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Don’t Ignore Home-Grown Hate Groups

In February, reports emerged that the administration of President Donald Trump was considering rebranding the Obama-era Countering Violent Extremism program to “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism.” This idea quickly sparked a public backlash from rights groups and Democratic congressional representatives who argue that the re-designation would both discriminate against Muslim communities and ignore the threat posed by white supremacist or other homegrown terror groups. The Trump administration has not released further information about this proposed change. The Cipher Brief’s Fritz Lodge spoke with Michael German, a former undercover FBI agent and Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice

The Cipher Brief: You are a 16-year veteran of the FBI, and you spent almost two years undercover infiltrating violent white supremacists. When you look at groups like ISIS or Al Qaeda, do you recognize the tactics and strategies they use?

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