Understanding Domestic Radicalization and Terrorism
Understanding why and how people radicalize, as well as what can be done to prevent radicalization or intervene during the process, are key to countering violent extremism.
Connect with experts in communities across the country to access resources and services for keeping your community safe, including security assessments, educational tools, and physical security enhancements.
Find ideas and best practices regarding a range of threats and challenges, including violence against K-12 schools, campuses, faith-based organizations, churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship, health care providers, and other infrastructure; bullying; substance abuse; domestic violence; race-based violence and hate crimes; active shooters; bomb threats; financial crimes; cybersecurity threats, and much more.
Community support tools are available for educators, law enforcement, health care practitioners, behavioral and mental health professionals, faith-based organizations, affinity organizations, and state, local, tribal, and territorial governments.
Each set of resources below is searchable by keyword. You can also filter the results to see the resources most relevant to different stakeholder groups (key audience) and which department/agency/office provided the resource, as well as filter by subcategory.
All the information in the Prevention Resource Finder is government-owned or sponsored.
Understanding why and how people radicalize, as well as what can be done to prevent radicalization or intervene during the process, are key to countering violent extremism.
This Brochure offers law enforcement and public safety personnel an overview of terrorism prevention and how to get involved in mitigating radicalization, recruitment, and mobilization to violent extremism.
The Office for Partnership and Engagement (OPE) includes both the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and the Office of Academic Engagement who support engagements with critical partners at all levels of government. OPE also seeks to build, deepen, and operationalize relationships with the academic community on how to prevent targeted violence and terrorism.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Office for State and Local Law Enforcement (OSLLE) continues to actively engage with and provides DHS resources and critical information to all National Law Enforcement Associations and State, Local, Tribal, Territorial, and Campus Law Enforcement.
This fact sheet provides an overview of the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat hate crimes, including: prosecutions; elevating civil rights crimes, including hate crimes, coordinating among agencies and organizations; expanding language access; reviewing incidents; reviewing United States Attorney’s Office (USAO) resources; conducting training; revitalizing the Community Relations Service (CRS); reviewing funding; and conducting awareness campaign.
Federal laws prohibit discrimination based on a person's national origin, race, color, religion, disability, sex, and familial status. Laws prohibiting national origin discrimination make it illegal to discriminate because of a person's birthplace, ancestry, culture, or language. This brochure explains the laws prohibiting national origin discrimination.
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (CRT) and Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) fact sheet includes examples of COVID-19-related incidents the agencies can investigate based on discrimination related to race or national origin. Anyone with information about discrimination occurring in schools may file a complaint by reaching out to the contacts listed on this fact sheet.
The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (CRT) and Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforce federal civil rights laws in public and federally funded schools at all educational levels. Fact sheets and informational resources on hate crimes and discrimination are available on the CRT webpage. Anyone with information about discrimination occurring in schools or within the community may file a complaint by reaching out to the contacts listed.
The Domestic Violent Extremism (DVE) landing page is a collection of reports and assessments on DVE activity that serve as a resource for private and public sector entities seeking to develop an understanding of DVEs, their foreign counterparts, and associated financial activity. The resources are intended to enhance the identification and analysis of financial activity associated with domestic terrorists and their foreign counterparts, as well as enhancing engagement with financial institutions on domestic terrorist financing. Financial institutions in particular may use these in developing their financial crime risk assessments or enhancing their own Anti Money Laundering /Counter Terrorist Financing monitoring systems. They can also support federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement in analyzing DVE financial activity in their investigations, and other government and non-government organizations that are supporting a range of terrorism and violence prevention efforts.
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) De-Escalation Series for Critical Infrastructure Owners and Operators contains four products to assist in recognizing the warning signs of someone on a path to violence: assess if the situation or person of concern is escalating; de-escalate the situation currently taking place; and report the situation through organizational reporting or 9-1-1 for immediate threats.
Do not report suspicious activity to the Department of Homeland Security. Instead, notify local law enforcement.