Countering Violent Extremism: Three Moves Biden Should
Make Now
By Farah Pandith, CFR Expert and Jacob Ware
January 28, 2021, 7:00 am (EST)
The United States
should implement a broad-based strategy to counter the growing threat of
violent extremism at home and abroad. Here are three items the Biden
administration can focus on.
The violent siege on
the U.S. Capitol earlier this month provided the clearest evidence yet that
far-right extremism is deeply entrenched across the country. To fight this
urgent threat, President Joe Biden should take several steps early in his
tenure, drawing on lessons the United States has learned from past ideological
battles. Fortunately, much of what the Biden administration will need to
counter the threat of radicalization already exists within the U.S. government
and in partner organizations.
Shrinking the Pool of Recruits
To dramatically reduce
the number of recruits buying into violent extremist ideology, U.S. soft power
efforts must match those in hard power. America has yet to vigorously deploy
its capabilities at scale. The country should ensure that 24-7, evidence-based
deradicalization and counterradicalization machines are at work across the
government, built from research, data, and science. The deadly riot at the
Capitol is indicative of an underfunded and underprioritized effort on
countering violent extremism (CVE), a problem that predates the Trump administration.
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The new administration
should work with Congress to increase funding for CVE in and outside
government, including for frontline organizations working directly with at-risk
communities. At the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s height, the United States spent only in
the low tens of millions of dollars each year to stop Islamic State recruitment
and radicalization, about as much as the U.S. military spent each day on
the kinetic war. The U.S. fight against violent extremist ideology at home
and abroad might require closer to $1 billion annually.
Renewing Partnerships
Second, the Biden
administration should recommit
to and refresh the international alliances and coalitions that
have been pivotal to fighting terrorism since 9/11. These include the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and
the United Nations, as well as bilateral partnerships with countries in Europe,
Africa, and Asia. Ideologies of hate and extremism are global, and the United
States can no longer try to compartmentalize the spread of violent ideologies
at home and those abroad.
Partnerships with
like-minded nations were critical to developing collective action in the fight
against the Islamic State, and they can now pioneer efforts to address violent
extremism in U.S. communities. This is particularly important as the United
States is now the leading source of far-right ideology, finding its way
overseas to inspire extremists such as the gunman in the Christchurch, New
Zealand, attack. America must also reimagine alliances within its own borders,
increasing collaboration with initiatives such as the Strong Cities
Network.
Supporters of former President
Donald J. Trump clash with police as people try to storm the U.S. Capitol on
January 6, 2021. Brent Stirton/Getty Images
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The administration
should also form new partnerships, most importantly in a campaign to fight
extremism on social media platforms. As the host nation for many of the world’s
largest social media companies, the United States must step up to the plate,
taking legal and regulatory actions to ensure that extremist groups cannot find
a haven online and cultivate recruits. The siege of the U.S. Capitol, for
instance, was in no small part organized
online; the same could be said for many other recent
far-right attacks. The administration should give social workers and mental
health professionals in particular the tools they need to help deter
radicalization online.
Empowering Communities
New ideas from a broad
group of stakeholders would give the United States and its partners more power
to vanquish the threat of violent extremism. Most critically, the new
administration should build bigger, more diverse tables to bring in experts
outside of government. This coalition should include youth, social and health
workers, educators, activists, social and technology entrepreneurs, social
scientists, and cultural listeners.
The private sector and
the philanthropic community should also join the fight. Corporate partners can
bring important insights, data, and expertise to the cause, helping
nongovernment organizations build better programs. For example, analytics
on how members of Generation Z and Generation Alpha use social media can help
counterextremism organizations post targeted, age-appropriate content. They can
also provide much-needed financial assistance to accelerate and scale programs.
In his inaugural
address, Biden correctly warned of a “rise in political extremism, white
supremacy, [and] domestic terrorism that we must confront and we will defeat.”
Taking these steps early in his tenure would equip the United States with the
soft power tools it will need in the long battle ahead.
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