New Jersey Raises Terror Threat Level for White Supremacist Extremists to High

New Jersey Homeland Security officials have increased the threat level for white supremacist extremists to its highest level possible, according to a new report.

The New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness has boosted the threat level from white supremacy groups from moderate — where it was listed in 2019 — to high for 2020, the new report released Friday reads. The only other group to receive that dubious distinction are homegrown violent extremists.

The decision to put white supremacists at the highest possible level comes after a number of threats and attacks in 2019, including the El Paso attack that left 22 people dead and two dozen more injured. In New Jersey, a man allegedly conspired with members of a neo-Nazi network to vandalize synag
ogues in the Midwest.

There was also an increase in efforts by white supremacists to identify and recruit members in New Jersey and New York while spreading their messages of hate in 2019, the report reads. Reported incidents of white supremacists distributing their propaganda — particularly in the form of flyers in public venues in cities and on college campuses — surged to 168 since January 2019, up from just 46 in 2018.

The report said that "supporters of this ideology demonstrate the willingness and capability to carry out attacks, direct and inspire sympathizers online, and attempt to network globally." Nationwide, extremist white supremacists carried out four attacks and had at least 19 additional plots, threats of violence or weapons stockpiling incidents, according to NJOHSP's report. NBC