domestic probes, which many told @TIME is disproportionate and outdated. See below for a former FBI special agent's testimony before Congress. Why is that? /2

The El Paso suspect was born in 1998, 3 years after the worst homegrown terrorist attack in US history. But the renewed focus on domestic terrorism dissipated in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, w the full force of US national security driving into fighting Islamic terrorism /3

But by the end of Bush's presidency, it had become apparent to US officials that something serious was brewing at home. The prospect of the first black president sparked a sharp rise in far-right groups, from the Patriot movement to anti-government militias /4

In 2009 a report by analysts in Missouri titled “The Modern Militia Movement," meant for law enforcement, got leaked and slammed by GOP groups for linking them to fundamentalist Christian, anti-abortion & anti-immigration movements. People were fired, it was tamped down /5

Meanwhile, a senior DHS analyst in DC was preparing his own report on the rising threat of rightwing extremism. It got leaked to conservative bloggers, who raised hell and demanded DHS Sec Janet Napolitano's ouster. She ended up publicly apologizing. cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/… / 6

“I didn’t think the whole Republican Party would basically throw a hissy fit,” Johnson told me. His team was slowly disbanded; the number of analysts devoted to non-Islamic domestic terrorism dwindled from 6 to zero by 2010. Speaking to @TIME, his frustration was palpable /7

Meanwhile, domestic terror attacks were escalating. “I remember being like, ‘Wow, we have a problem," a former FBI agent told me about a 2011 incident. "The belief was always that this would be al-Qaeda, not a former soldier who is a white supremacist” / 8 opb.org/news/article/m…

The Obama administration set up a DHS office that started gaining some traction, but when Trump was elected these "efforts to confront domestic extremism “came to a grinding halt," officials told @TIME /9

“The infrastructure we had labored over for years started to get torn down. It has been decimated in the past two years under this Administration," George Selim, who led these efforts at DHS and is now with the ADL, told me. More from him below. /10 usatoday.com/story/opinion/…

So what now? A senior govt official told @TIME that while FBI analysts continue to warn about white supremacist violence, they know that since it runs counter to Trump's public statements it'll fall on deaf ears

"That could cost you a seat at the table." time.com/5647304/white-…

For years, “there’s been a visceral response from politicians that if these groups are being labeled as ‘right-wing,’ then it’s Republicans who are responsible for their activities..this has resulted in reluctance in Republicans taking as strong of action as they could" / 12