The FBI is 4 months late in delivering a legally mandated report on domestic terror

Chris Wray FBI director — FBI Director Christopher Wray.

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The FBI has not yet released a legally mandated report on domestic terrorism in the US and how the agency approaches it, as The Daily Beast first reported.
It was due four months ago.
The report, in particular, is supposed to disclose details about how the FBI handles white supremacist terrorism.
The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said he believes the report has been delayed because the Trump administration wouldn’t view it favorably.
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The FBI is four months late in releasing a legally mandated report on domestic terrorism.

One part of the report is being reviewed by other agencies, while the other is incomplete, the FBI said in a statement to The Daily Beast, which first reported the bureau’s tardiness.

“Due to limitations caused by COVID-19, Part 1 of the report is in the interagency review process. Part 2 is still being drafted,” the FBI told The Daily Beast.

The National Defense Authorization Act required the FBI to give Congress a report on the state of domestic terrorism in the United States, as well as how the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security counter it.

It’s also supposed to cover the threat of white supremacy in the United States — which FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress in September is the “biggest chunk” of domestic terrorism — and how the FBI handles it.

But while the report was due in June, the FBI said it’s gummed up due to COVID-19 and is working with DHS and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

“The FBI is committed to continuing with ODNI and DHS on the report and meeting NDAA requirements,” the agency said in its statement.

The FBI has historically obscured details about how it approaches white supremacy within the United States, according to The Daily Beast. It currently categorizes white supremacy underneath a broader category, called “racially motivated violent extremism,” making it harder to discern the resources it commits to the problem, The Daily Beast reported.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, told The Daily Beast that the report has been delayed because it “would not be viewed favorably” by the Trump administration.

“I think [Wray] understands that if he wades too far in the water around this subject, he might drown, or get fired, to be honest,” Thompson said.