3 days ago
Trump team ends $18m terrorism prevention program designed to ID lone wolves before they attack
The Trump administration is axing a division of the Department of Homeland Security designed to prevent domestic terrorism attacks committed by individual perpetrators and train officials to negate future attacks, worrying prevention advocates.
The Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) was an arm of DHS that provided federal resources to local and state officials to thwart lone wolf attacks, an increasingly common type of terrorism.
In those instances, attacks are carried out by an individual not part of an organized group. Examples include the recent Boulder, Colorado attack in which a man threw incendiary devices at a group of Israeli hostage advocates as well as the murder of two young Isreali Embassy staffers outside the Captiol Jewish Museum.
CP3 aimed to reduce the instances of those attacks by understanding domestic violence trends, such as those tracked by the Terrorism and Targeted Violence database (TV2), and providing training through programs such as the Targeting Violence and Terrorism Prevention grant.
But President Donald Trump 's budget said DHS could re-allocate roughly $18 million by axing the center and its grants, which the administration claims 'were weaponized to target Americans exercising their First Amendment rights.'
The program, which NBC News estimates only costs 4 percent of the military's marching band budget, has been successful at stopping lone wolf attacks – though publicly available data on this is scarce.
In one instance, the Palm Beach Sheriff's Department, which received money through the Terrorism and Targeted Violence grant, was able to identify and detain an individual at Palm Beach State College who threatened mass violence.
But the Trump administration claims it does not align with president's policies and has proposed eliminating it.
Approximately 20 percent of CP3's staff was eliminated during federal funding cuts in March. In addition, the administration tapped a 22-year-old recent college graduate to lead CP3.
William Braniff, the former director of CP3, told the Guardian that the government is making itself more susceptible to attacks by getting rid of the program.
'It's simple: we will see more school and workplace violence, more hate-fueled violence and terrorism and our political leadership will see more assassination attempts,' Braniff said.
Joe Griffin, the executive director of Youth Alive!, a California-based violence prevention organization, told CBS News that cutting funding before summer would have a negative impact on communities.
"To do this ahead of summer, when we know there will likely be an uptick in violence, is really troubling," Griffin said. "We need our government to show up for our young people the way we do—every day, without fail."
In a statement, a senior DHS official refuted any concerns.
'Any suggestion that DHS is stepping away from addressing hate crimes or domestic terrorism is simply false. Under Secretary Noem's leadership DHS has streamlined funding to cut waste while strengthening our partnerships with state and local law enforcement to tackle these critical threats head-on,' the senior DHS official said.
Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the White House, said 'President Trump is keeping his promise to Make America Safe Again by empowering state and local law enforcement to relentlessly pursue criminals and protect American communities.'
'Whether it be maximizing the use of Federal resources to improve trainings or establishing task forces to advance Federal and local coordination, President Trump is keeping innocent Americans safe.' Jackson added.
She pointed to Trump's April executive order that called for providing pro bono legal assistance for officers facing unjust legal expenses, maximizing the use of federal resources to train officers, increasing surplus military assets to support local law enforcement, and more.
