In the waning days of the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of State took its first major step against terrorism groups primarily focused on what is called “accelerationism” – the effort to inspire independent followers to engage in violence in ways that broadly destabilize society. The U.S. government has long targeted actively violent terrorist organizations such as al-Qaida – the group behind the 9/11 attacks – and the Islamic State group, which carried out beheadings of innocent civilians in Iraq and Syria.
Then-FBI Director Christopher Wray repeatedly warned Congress about the threat to national security from far-right accelerationist groups. In a move to respond to those warnings, the Biden administration labeled the online-only “Terrorgram Collective” and three of its leaders as specially designated global terrorists, which means their financial assets are frozen and anyone who tries to support them can be arrested.
