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Meeting the Challenge of White Nationalist Terrorism at Home and Abroad

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Meeting the Challenge of White Nationalist Terrorism at Home and Abroad MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF WHITE NATIONALIST TERRORISM AT HOME AND ABROAD JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA, AND INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, WITH THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AND CONTERTERRORISM OF THE COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED SIXTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION September 18, 2019 Serial No. 116–63 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ( Available: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/, http://docs.house.gov, or http://www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 37–706PDF WASHINGTON : 2019 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York, Chairman BRAD SHERMAN, California MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas, Ranking GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York Member ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia STEVE CHABOT, Ohio THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida JOE WILSON, South Carolina KAREN BASS, California SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts TED S. YOHO, Florida DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois AMI BERA, California LEE ZELDIN, New York JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas JIM SENSENBRENNER, Wisconsin DINA TITUS, Nevada ANN WAGNER, Missouri ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York BRIAN MAST, Florida TED LIEU, California FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania DEAN PHILLIPS, Minnesota JOHN CURTIS, Utah ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota KEN BUCK, Colorado COLIN ALLRED, Texas RON WRIGHT, Texas ANDY LEVIN, Michigan GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, Virginia TIM BURCHETT, Tennessee CHRISSY HOULAHAN, Pennsylvania GREG PENCE, Indiana TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey STEVE WATKINS, Kansas DAVID TRONE, Maryland MIKE GUEST, Mississippi JIM COSTA, California JUAN VARGAS, California VICENTE GONZALEZ, Texas JASON STEINBAUM, Staff Director BRENDAN SHIELDS, Republican Staff Director ---- SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST, NORTH AFRICA, AND INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida, Chairman GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia JOE WILSON, South Carolina, Ranking DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island Member TED LIEU, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio COLIN ALLRED, Texas ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois TOM MALINOWSKI, New Jersey LEE ZELDIN, New York DAVID TRONE, Maryland BRIAN MAST, Florida BRAD SHERMAN, California BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania WILLIAM KEATING, Massachusetts GUY RESCHENTHALER, Pennsylvania JUAN VARGAS, California STEVE WATKINS, Kansas CASEY KUSTIN, Staff Director (II) COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi, Chairman SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas MIKE ROGERS, Alabama, Ranking Member JAMES LANGEVIN, Rhode Island PETER KING, New York CEDRIC RICHMOND, Louisiana MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas DONALD PAYNE, New Jersey JOHN KATKO, New York KATHLEEN RICE, New York MARK WALKER, North Carolina LOU CORREA, California CLAY HIGGINS, Louisiana XOCHITL TORRES SMALL, New Mexico DEBBIE LESKO, Arizona MAX ROSE, New York MARK GREEN, Tennessee LAUREN UNDERWOO, Illinois VAN TAYLOR, Texas ELISSA SLOTKIN, Michigan JOHN JOYCE, Pennsylvania EMANUEL CLEAVER, Missouri DAN CRENSHAW, Texas AL GREEN, Texas MICHAEL GUEST, Mississippi YVETTE CLARK, New York DAN BISHOP, North Carolina DINA TITUS, Nevada BONNIE WATSON COLEMAN, New Jersey NANETTE BARRAGAR, California VAL DEMINGS, Florida ---- SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERTERRORISM MAX ROSE, New York, Chairman SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas MARK WALKER, North Carolina, Ranking JAMES LANGEVIN, Rhode Island Member ELISSA SLOTKIN, Michigan PETER KING, New York BENNIE G. THOMPSON, Mississippi, Ex MARK GREEN, Tennessee Officio MIKE ROGERS, Alabama, Ex Officio (III) C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES Miller-Idriss, Dr. Cynthia, Director, International Training and Education Program, School of Education, American University ........................................ 9 Picciolini, Mr. Christian, Founder, Free Radicals Project, Author, ‘‘Breaking Hate: Confronting the New Culture of Extremism’’ .......................................... 23 Nazarian, Dr. Sharon, Senior Vice President for International Affairs, Anti- Defamation League .............................................................................................. 38 APPENDIX Hearing Notice ......................................................................................................... 99 Hearing Minutes ...................................................................................................... 