‘Undermines our defense’: State anti-extremism office shuts amid Trump layoffs

The U.S. Department of State is eliminating its Office of Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) as part of a sweeping round of layoffs affecting more than 1,350 employees that began on Friday, Raw Story has learned.

Raw Story revealed the threat to CVE in May, as the Trump administration pressed for mass layoffs in the federal government. The layoffs were paused by court challenges but this week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Trump’s favor.

The six CVE employees, who led the department’s international efforts to prevent violent extremists from radicalizing and inspiring acts of violence, are all being terminated, William Braniff, executive director of the Polarization and Extremism Research & Innovation Lab at American University, told Raw Story.

“Eliminating the CVE office from the Department of State undermines our layered defense, allowing threats to get much closer to home before we have a chance to minimize them,” Braniff said.

“It decreases our ability to support upstream terrorism prevention programs overseas, making international terrorist recruitment easier. It decreases our ability to support rehabilitation programs, including for children born to the ISIS movement, making international terrorist ‘retention’ easier.”

Braniff was previously director of the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships at the Department of Homeland Security, considered a “sister office” of CVE. He resigned in March, after the Trump administration began to dismantle the office.

Shuttering CVE flies in the face of Trump administration priorities, Braniff added.

“Overall, and in direct contrast to the stated goals of the administration, it increases the likelihood that terrorists will actually cross the U.S. border,” he said.

Ian Moss, who oversaw the CVE as deputy coordinator for counterterrorism during the Biden administration, previously told Raw Story CVE historically served as “the principal driver” in the U.S. government for “addressing racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism, including white identity terrorism.”

Alongside the U.S. Department of Justice, the CVE office helped organize three Counterterrorism Law Enforcement Forums in Europe, convening law enforcement, financial regulators and policymakers to address racially and motivated violent extremism.

In Europe, the State Department is focused on countering the influence of Nordic Resistance Front and Russian Imperial Movement, two groups that were named as specially designated global terrorism entities during the Biden and first Trump administrations, respectively.

Just before President Joe Biden left office, the State Department also designated the Terrorgram Collective as a terrorist group. Terrorgram, whose two U.S. leaders were federally indicted last year, has been linked to attacks in Brazil, Slovakia and Turkey.

CVE also played a significant role in the U.S. government’s efforts to counter Islamic extremism, principally ISIS.

Moss told Raw Story CVE “worked hand-in-glove” to repatriate hundreds of women and children from Al Hol, a camp in northeast Syria for people displaced by ISIS, to their home countries in central Asia.

The office worked with the returnees’ home countries to ensure they received rehabilitative services so they could reintegrate into their communities.

“If there are not programs to de-risk these individuals, and if these individuals don’t have empowering opportunities elsewhere, they will find empowering opportunities with extremist groups again,” Braniff said.