Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall for the Eradicate Hate Global Summit | Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Thank you to each of the speakers, including the survivors, who preceded me. You are each both humbling and inspiring, and I am deeply grateful to have listened to what you have shared with us.
It is an honor to be here with you at the fourth convening of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit.
Thank you, Brette for your generous words — and thank you for taking on this vital leadership role.
The Summit has convened thousands of experts and developed multiple innovative approaches – including the “Up End Hate” campaign that empowers young people to prevent violence. And that is just the most recent example of the impact this solutions-oriented Summit has delivered.
Sunday, October 27th, will mark the sixth anniversary of the horrific day when a white supremacist who hated Jews and immigrants went to the Tree of Life synagogue here in Pittsburgh and attacked the innocent human beings who were worshipping during morning Shabbat services.
He murdered eleven people that day, robbing the world of their futures.
For each of them, their loved ones still grieve, and in solidarity we each can say: May their memories be a blessing.
The phrase is a resonant and powerful one. It invites us all not just to remember those we have lost, but to honor them by continuing to pursue justice and heal our broken world in their names.
Looking at this week’s agenda and each of you in this room, remembering them is indeed proving to be a blessing, by motivating this hard work to translate ideas into action.
In the aftermath of that terrible and tragic day, this community and this city have shown that an act of terror should and can unite us rather than divide us. In the Summit, you have shown the world how you have taken the emotions and prayers that arose and the actions you are undertaking and channeled them into meaningful deeds.
It is in that spirit of moving from hope to action that I come to you today.
I will speak to you about three topics: the threat we face now, the responses we are pursuing to address that threat, and the actions we are taking to reduce that threat in the future.
First, we unfortunately have to acknowledge that current forms of domestic terrorism and hate have fueled a dynamic threat landscape that is even more daunting following the savage Hamas attack on Israel one year ago and its ongoing aftermath.
These threats present a new set of challenges that we must do everything we can to prevent, to disrupt, and to prepare for if they cannot be stopped.
Indeed, the Biden-Harris Administration’s response to hate and domestic terrorism is outlined in a series of innovative strategies and implementation plans that harness the full force of the Federal government of the United States.
But critically, they depend on intensive, enduring cooperation with civic, religious, private sector and international partners like you to generate a comprehensive response.
And although it may not feel that way every day, this model is delivering results. I am the first to admit that the challenges are immense, and even growing. But I also fervently believe that combining our full strengths, we can come together to make a difference.
The Normalization of Hate and Violence
Let me begin with the threat landscape: As the White House Homeland Security Advisor over the past four years, I have seen firsthand that a fundamental threat to our democracy is the normalization of hate-fueled violence.
Domestic terrorist movements, including racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists, continue to advocate for widespread violence on the premise that it would lead to outcomes they seek, including chaos and societal collapse among other dystopian ends.
These dark minds celebrate attacks in El Paso, Buffalo, Poway, Colorado Springs, Charleston, and yes, just east of here, in Squirrel Hill — as well as numerous attacks abroad that they ascribe to their twisted worldview.
The proliferation of these ideologies online reflects this trend, and its purveyors are reaching a growing number of people, including teenagers and even younger children.
And as this threat has evolved both in the United States and especially online, we have seen its “domestic” dimensions become increasingly global.
Let me give you one example of what I mean. On September 9th of this year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice arrested and charged two leaders of the Terrorgram Collective in the United States.
These two individuals created a global community of white supremacists to communicate online with like-minded people, disseminate violent propaganda, and encourage physical attacks on minority communities and government officials.
The amplification of hate online has corresponded with a growth in antisemitism and other forms of hate, particularly in the wake of the October 7th Hamas attacks.
By just one measure, between October 7th, 2023, and January 30th of this year, the FBI opened over three times more anti-Jewish hate crimes investigations than in the four months prior to the October 7th attacks. I will return to the meaningful outcomes from these investigations in a moment.
And October 7th has had ramifications beyond the rise in hate. We have observed terrorist groups from across the ideological spectrum seeking to exploit the attack for their own goals. Images and messaging emerging from the conflict are expanding the pool of individuals susceptible to mobilization to violent acts, and causing terrorist groups that previously disdained each other to form common cause.
And these effects are likely to persist long after hostilities cease— and will interact with future flashpoints and activating events, which could drive terrorist attacks against the United States and Israel, as well as against Jewish, Muslim, Arab, and other communities.
And it is not just terrorist organizations that are of high concern. The behavior of lone actors can have significant ramifications, even when they do not commit mass violence.
