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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
13 minutes ago
- CNBC
The Israel-Iran conflict and the other big thing that drove the stock market this week
It's been a tense and dynamic week for the world at large. The market action on Wall Street over the past four sessions was been anything but that. For the week, the S & P 500 lost 0.15%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq ticked up 0.21%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was basically flat, up a mere 0.02%. Beneath the surface, though, there was plenty of news for investors to digest. Here's a closer look at the biggest market themes during the holiday-shortened trading week. 1. Geopolitics: The major news story was — and still is — the intensifying war between Israel and Iran. The big question on everyone's mind is whether the U.S. will get involved. As of Friday, reports indicate that while President Donald Trump is actively reviewing options to attack Iran, nothing has been authorized. The White House has said Trump he will make a decision in the "next two weeks". As a result of the Israel-Iran conflict, investors spent the week keeping an extra close eye on the movement in safe-haven assets like gold and the dollar, as well as risk assets such as oil. Gold prices pulled back this week after their initial spike last Friday, which is when Israel's first attack on Iranian nuclear infrastructure jolted markets. The U.S. dollar index , meanwhile, strengthened this week but still remains near multiyear lows. Oil rose again for the week, with international benchmark Brent crude climbing nearly 4%. For those looking to gauge what the market thinks will happen with Iran, look to oil. The commodity is currently acting as something of proxy on the odds of the conflict intensifying and America directly entering the fray. 2. Fed updates: The other big theme of the week centered on the health of the U.S. economy in the lead up to Wednesday afternoon, when we got the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate decision and revised economic projections. Ultimately, the Fed kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged on Wednesday following its two-day policy meeting. The decision followed lackluster updates on the state of the consumer and the housing market , along with lower-than-expected inflation readings the week prior. As we outlined earlier this week , the Fed is in a tough spot when it comes to abiding by its dual mandate of ensuring price stability and low unemployment. The state of play requires nuance. On the one hand, there is evidence in support of rate cuts, namely some cracks in the consumer — even if the consumer has remained largely and impressively resilient — and the Fed's own updated outlook for lower real GDP growth and higher unemployment this year. On the other hand, the Fed is now expecting higher inflation this year than it did in March, which would support the need for higher interest rates. Given these dueling dynamics and the uncertainty around tariff impacts, the central bank's decision to keep interest rates steady makes sense. While the Fed certainly doesn't want to wait too long and make the same mistake we saw coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic, we must acknowledge that the causes of a potential rebound in inflation are different this time around. Tariffs will likely push up prices, but that may be a one-time increase, as opposed to the sustained inflation we saw exiting the pandemic, which was driven by massive supply chain disruptions and shifts in consumer behavior. As a result, we believe the apparent bias to be more worried about the job market and overall economic growth — and therefore cut rates later this year — makes sense, too. Indeed, the Fed's updated projections still pencil in two rate cuts in 2025, the same as in March despite the aforementioned revisions to its inflation and growth outlook. Fed Governor Christopher Waller made the case Friday that the cuts should start as early as July, arguing that the inflation risk posed by tariffs is not significant and ensuring resiliency in the labor market should be a higher priority. Waller's argument is basically that it's better to move now than wait for a jump in unemployment. Our biggest focus at the Club is staying nimble, given the highly volatile nature of geopolitics at the moment. No doubt, rate decisions are important to think about, but they're only one small part of the investing puzzle to navigate each day. For this reason, we continue to focus more on individual company fundamentals and industry trends rather than higher-level dynamics, important as they are to shaping our worldview. Cybersecurity stocks are one example that we highlighted this week. Another example would be the news we got from Club names Meta Platforms and Amazon this week on their artificial intelligence efforts. We think the implications that AI will have on the cost structures, revenue opportunities and efficiency gains should weigh far more heavily in the minds' of long-term investors than whether the Fed will cut in July or September. (Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust is long META, AMZN. See here for a full list of the stocks.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED.
New York Times
13 minutes ago
- New York Times
B-2 bombers head across the Pacific and Trump is scheduled to return to the White House as he considers strike on Iran.
Multiple U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers appeared to be airborne and heading west from the United States across the Pacific, and President Trump is scheduled to return to the White House late on Saturday afternoon from New Jersey as he deliberates about whether to join Israel's efforts to destroy Iran's nuclear sites. Air traffic control communications indicated that several B-2 aircraft — the planes that could be equipped to carry the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs that Mr. Trump is considering deploying against Iran's underground nuclear facilities in Fordo — had taken off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Some flight trackers said on social media that the destination of the aircraft is Guam, the U.S. territory, which has several military installations, although that could not be independently confirmed. The bombers appeared to be accompanied by refueling tankers for portions of the journey, the flight tracking data showed. Moving planes does not mean a final decision has been made about whether to strike. It is not unusual to shift military assets into position to provide options to the president and military commanders even if they are not ultimately deployed. The White House schedule for the weekend said that Mr. Trump would return from his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., and would meet with his national security team at 6 p.m. on Saturday and again on Sunday. Mr. Trump typically spends both weekend days out of town at one of his properties. A White House spokeswoman declined to comment. Mr. Trump has made clear he is weighing whether to have the U.S. join Israel's effort to curtail Iran's ability to acquire a nuclear weapon, a line he has drawn repeatedly over the years. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Hundreds of Voice of America reporters fired as Trump guts agency
Hundreds of journalists for Voice of America (VOA) - most of its remaining staff - have been fired by President Donald Trump's administration, effectively shutting down the US-funded news outlet. The Trump administration, which has long accused VOA of left-wing bias, said the layoffs were because the agency was "riddled with dysfunction, bias and waste". Steve Herman, VOA's chief national correspondent, called the dismantling of the outlet, which was set up during World War Two to counter Nazi propaganda, a "historic act of self-sabotage". Among those axed were Persian-language reporters who had been on administrative leave, but were called back to work last week after Israel attacked Iran. According to the Associated Press news agency, the Persian reporters had left the office on Friday for a cigarette break, and were not allowed to re-enter the building after the termination notices went out. "Today, we took decisive action to effectuate President Trump's agenda to shrink the out-of-control federal bureaucracy," Kari Lake, whom the president appointed to run VOA, said in a statement on Friday announcing the layoffs of 639 employees. In total, more than 85% of the agency's employees - about 1,400 staff - have lost their jobs since March. She noted that 50 employees would remain employed across VOA, the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and VOA's parent company, the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). A statement issued by three VOA journalists who have been suing to stop the elimination of the network said about the latest firings: "It spells the death of 83 years of independent journalism that upholds US ideals of democracy and freedom around the world." The move had been expected since March when Trump ordered VOA, as well as USAGM, which oversees VOA and funds outlets such as Radio Free Europe and Radio Free Asia, to be "eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law". The agencies have won acclaim and international recognition for their reporting in places where press freedom is severely curtailed or non-existent, from China and Cambodia to Russia and North Korea. But Dan Robinson, a former VOA news correspondent, wrote in an op-ed last year that the outlet had become a "hubris-filled rogue operation often reflecting a leftist bias aligned with partisan national media". Trump's criticisms of VOA come as part of his broader attacks against the US media, which studies suggest American news consumers view as highly polarised. The president has also urged his fellow Republicans to remove federal funding for National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). 'Discarded like a dirty rag': Chinese state media hails Trump's cuts to Voice of America Judge halts Trump's shutdown of Voice of America
