U.S. remains in heightened threat environment with recent racist, ethnically motivated attacks: DHS

NEW YORK, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The United States remains in a "heightened threat environment" for terrorism driven by a series of racially and ethnically motivated attacks or plots in recent months, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) public advisory.

"The pro-Nazi views espoused by the gunman who killed eight people in Allen, Texas, this month are part of a growing trend of extremists displaying White nationalist paraphernalia in the U.S. and abroad," a CNN report of the advisory, which was released on Wednesday, cited a senior DHS official as saying.

DHS officials also said they were watching the run-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election for signs of extremist violence in light of the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, said the report.

While there were no immediate or specific threats involving the 2024 election to report, if extremists start to discuss the potential outcomes of the 2024 election in terms of "existential" or "apocalyptic" terms, "that obviously would heighten our concern that individuals may act on that sense of existential threat," the senior DHS official was quoted as telling reporters.

The National Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin is the main way that DHS updates the public every few months on terrorism threats. The new bulletin mirrors the previous one from last November, in which officials were concerned by lone-wolf attackers motivated by a range of ideologies, according to the report.