US Department of Homeland Security Threat Assessment: DHS report warns that extremists pose a threat to poll workers and election process

WASHINGTON— Domestic violent extremists pose “the greatest physical threat to government officials, voters, and election-related personnel and infrastructure, including polling places, ballot drop sites, voter registration sites, campaign events, political party offices, and vote-counting websites.” “says an assessment from the Department of Homeland Security published on Wednesday.

DHS believes extremists are motivated by political grievances, which has also led to a rise in attacks on election officials.

According to the department’s annual threat assessment, the overall threat level in the United States “will remain high.”

“The homeland faces a range of complex threats to our public safety, border security, critical infrastructure, and economy from violent extremists, transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), hostile nation-states, and malicious cyber actors,” says the 2025 Homeland Threat Assessment.

“The Homeland Security Assessment provides an important overview of the dynamic and evolving threat landscape and shows how diverse and challenging the threats we face are,” said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. “Thanks to DHS’s remarkable workforce and our close collaboration with our federal, state, local, tribal, territorial and private sector partners, we are positioned to meet the challenges and keep the American people safe.”

The assessment, prepared by the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, said threats from domestic actors “will continue to be characterized primarily by lone actors or small cells motivated to violence by a combination of racial, religious, gender, or anti-government grievances; Conspiracy theories and personalized factors” and are motivated by the presidential election and the Israel/Hamas conflict.

“Between September 2023 and July 2024 [domestic violent extremists] “Driven by a variety of anti-government, racial, or gender-based motives, they have carried out at least four attacks in the homeland, one of which resulted in a fatal blow.7 U.S. law enforcement has foiled at least seven other DVE attacks,” the assessment said. ; “During this period, two HVE attacks, motivated in part by the Israel-HAMAS conflict, also occurred, and law enforcement prevented at least three additional HVE attacks.”

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The mass shootings in the United States last year “were not motivated by ideology, but rather were related to suspected or confirmed mental illness or were due to relationship problems,” the ministry estimates.

DHS officials said they are aware that the upcoming Oct. 7 anniversary “could add even more fuel to an already challenging and heightened threat environment.”

In a call with reporters, officials said they had communicated this to their state and local partners.

Foreign terrorist organizations also continue to threaten to carry out or incite attacks in the United States, the assessment says.

“These organizations maintain global networks of supporters who could target the homeland. FTO media promotes violent rhetoric to incite U.S. citizens to mobilize for violence, while foreign terrorists continue to engage online supporters to raise funds, create and share media, and encourage followers.” They attack the homeland, the US interests and what they perceive as the West,” the report said.

Iran is also a concern for DHS officials, who say they have threatened former U.S. government officials, including former President Donald Trump.

“We have made it very, very clear that this is a threat vector that we are very concerned about and that we are monitoring very closely. We are working to get as much information and accuracy as possible,” the official said.

In addition to Iran, China and Russia also pose “a variety of threats” to the United States, which will seek to use a mix of subversive, undeclared, criminal and coercive tactics to seek new opportunities to undermine trust in the United States Democratic institutions in the USA and domestic society undermine cohesion.

The ministry, like the intelligence agencies, has concluded that they are likely to try to interfere in the election.

It’s not just the choice; DHS estimates that state-backed “criminal hacktivists” will attempt to position themselves on critical infrastructure networks.

Along the southern border, DHS expects challenges to continue, including from individuals on the terror watch list who will continue to evolve their tactics and seek to exploit vulnerabilities along the border, according to the report.

The official noted that the number of suspects on the terror watchlist has also decreased year on year.

While the number of encounters remains high, the assessment says, it is declining due to recently implemented guidelines.