For example, in February 2024, a joint investigation between the FBI and Florida authorities led to the arrest of a 17-year-old for swatting—which is the practice of making false reports to 9-1-1 to induce a law enforcement response at a residence or workplace.
Over a two-year span, this particular young person targeted a Florida mosque and hundreds of high schools, historically black colleges and universities, and even the homes of FBI agents.
Swatting distracts and drains valuable law enforcement resources, exposes police to a potentially life-threatening response, and traumatizes citizens, including students and worshippers, who experience these events.
And as if this wasn’t bad enough, it emerged that the young suspect was selling swatting as a service on Telegram— which is another way in which that platform is being exploited for dangerous purposes.
Now, some look at today’s threat landscape and assume the worst, and conclude that there is little if anything that can be done to stop the growth of these threats.
But I am here today to tell you that, like all of you, we do not see it that way.
The Biden-Harris Administration’s Strategic Approach
Clearly what I have described is not how we wish our world had evolved. But we have come together here to affirm that we are not powerless in the face of hate and violence.
From day one, President Biden and Vice President Harris have pursued a rigorously calibrated, integrated approach to countering hate and domestic terrorism that is aligned with our values and complements our broader national security interests.
This is built on their core belief that domestic terrorism and hate strike at the very foundation of our democracy.
Indeed, President Biden decided to run for the White House back in 2017 after men with tiki torches emerged from the shadows in Charlottesville spewing the same Antisemitic bile we heard in Germany in the 1930s.
That’s why, on his first day in office, President Biden directed me to lead a 100-day comprehensive review of U.S. Government efforts to address domestic terrorism. This resulted in the development and release of the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism in June of 2021.
We went to work immediately on implementing that strategy. And to complement it, recognizing how critical our partners beyond the Federal government would be to our success, in September of 2022, President Biden hosted the United We Stand Summit to mobilize communities to work with us in advancing an inclusive and bipartisan vision for a more united America and to push back against the growing normalization of hate in our society.
In December of that year, Susan Rice – then the President’s Domestic Policy Advisor – and I launched an initiative to specifically tackle Antisemitism, Islamophobia and related forms of bias and discrimination.
This led to our releasing, in May 2023, the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. And we have been working to develop a complementary strategy to address Islamophobia.
Importantly, our approach not only tackles the threats of today but prepares for emerging and future threats.
So I want to focus here on three key elements of the strategy: first, our efforts to hold accountable those who engage in hate-fueled violence and hate crimes; second, our efforts to protect vulnerable communities; and third, our efforts to prevent such acts from occurring in the first place.
Accountability Measures
Our Administration has prioritized the use of our legal authorities and tools to expand investigations and prosecutions.
As a result, from 2020 to 2022, the number of FBI domestic violent extremism and domestic terrorism investigations more than doubled to over 2,700.
In 2022, the Department of Justice also created a specific domestic terrorism unit within its National Security Division to handle these investigations and prosecutions.
And a similar dynamic is occurring in our efforts to address hate crimes. The FBI has published and widely disseminated information about what constitutes a hate crime and how to report them, and reinforced this by conducting over 70 meetings with faith-based organizations since October 7th.
These efforts, combined with the FBI’s tireless work to investigate every lead they receive, have delivered results. Let me describe a few.
In November of 2023, a Tampa, Florida, resident was arrested by the FBI for allegedly leaving threatening voicemails at two Jewish organizations in New York.
In January 2024, a Massachusetts man was arrested for threatening to kill members of the Jewish community and bomb places of worship.
And just last month, the Department of Justice announced criminal charges against a Pakistani national arrested in Canada who was planning to travel to New York City to attack a Jewish Community Center on the anniversary of October 7th.
Protection Measures
We have also driven efforts to enhance the safety and security of Jewish and other communities targeted for hate and violence. For example, President Biden worked with Congress to secure an additional $400 million for the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) Nonprofit Security Grant Program in February of this year.
This grant program funds security improvements and training for nonprofits and houses of worship, including campus organizations and community centers.
For example, the same program paid to install cameras and boost other security measures in Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas—actions that the congregation’s Rabbi credited with avoiding loss of life when a terrorist took hostages in the synagogue in January 2022.
We have also worked in partnership with a wide range of state and local leaders and non-governmental partners to help communities and institutions protect themselves against and prevent hate.
As just one example, this past summer we provided 5,000 campus leaders all across the country with a detailed list of the federal resources available to help them establish safer and more secure learning environments for their students, faculty, and staff.
