With the ongoing violence on Americans by terrorist groups, the United States government has been taking serious measures to help fight the war on terrorism.
The Dept. of Justice, the White House, and other government agencies launched a program on Monday to reach out to communities with the goal to stop radicalized young people nationwide from joining Islamic State and other extremist groups in Iraq and Syria.
“Today, few threats are more urgent than the threat posed by violent extremism,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in a video announcing the program.
The new pilot programs will bring together community leaders, law-enforcement officials, teachers, and even mental health and social service professionals to provide support and develop a plan of action to spot potential extremists and prevent threats.
“The goal is to intervene before people become radicalized,” said an anonymous official familiar with the program.
Law-enforcement authorities claim to have had success in similar programs against other big issues, such as gang violence. By training teachers, social services workers, and community leaders, people know what to look for and understand how the groups run and recruit.
As a part of his strategy against Islamic State militants, President Obama has halted the flow of radicalized American extremists to foreign conflicts, as well as a military campaign to destroy terrorist groups.
In a speech last week, Obama said that authorities would establish and tailor domestic programs “to prevent violent extremism and radicalization.”
According to Reuters, the UN Security Council plans to demand countries to stop recruiting foreign fighters by creating criminal laws specifically against it. As many as 15,000 international extremists are currently operating in Syria, US officials say, joining groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. The massive militant recruitment includes about 3,000 westerns and 100 Americans.
(With reports from Yahoo News.)
