For the first time, the State Department has designated a white supremacist group a terrorist organization.
Writing for Lawfare, Seamus Hughes, with co-authors Colin P. Clarke and Camden Carmichael, flagged Wednesday that Terrorgram Collective, which operates largely online, is now considered a transnational terrorist group.
Hughes, a senior research faculty member at the University of Nebraska Omaha's National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center, posted on BlueSky that the incident could "have real legal ramifications for individuals in the U.S."
Still, the article says that while it might be a vital designation, it is still woefully inadequate in the ongoing efforts to navigate the current landscape of home-grown terrorism.
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"The Terrorgram designation is a necessary, yet in and of itself insufficient, step to continuing the fight against white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and other violent extremists," the report explained.
The Terrorgram, which is also active in neo-Nazi circles, works to recruit Americans to the cause and it could have a huge impact on the upcoming trial of the man on trial for allegedly trying to carry out an attack on power grids in Maryland.
Brandon Russell pleaded guilty in 2018 to improperly storing explosive materials and possessing an unregistered destructive device for a similar incident. The report cited leaked chats showing Russell was active in the Terrorgram while on probation for that 2018 plea/conviction.
Therefore, if the case continues under the new Justice Department, the State Department may be able to provide additional information to prosecutors working to convict Russell.
"This designation will have an impact on future domestic terrorism prosecutions," the authors wrote. "Through more than 20 years of the Global War on Terrorism, the U.S. was narrowly focused on the threat posed by Sunni jihadist groups and is only recently playing catch up when it comes to [racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists] terrorism."