We sent Federal experts to campuses, hosted a variety of convenings to discuss challenges and identify solutions, and released updated toolkits to enhance their preparations for the new academic year that began in August.
This effort is ongoing, and the fear and anxiety of those who feel threatened on campuses persists. But it is clear that the resources and toolkits we have shared align with the changes that many campuses have successfully implemented this Fall.
Prevention
And this brings me to the third element of our response—the actions we are taking now to prevent hate-fueled violence and domestic terrorism in the future, before they occur.
We know that a complex process brings an individual to pursue targeted violence or terrorism. But we also know that there are behaviors and other signs that people see that are clues that an individual might be trending toward or contemplating an act of targeted violence or terrorism.
We have elevated the prevention of targeted violence and terrorism as a strategic priority for countering terrorism, antisemitism, and related forms of hate.
Our goal has been to build a prevention architecture that supports nation-wide state and local efforts to intervene and “offramp” individuals who appear to be moving toward committing acts of targeted violence and terrorism.
At the Federal level, we have surged support to state and local behavioral Threat Assessment and Management, or “TAM” teams as we refer to them.
For example, the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit has embedded specifically trained agents who are called “threat management coordinators” in their field offices and is working to ensure that each of their field offices are participating in the local Threat Assessment and Management teams. Some of these coordinators are here with us today.
Likewise, the U.S. Secret Service’s National Threat Assessment Center recently released a six-step guide for state and local law enforcement about how they can most efficiently establish a TAM team that can assess and intervene with individuals identified as posing a risk of violence.
And there is the DHS Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships, which I know is well represented here in the room. Among their many accomplishments, I want to highlight their work creating and curating the online Prevention Resource Finder, which you can Google at that name—literally a one-stop shop that lists all Federal resources available to help state and local governments prevent acts of targeted violence and terrorism. We recently expanded the website, and it now offers nearly 150 resources.
It’s important to say again here that the Federal government cannot effectively tackle this metastatic challenge alone.
Indeed, all of the evidence shows that prevention is most effective when led by our state and local partners, who are on the ground, embedded in our communities. This is especially true for TAM teams, which often operate at the county or municipal level.
The good news is that we know state and local partners can do this quickly and successfully in partnership with Federal expertise and assistance. Let me give you an example.
In the days and weeks following the appalling May 14th, 2022, domestic terrorist attack at the Tops Supermarket in Buffalo, the state of New York quickly reached out to the Federal Department of Homeland Security and other Federal agencies to explore how to expand existing partnerships and build a statewide prevention effort.
To be clear, this was led by and implemented by the State of New York, but the Federal government offered substantial assistance to the State of New York.
And by 2023, New York had launched a statewide targeted violence prevention strategy that included placing at least one TAM team in every county.
Just two years after the Buffalo attack, New York had established TAM teams in forty-three counties and the City of New York.
In May, New York noted that their TAM teams were collectively intervening in more than one thousand two hundred cases.
And, more important, these TAM teams are saving lives, taking action with respect to certain individuals who were clearly planning acts of targeted violence.
This is critical, painstaking, lifesaving work, and I am encouraged to see that many more states are responding to our calls to move in this direction.
This is progress, and if we persist, these efforts will reduce violence in our Homeland.
Closing
In closing, I want to thank each of you for the work you do every day to prevent, to prepare, and to respond to this phenomenon that is tragically impacting so many of our communities and leaving families and neighborhoods devastated.
Your partnership with us is vital to stopping the normalization of hate-fueled violence that threatens our democracy.
Again, I want commend the work of this Summit. You are the embodiment of what I have spoken about today. And there is a real feeling of solidarity in a group like this, and we can and must draw strength from one another.
For a moment, I will take you back to another very dark time in our Nation’s history — the days and weeks after 9/11. Then I had very young children — and to focus them on the positive in a time of terror I would say to them, “look at all the helpers — there are so many people who are helping other people.”
You are the helpers today, the doers, the healers in these times, and your work to scale up prevention efforts – and to mobilize the youth of our country to be a part of the solution to hate – are two of the numerous examples of how the agenda for the coming three days will build a stronger and safer America for all of us, and set an example for the world.
I salute you for all your commitment, your dedication, and everything you are doing —
And I will end where I began. While the threats are real and pernicious, we take inspiration from each other and from those we have lost.
May each of their memories be a blessing – and may our work together light the way to a brighter and more secure future.
