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(CNN) - National security officials warned in an intelligence bulletin issued Tuesday that extremist groups are taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to incite violence and reinforce racist and anti-government narratives.
The bulletin - from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter-Terrorism Center - cites threats from a number of hate groups targeting minorities and illustrates how conspiracy theories about the origins of the virus and the response of the government are probably fueling potential violence.
He also predicts that living spaces right now, such as hospitals and grocery stores, could be potential targets, as well as police officers imposing house confinement orders.
The four-page document, obtained by CNN, is the latest in a series of warnings from the national security community about the threat from extremist groups as the coronavirus has exploded across the country and disrupted daily life.
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Police have already responded to two extremist plots in recent days, including a California train engineer who allegedly derailed his train near a naval hospital ship that he believed was being used in a government takeover and a Missouri man who was Accused of attempting to detonate a car bomb in a hospital serving coronavirus patients.
Reports of attacks on Asian people also escalated in the United States. after the first outbreak in China.
In the bulletin, the agencies write that some extremist groups blame China for the spread of the virus, and conclude that hate crimes against Asians are likely to increase in the next two to three months.
Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories claiming that Jews and Israel are responsible for the manufacture and spread of the virus have also proliferated in some circles of hate groups, according to the bulletin, increasing the risk of violence against Jews in the United States.
While the FBI has increasingly focused on fighting internal terrorism in recent years as the number of reported hate crimes has increased, recent warnings reflect deep concern that in the wake of the pandemic and changes in The American society it has caused is creating more reasons and opportunities for extremists to act.
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Some hate groups claim that government responses to the outbreak could collapse the global economy and lead to racial warfare, the bulletin states, possibly inciting people facing economic hardship and social isolation to commit acts of violence.
Others have commented that they should exploit holes in policing left by law enforcement who have either contracted the virus themselves or are misled to enforce confinement orders.
Agencies also noted threatening discussions by darker radical segments, including militias, pro-life extremists and extremists motivated by police brutality.
Militias have discussed preparing for an armed response to any government effort to confiscate or control their weapons under martial law, anti-abortion extremists have threatened violence against reproductive health service providers still working during the pandemic, and Extremists motivated by police brutality have discussed ignoring orders to stay home and the need to prepare for any forceful police abuse, the bulletin notes.
coronavirus