100 Hearing Attendance ................................................................................................. 101 STATMENTS FOR THE RECORD SUBMITTED FROM COMMITTEE MEMBERS Statement for the record submittedd from Representative Connolly .................. 102 Statement for the record submitted from Representative Jackson Lee .............. 104 ADDITIONAL MATERIALS SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Fewer Births Than Deaths Among Whites in Majority of U.S. States sub- mitted for the record from Representative Jackson Lee ................................... 113 ABC-News-Expert dissect reason why mass shooters target houses of worship submitted for the record from Representative Jackson Lee ............................. 118 PBS-White Christians are now a minority of the U.S. population, survey says submitted for the record from Representative Jackson Lee ..................... 121 List of Christan Places of Worship that have been Attacked submitted for the record from Representative Jackson Lee ..................................................... 123 INFROMATION SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD Video entitled ‘‘No More Talk’’ (9.17.19) submitted for the record from Mr. Christian Piccilini, this video is retained in the Committee file. ..................... 127 (V) MEETING THE CHALLENGE OF WHITE NATIONALIST TERRORISM AT HOME AND ABROAD Wednesday, September 18, 2019 House of Representatives, Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism, Committee on Foreign Affairs, joint with the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism, Committee on Homeland Security, Washington, DC The subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 2:14 p.m., in room 310, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Theodore E. Deutch (chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism) presiding. Mr. DEUTCH. This hearing will come to order. Welcome, everyone. The Committee on Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism is meeting today together with the House Committee on Homeland Security’s Sub- committee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism to hear testimony on the domestic and global threat of white nationalist terrorism. I want to thank my co-chair of today’s hearing, Intelligence and Counterterrorism Subcommittee Chair Max Rose. Thanks also to our ranking members, Joe Wilson and Mark Walker. And I also want to thank the Homeland Security Chairman Benny Thompson and Ranking Member Mike Rogers for hosting us in this really beautiful Homeland Security Committee hearing room. And I espe- cially want to thank our witnesses for being here with us today. I hope this will be a serious examination of the threats that we face here in the United States and overseas and the interconnectivity of these threats. I will now recognize myself for the purpose of making an opening statement. And I will try to be brief, as we have a lot to cover. In recent months and years, it has become apparent that white nationalist terrorism is a growing threat, both here and abroad. In order to solve this problem, we must first identify it. Our gov- ernment, intelligence services, and law enforcement agencies use multiple terms for white nationalist terrorism, including ‘‘racially motivated extremists’’ and ‘‘white supremacist extremists,’’ among others. But when my subcommittee held a hearing with the State Department’s Counterterrorism Coordinator in July, he was unable to call this challenge by its name: white nationalist terrorism. Tragically, this mounting threat reared its ugly head only 3 days later in the horrific attack in El Paso, Texas, that killed 22 people. (1) 2 In the last year, it led to other attacks at the Chabad Synagogue of Poway just north of San Diego; the Al Noor Mosque in the Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch, New Zealand; and the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. These attacks were preceded by, among others, a 2017 white na- tionalist terrorist attack at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City that killed 6, the 2015 terrorist attack at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston that killed 9, and the 2011 attacks by Anders Breivik that killed 77 people principally at a political youth camp in Norway. While these acts of violence may appear disparate and random, the terrorists allegedly responsible for them demonstrably drew in- spiration from one another. They share an ideology that asserts, among other beliefs, that white people and white identity in West- ern countries are under siege by massive waves of immigration from non-white countries. White nationalists also perpetuate con- spiracy theories that claim that Jews control industries, govern- ments, and other organizations through shadow groups which al- legedly pose a threat to white civilization. White nationalists claim they are protecting the white race and will use any means necessary to defend it against this supposed dispossession. This ideology helps explain why their targets include a wide array of people, from Latinx in Texas to Jews in Pennsyl- vania, to Muslims in New Zealand, to
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