U.S. intelligence officials have been quietly issuing warnings to government agencies all summer about a growing threat of extremist violence related to the 2024 presidential election, including plots to destroy containers full of ballots and promote terrorist attacks. “lone wolves” against electoral facilities throughout the country. .
In a series of reports between July and September, Department of Homeland Security analysts warned of an “increased risk” of extremists carrying out attacks in response to the race. Copies of the reports, first reported by WIRED, describe efforts by violent groups to provoke attacks on election infrastructure and spread calls for the assassination of lawmakers and law enforcement officials.
Last month, the agency’s intelligence office emphasized in a report that “perceptions of electoral fraud” had increased to become the main “trigger” of the “mobilization toward violence.” This is particularly true, the report says, among groups working to exploit the “concept of a possible civil war.” Fears about “crimes committed by immigrants or minorities” are among other main “triggers,” he says.
The documents show that DHS alerted dozens of agencies this summer about online conversations indicating possible attacks on ballot drop boxes, secure receptacles used in more than thirty states to collect mail-in ballots from voters. The text highlights the efforts of an anonymous group to obtain information about “incendiary and explosive materials” capable of destroying ballot boxes and ballots. Members of the group also compiled an extensive list of household mixtures and solvents, which are said to make voters’ ballots “unprocessable,” and were shared openly online, according to the report.
DHS did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is on a distribution list for several of the reports, declined to comment.
The reports were first obtained by Property of the People, a nonprofit organization focused on transparency and national security, under the open records law. The reports contain details about how to commit crimes and avoid law enforcement, which WIRED does not publish.
Wendy Via, co-founder and president of the Global Project Countering Hate and Extremism (GPAHE), says the conclusion reached by DHS matches the consensus of experts in the field: “Electoral denialism will be the main motivator, if anything.” “There is going to be violence.”
